Why We Treat Machines Like Humans

from the humanizing-our-machines dept

Roland Piquepaille writes "Over-personalization of our environment has always existed. People give names to their pets, their cars and their computers. Therefore, they have a tendency to give them human feelings too. In this Discover Magazine interview, Sherry Turkle, a psychologist who directs the Initiative on Technology and Self at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, answered questions from Josie Glausiusz. She tells us why we attribute human emotions to robots, why we care for them. She also talks about our interactions with the Internet and how some people -- including herself -- experiment with false identities. Check my blog for a summary and some Q&As." Nothing particularly surprising if you've read any of Turkle's work in the past, but it's been a while since I've read about her, so it's good to see she's still researching this stuff.
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