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Wanting the impossible

The dilemma at the heart of intimate human-robot relationships
  • Dylan Evans
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Close Engagements with Artificial Companions
This chapter is in the book Close Engagements with Artificial Companions

Abstract

In a recent book entitled Love and Sex with Robots, the British scholar David Levy has argued that relationships with robot Companions might be more satisfying than relationships with humans, a claim which I call “the greater satisfaction thesis” (GST).  The main reason Levy provides in support of GST is that people will be able to specify the features of robot Companions precisely in accordance with their wishes (which I call the total specification argument or TSA).  In this paper, I argue that TSA is wrong.  In particular, the argument breaks down when we consider certain behavioral characteristics that we desire in our partners. I illustrate my argument with a thought-experiment involving­ two kinds of robot – the FREEBOT, which is capable of rejecting its owner permanently, and the RELIABOT, which is not

Abstract

In a recent book entitled Love and Sex with Robots, the British scholar David Levy has argued that relationships with robot Companions might be more satisfying than relationships with humans, a claim which I call “the greater satisfaction thesis” (GST).  The main reason Levy provides in support of GST is that people will be able to specify the features of robot Companions precisely in accordance with their wishes (which I call the total specification argument or TSA).  In this paper, I argue that TSA is wrong.  In particular, the argument breaks down when we consider certain behavioral characteristics that we desire in our partners. I illustrate my argument with a thought-experiment involving­ two kinds of robot – the FREEBOT, which is capable of rejecting its owner permanently, and the RELIABOT, which is not

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Foreword xi
  4. Acknowledgements xii
  5. Contributors xiii
  6. Section I. Setting the scene
  7. In good company? 3
  8. Introducing artificial Companions 11
  9. Section II. Ethical and philosophical issues
  10. Artificial Companions and their philosophical challenges 23
  11. Conditions for Companionhood 29
  12. Arius in cyberspace 35
  13. Section III. Social and psychological issues
  14. Conversationalists and confidants 59
  15. Robots should be slaves 63
  16. Wanting the impossible 75
  17. Falling in love with a Companion 89
  18. Identifying your accompanist 95
  19. Look, emotion, language and behavior in a believable virtual Companion 101
  20. New Companions 107
  21. On being a Victorian Companion 121
  22. Section IV. Design issues
  23. The use of affective and attentive cues in an empathic computer-based Companions 131
  24. GRETA 143
  25. A world-hybrid approach to a conversational Companion for reminiscing about images 157
  26. Companionship is an emotional business 169
  27. Artificial Companions in society 173
  28. Requirements for Artificial Companions 179
  29. You really need to know what your bot(s) are thinking about you 201
  30. Section V. Special purpose Companions
  31. A Companion for learning in everyday life 211
  32. The Maryland virtual patient as a task-oriented conversational Companion 221
  33. Living with robots 245
  34. Section VI. Afterword
  35. Summary and discussion of the issues 259
  36. References 287
  37. Index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/nlp.8.12eva

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Foreword xi
  4. Acknowledgements xii
  5. Contributors xiii
  6. Section I. Setting the scene
  7. In good company? 3
  8. Introducing artificial Companions 11
  9. Section II. Ethical and philosophical issues
  10. Artificial Companions and their philosophical challenges 23
  11. Conditions for Companionhood 29
  12. Arius in cyberspace 35
  13. Section III. Social and psychological issues
  14. Conversationalists and confidants 59
  15. Robots should be slaves 63
  16. Wanting the impossible 75
  17. Falling in love with a Companion 89
  18. Identifying your accompanist 95
  19. Look, emotion, language and behavior in a believable virtual Companion 101
  20. New Companions 107
  21. On being a Victorian Companion 121
  22. Section IV. Design issues
  23. The use of affective and attentive cues in an empathic computer-based Companions 131
  24. GRETA 143
  25. A world-hybrid approach to a conversational Companion for reminiscing about images 157
  26. Companionship is an emotional business 169
  27. Artificial Companions in society 173
  28. Requirements for Artificial Companions 179
  29. You really need to know what your bot(s) are thinking about you 201
  30. Section V. Special purpose Companions
  31. A Companion for learning in everyday life 211
  32. The Maryland virtual patient as a task-oriented conversational Companion 221
  33. Living with robots 245
  34. Section VI. Afterword
  35. Summary and discussion of the issues 259
  36. References 287
  37. Index 309
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