Humanoid robots as “The Cultural Other”: are we able to love our creations?
AI and Society (forthcoming)
| Abstract | Robot enthusiasts envision robots will become a “race unto themselves” as they cohabit with the humankind one day. Profound questions arise surrounding one of the major areas of research in the contemporary world—that concerning artificial intelligence. Fascination and anxiety that androids impose upon us hinges on how we come to conceive of the “Cultural Other.” Applying the notion of the “other” in multicultural research process, we will explore how the “Other” has been used to illustrate values and theories about robots, as a mirror for the self. In this paper, we focus on the social, cultural, and religious implications of humans’ attitudes toward relationships between humans with robots. Six major views on humanoid robots are proposed: (1) robots as the “Frightening Other,” (2) robots as the “Subhuman Other,” (3) robots as the “Human Substitute,” (4) robots as the “Sentient Other,” (5) robots as the “Divine Other,” and (6) robots as the “Co-evolutionary Path to Immortality.” The likely and preferable scenario is the last one, which is compatible with an optimistic posthuman world in our evolutionary future. We imagine whether humans will meet the challenge of loving all living and non-living beings (including mechanical entities) might be the key to the co-evolution of both species and the ultimate happiness. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,653 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesChristian Becker-Asano, Takayuki Kanda, Carlos Ishi & Hiroshi Ishiguro (2011). Studying Laughter in Combination with Two Humanoid Robots. AI and Society 26 (3):291-300.
Tatsuya Nomura, Takugo Tasaki, Takayuki Kanda, Masahiro Shiomi, Hiroshi Ishiguro & Norihiro Hagita (2006). Questionnaire-Based Social Research on Opinions of Japanese Visitors for Communication Robots at an Exhibition. AI and Society 21 (1-2):167-183.
Mark Coeckelbergh (2012). Can We Trust Robots? Ethics and Information Technology 14 (1):53-60.
Mark Coeckelbergh (forthcoming). Moral Appearances: Emotions, Robots, and Human Morality. Ethics and Information Technology.
Dong-Hee Shin & Hyungseung Choo (2012). Modeling the Acceptance of Socially Interactive Robotics: Social Presence in Humanrobot Interaction. Interaction Studies 12 (3):430-460.
Ludovic Marin & Olivier Oullier (2001). When Robots Fail: The Complex Processes of Learning and Development. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (6):1067-1068.
Robert Sparrow & Linda Sparrow (2006). In the Hands of Machines? The Future of Aged Care. Minds and Machines 16 (2).
Aimee Wynsberghe (forthcoming). Designing Robots for Care: Care Centered Value-Sensitive Design. Science and Engineering Ethics.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2012-02-16Total downloads11 ( #99,430 of 548,984 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,327 of 548,984 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
