Human-Robot Relations: Why We Should Worry
From: LiveScience - 02/18/2013
By: Clara Moskowitz 

Technology is eroding social connections between human beings as machines
step in to fill social needs, and the time has come to reevaluate the place
for technology in our lives, says Massachusetts Institute of Technology
professor Sherry Turkle. She says tools such as Siri and Apple's iPhone
digital assistant encourage people to view technology as companions. Children
now have robotic pets that many prefer to actual pets that eventually die,
eliminating the opportunity that real pets provide to learn about life and
death. In addition, teenagers are beginning to value the dating advice of
computers with immense data access over potentially faulty parental guidance,
Turkle says. "We are forgetting crucial things about the care and
conversation that can only occur between humans," she says. Turkle also
worries about replacing human caretakers with robots. She says that although
older people might benefit from talking to robots, younger people will miss
out on the opportunity to learn from their elders. "For the idea of
artificial companionship to become our new normal, we have to change
ourselves, and in the process we are remaking human values and human
connection," Turkle says. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.livescience.com/27204-human-robot-relationships-turkle.html

Links:
Move Over, Rover: Robotic Pet Can Be Best Friend
http://www.livescience.com/596-move-rover-robotic-pet-friend.html

5 Reasons to Fear Robots
http://www.livescience.com/18641-reasons-fear-robots.html

Engineers Create a More Lifelike Robot
http://www.livescience.com/25506-engineers-create-a-more-lifelike-robot.html

Top 7 Useful Robots You Can Buy Right Now
http://www.technewsdaily.com/4987-top-seven-robots-buy.html