Robots 'R Us: How Robotics Will Change the Way We Think

A Monitor Networks Conversation
Featuring Sherry Turkle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

January 13, 2005

Through advances and adoption, technology has become ubiquitous and people’s relationship with it has become intimate. Boundaries between on-line and off-line lives blur, children bond with artificial pets, the elderly look to the robotic caregiver for comfort, and some machines are so tightly woven into our existence that they become extensions of self.

During the last decade we’ve heard a great deal about the future of artificial intelligence from a technological point of view, but much less about the social implications of intelligent machines. Sherry, who is widely considered one of the most distinguished scholars in the area of how technology influences human identity, will discuss the psychological dynamics between people and technology in an age when technology is increasingly redefining what it means to be human.