Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, etc. These are just the beginning of what experts believe will be a future filled with verbally interactive, digital and robotic assistants. And as we become more accustomed to interacting with machines, the machines are becoming more life-like.
But what does this trajectory mean for our relationship to such devices? Will we forever see them simply wires and processors or are we approaching a day when anthropomorphic technologies will engender deep, emotional attachments. Some say we're already there.
This hour we speak with Bina 48, one of the world's most advanced, interactive robots, and a panel of experts about the evolution of our relationship to machines.
GUESTS:
- Wendell Wallach - Consultant, ethicist, and scholar at Yale’s Center for Bioethics; author of A Dangerous Master: How To Keep Technology From Slipping Beyond Our Control
- Steve Outing - Journalist, media futurist and blogger for Future After 50
- Bruce Duncan - Managing Director of the Terasem Movement Foundation and Manager of Research and Educational Outreach of the Lifenaut Project
- Bina 48 - One of the world’s most advanced, socially interactive robots
- Judith Newman - Journalist and author of several books including To Siri With Love: A Mother, Her autistic Son, And The Kindness Of Machines
You can join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on December 21, 2017.