Reclaiming Conversation Summary

In my opinion, we should embrace and welcome robots into our daily lives because they improve our society in various ways. Some of the ways our society has benefited from the creation of robots include transportation, home maintenance, home assistance, education, security, entertainment, disabled assisted living, and even elderly assisted living. In the article The Future of Robot Caregivers, the author, Louise Aronson, states that the idea of robot caregivers shouldn’t be as threatening as most people perceive. She also states that our society as whole, not just the elderly, will benefit greatly in many aspects. For example, Aronson begins by mentioning that caregiving is a difficult job and that “it is work that many people either can’t or

In his 2011 The Chronicle Review article “Programmed for Love” Jeffrey R. Young interviews Professor Sherry Turkle about her experience with what she calls “sociable robots”. Turkle has spent 15 years studying robotics and its social emergence into society. After extensive research and experimenting with the robots, she believes that soon they will be programmed to perform specific tasks that a human would normally do. While this may seem like a positive step forward to some people, Turkle fears the worst. The article states that she finds this concept “demeaning, ‘transgressive,’ and damaging to our collective sense of humanity.” (Young, par. 5). She accredits this to her personal and professional experience with the robots. Turkle and her

In Nicholas Carr’s essay “All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machine’s” he brings up the ethical problem of technology. Technology is all around today, but people are starting to wonder if this surplus of technology is starting to make the world less smart. Carr’s primary argument is as technology becomes more prevalent, people are losing knowledge to do certain tasks. Carr claims this is bad because people are putting their lives at risk and dying due to this lack of knowledge. People are starting to get lazier because of technology. They start to care less and think they are gaining something extra by using the technology, when, in fact it is the exact opposite. Carr states, “most of us want to believe that automation frees us to spend our time on higher pursuits but doesn’t otherwise alter the way we behave or think. That view is a fallacy” (5). This fallacy is affecting how people think and how current children are being taught in schools. Children as young as preschoolers are now starting to use tablets and computers for learning instead of having a teacher doing their job fully and actually teaching them. Instead of adding something to a task or helping to get it accomplished technology, “alters the character of the entire task, including the roles, attitudes, and skills of the people taking part” (5). Throughout his entire essay, Carr argues mostly why he believes too much technology could be harmful in the long run, but also states

Sherry Turkle’s article “Alone Together” analyzes the psychological effects, that technology, or as she refers, robots, have on people. She begins with the technological growth in robots as she states, “computers no longer wait for humans to project meaning onto them. Now, sociable robots meet our gaze, speak to us, and learn to recognize us” (Turkle 85). Technology is at its peak in modernization; in an instant, people are virtually transported into another dimension. Turkle wants her audience to acknowledge what qualities humans are missing when they become indulged in their machines. Robots are beginning to fill gaps of our lives that our brains are not functioned for. Humans are beginning to rely too much on robots, robots are possessing

At work, people are claiming to be too busy on their devices to be able to have conversations. In fact, they do not want to have the face to face interaction, but would “rather just do things on [their] blackberry” (136). Moreover, a “sixteen-year-old boy who relies on texting for almost everything says wistfully, ‘Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I’d like to learn how to have a conversation’” (136). The reliance on technology has increased significantly and the necessity for conversation has pivoted. A teenage boy confesses that he feels more comfortable talking to an “artificial intelligence program” (138) about dating instead of his own father. Similarly, many people want “Siri, the digital assistant on Apple’s iPhone, [to become] more advanced, [because] ‘she’ will be more and more like a best friend” (138). Robots are being given more credit for comforting humans than humans themselves. Not only are the younger generations thinking this, but also the elders. When Turkle brought a baby seal robot to a nursing home, an elder woman began to speak to it and feel comforted by it. It is a tragedy that humans are feeling a deeper connection with robots than other humans. Humans have the experiences and the feelings that the robots are not capable of having. Hence, there is confusion about the difference between conversation and

In “Alone Together: The Robotic Movement,” Sherry Turkle explains some of the negative effects that robots are having on our lives. She also explains how they can have a negative effect on our daily lives without us even noticing. I am someone who knows a great deal about technology, however I had no idea that close human-robot interaction was happening at such an inappropriate level. There are many different examples Turkle uses in the article, however, I will only talk about two. I agree with Turkle not only that there are ethical problems with human-robot interaction but also that a lot of other forms of technology might be doing more harm than good.

Kids, teens and adults are now constantly navigating the internet or using some sort of technology. In the article “Is the Onslaught Making Us Crazy” by Tony Dokoupil, different psychologist claim that technology has a bad influence on the human mind. Throughout the text, real life examples, showing psychological breakdowns, are used to support the statement.

Humans are becoming more technologically-efficient every day. New inventions and innovations are constantly being made. The Internet is becoming more “reliable” every day. However, how much do we really get from the constant advancement of Internet use and smarter technology? Should we look at their contributions to the world as a benefactor or a curse? The common effect of “artificial intelligence” in the technology we use every day is examined by two brilliant authors, Nicholas Carr and Jamias Cascio. In Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, he explains the effects of the Internet and technology in our society and claims that the overuse of technology is dangerous and can affect how our mind operates. Jamias Cascio, on the other

In “ Does the Internet Make You Smarter or dumber?” by Nicholas Carr, Carr argues that not only is using the internet for education not necessary but that it is also harmful. Carr’s thesis says that the internet is bad because it distracts us, affects our cognitive thinking, and can have long term effects. Carr supports his argument by citing professional psychologists and many studies, creating scenarios in the reader's mind of robotic people, and uses logical arguments against the use of the internet.

As day progresses so as technology. In the modern society high technology devices have become indispensable to human. Electronic machines have gradually been starting to replace human work. At a factory work place, restaurant kitchen, and household laundry rooms, the improvement of technology can be seen anywhere. Mobile phone, which has only become prevalent in a few decades, can be found in anyone’s jeans pocket. However, is this situation an evolution to a new era or an over-reliance on technology. Sherry Turkle, the author of “The Empathy Diaries” expresses her concern on modern generation overusing electronic devices. She points out her main argument that the situation has deteriorated to the extend where children are losing their empathy and ability to social. Turkle, promoting the importance of conversation, not only criticize young generations for being overly obsess with electronic devices, but also oppose the ones who understand the the significance of conversation for not passing down the knowledge. It is clear that in Turkle’s perspective the improvement of technology has brought up issues that do not exist ever before. Despite that the benefit form electronic devices are inevitable the problems it brings about can never be look down. On the condition that people do not have enough self-control to overcome with the tempt form high technology devices can not only bring human short term benefits but lifetime long harm with its overly thoughtful benefits.

It is unbelievable how fast technology can change the way society lives today, compared to how we lived in the past and what the future has in store for us. Technology can be beneficial in the health care system by helping us create medicine and find new cures for disease we have been battling for years. However, when technology is not used to benefit us it is quiet disturbing. Technology can help improve one’s way of life, but it should not be your way of life nor control your life. In The Veldt by Ray Bradbury technology ruins family life by starting to eradicate verbal communication, family bonding, and parental responsibility.

People of all ages suffer from the negative effects of long-term exposure to technology. As technology continues to evolve, the human brain struggles to keep up, and ultimately loses a multitude of once valued abilities, such as the ability to focus, and deep intellectual thinking. People grow severely attached to these new artificial intelligence, that they forget there are other real people whom they can communicate with and share thoughts with. As Fahrenheit 451 has illustrated, our society has evolved to interact with technology on a more personal level, change the way humans interact with one-another, shift the way political subjects are dealt with, and change what the roles of certain people in a community are and how those communities function.

The use of technology in society could be very beneficial in many ways, contrary to what the article, “Will Alexa Take the Witness Stand?” by Patricia Smith, states. The text mostly covered the use of crimes and technology. It also covered privacy struggles and issues with the government on modern technology, such as personal assistants. These “issues” could be very beneficial and go against the use of the modern technology. The use of technology in society is very beneficial and is making society more and more advanced.

Technology has tremendously changed human social behavior, which has provided a convenient way for people to communicate and collaborate with each other. For instance, Cathy Davidson, the author of “Project Classroom Makeover,” points out, there is a need to renew the current education system so that it meets the new expectation of the digital era. She discusses how technology improves social interaction when students work collectively through crowdsourcing. In “The Myth of the Ant Queen,” Steven Johnson provides the example of the complex systems in ant colonies, cities of Manchester and Internet by emphasizing the importance of collective working that intelligence emerges when people work together. On the other side, Sherry Turkle argues that technology has turned human beings become isolated. In her article “Alone Together: Why We Expect A Lot from Technology and Less from Each Other,” she discusses how humanity is transformed into a “robotic’ moment due to technology. Therefore, technology does not only help to form collective learning and social interaction that can provide an adequate platform for sharing social values, but also isolate people from each other if they rely too much on technology.

Society today is greatly influenced by technology and the impact it has had within the past 20 years. One of the largest breakthroughs, though, is Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). The technology associated with A.I. has greatly developed in the past years, and is only making devices smarter. When someone mentions technology, or even the technological breakthroughs the world has gone through recently, many people go straight to smartphones and computers. A.I. is often overlooked, or put into a general category of "technology". Yet, artificial intelligence is something that should we not be so quick to dismiss, and should be something that gets people talking and even excited for what the future holds.