“I am troubled by the idea of seeking intimacy with a machine that has no feelings, can have no feelings, and is really just a clever collection of ‘as if’ performances, behaving as if it cared, as if it understood us.” Our networked life allows us to hide from each other…we’d rather text than talk.”įrom the perspective of a psychoanalytically trained psychologist Turkle bemoans the loss of authenticity in simulated relationships. Digital connections and sociable robots may offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. And it turns out we are very vulnerable indeed. “Technology is seductive when what it offers meets our human vulnerabilities.
Turkle identifies a particular ‘relational vulnerability’ of human beings in the early 21st century. “….we seem determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things.” A recurring theme thoughout the book is the apparent humanising of machines and the de-humanisation of humans. Socializing in an adaptive way.Her 2011 book Alone Together is based on hundreds of interviews and observations of children and young adults as they interacted with a variety of robots constructed at MIT and elsewhere, as well as other forms of digital interaction. Has allowed us to satisfy our need for human connection, to socialize with one another and remain Together while Alone. So…in the end…this technology that used to keep us disengaged from one another has actually reengaged us with with one another. And I have even FaceTimed with a local shopkeeper who helped me pick out a gift for my niece along with a few books for myself. I have attended online Happy Hours…family reunions…story time with our grandkids…sales meetings…conferences…speaking engagements.
And this same technology that pulled us away from one another is now allowing us to be together – socially. But being social is at the very core of who we are as humans. It is this very same technology that has now become paramount in enabling us to sustain our human connection during this time when we are all forced to be apart. We have been isolating at home due to COVID19.
Now fast forward to today – nine years later after this book was written.
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