Technology is spreading fast and integrates numerous spheres of everyday life for people of different ages, starting from kids. The contemporary world’s reality offers multiple opportunities through technological advancements, but simultaneously, hinders challenges and controversial points. The rapid emergence of various robots, including those with whom people can have intimate physical relationships, shapes the way individuals perceive real affection and bonding. For many people, it seems to be a tempting prospect for different factors, including disappointment, social exclusion, or others. All kinds of bots in social networks and platforms designed for various purposes support the popularity of the machines’ trend. This paper aims to analyze the perspective that the establishment of attachment is possible even with artificial creatures based on Turkle’s work, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.
First, it is crucial to look at Turkle’s primary argument and how the author supports it. The book offers an extraordinary view of how modern technology shapes people’s behavior and position in society. It discloses the false feeling of connection that leaves individuals lonely in reality. One of the claims that Turkle (2011) makes is that “we are psychologically programmed not only to nurture what we love but to love what we nurture” (p. 11). This proposition entails that building particular relations with anyone or anything, including robots, can lead to bond creation and a sense of responsibility and care. The author states that sociable machines offer humans the possibility of establishing connections the way people want them due to their ability to speak, recognize, learn, and meet expectations (Turkle, 2011). It is possible to argue that robotic advancements represent a natural stage in societal development, also leading to a reconsideration of love, relationship, friendship, and marriage concepts.
One can say that people possess a unique capability of getting attached to different things. For instance, it is hard for someone to imagine their lives without constant access to their smartphones or laptops. Consequently, it is easy to visualize a person who feels attached to a robot who can portray the signs of emotions and mutual affection. In the introduction chapter, Turkle (2011) mentions the book Love and Sex with Robots that asserts that robots are created for people to practice on them and substitute failures. Turkle is amazed by this aspect and argues for the position that seeking intimacy with machines is troubling. The most significant part is authenticity, which requires “the ability to put oneself in the place of another, to relate to the other,” which is a gap that robots have (Turkle, 2011, p. 6). Hence, creating an attachment to robots can leave people without essential needs fulfillment and a fake feeling of understanding and reality.
The book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other raises unique issues about the true nature of relationships with artificial intelligence and sociable robots. One of the concepts that the professor touches on concerns the fact that young people who are growing up with the presence of technological companions are unconsciously programmed to build attachment with them (Turkle, 2011). No wonder, because continuous external influence from the robotic pet or another toy that can speak or even ask for something is transferred to the child’s mind. In such a way, children tend to animate inanimate objects, which is done more comfortable with robots because they possess people’s characteristics. Still, another critical aspect is that stepping into reality might make individuals “feel utterly alone,” and “as we distribute ourselves, we may abandon ourselves” (Turkle, 2011, p. 12). One can suggest that the unconscious creation of affection and nurturing with machines can have severe side effects and develop deeper psychological level issues without awareness.
One of the articles that are connected to the claims made by Sherry Turkle is Emotional Attachment, Performance, and Viability in Teams Collaborating with Embodied Physical Action Robots. The study states that individuals “project identities and personalities onto robots and treat them as human entities rather than as mere technological apparatuses” (You & Robert, 2017, p. 378).
This notion implicates the fact that people can treat machines as something that has a soul and can experience feelings, which, in turn, can lead to specific relationships with them. It is also crucial to mention that integrating robotic advancements in a team is claimed to enhance teamwork due to the bonding and affection that humans develop towards technology and among each other. This point leads back to Turkle’s (2011) work, which suggests that connections with digital innovations can provide the illusion of companionship. For instance, various occupations require people to trust their lives to machines, which unconsciously leads to object inanimation and attachment.
The significant aspect raised in the article is the effectiveness of working in a team due to affection and collaboration with robotic developments. The study revealed that the individuals’ emotional attachment to robots “is crucial for the promotion of team performance and viability” (You & Robert, 2017, p. 411). This finding means that friendly or even romantic relationships with artificial creations are natural and favorably influence one’s life. As Turkle (2011) proposes, putting hope in machines portrays optimism and a belief that scientific innovations will be there for people if something goes wrong. It concerns intimate, friendship, or professional attitudes, and touches every aspect of relationships, implying the trust that humans have in robots and how they represent salvation and support. According to You & Robert (2017), if individuals are emotionally attached to technology, they are more engaged and enjoy interacting with it, which leads to increased performance. Still, it is essential to remember that artificial creations do not substitute reality and design false bonds.
The proposed article supports Turkle’s argument to a certain extent that it talks about the fact of creating feelings of attachment and nurturing among humans and robotic advancements. The topic of relationships between people and machines is a controversial issue and raises many questions and challenges, so it is difficult to say that both works fully agree on one point. Nevertheless, one can conclude that closeness with robots can be positive if it occupies only a part of one’s life and makes it truly better in terms of assistance. For example, trusting a nurse robot can improve the patient’s compliance with recommendations. It is disclosed in the compared works that discuss the notion of affection development and natural desire to love what people nurture. Simultaneously, closeness with machines can be deteriorating if it fully replaces human connection because it becomes a simulation and puts people at emotional risk. Therefore, the issue is to recognize the fine line, when positive impact turns to negative, and demarcate reality with artificial creations.
References
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Basic Books.
You, S., & Robert, L. (2017). Emotional attachment, performance, and viability in teams collaborating with embodied physical action (EPA) robots. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 19(5), 377-407. Web.