{"id":379918,"date":"2021-12-10T16:45:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T13:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/we-assign-too-much-humanity-to-robots-theyre-simply-tools\/"},"modified":"2021-12-10T16:45:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T13:45:23","slug":"we-assign-too-much-humanity-to-robots-theyre-simply-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-assign-too-much-humanity-to-robots-theyre-simply-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"#We assign too much humanity to robots: They\u2019re simply tools"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2f16f783038\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2f16f783038\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-assign-too-much-humanity-to-robots-theyre-simply-tools\/#Social_tendencies\" >Social tendencies<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-assign-too-much-humanity-to-robots-theyre-simply-tools\/#Seeing_through_intent\" >Seeing through intent<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#We assign too much humanity to robots: They\u2019re simply tools<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>In the mid-1990s, there was research going on at Stanford University that would change the way we think about computers. The <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Equation experiments were simple: <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/web.stanford.edu\/group\/cslipublications\/cslipublications\/site\/1575860538.shtml\">participants were asked to interact with a computer that acted socially for a few minutes after which, they were asked to give feedback about the interaction<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Participants would provide this feedback either on the same computer (No. 1) they had just been working on or on another computer (No. 2) across the room. The study found that participants responding on computer No. 2 were far more critical of computer No. 1 than those responding on the same machine they\u2019d worked on.<\/p>\n<p>People responding on the first computer seemed to not want to <em>hurt<\/em> the computer\u2019s <em>feelings<\/em> to its <em>face<\/em>, but had no problem talking about it behind its <em>back<\/em>. This phenomenon became known as the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/citeseerx.ist.psu.edu\/viewdoc\/download?doi=10.1.1.175.1915&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf\">computers as social actors (CASA)<\/a> paradigm because it showed that people are hardwired to respond socially to <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> that presents itself as even vaguely social.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CWHNVBSohsO\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"\/><p>The CASA phenomenon continues to be explored, particularly as our technologies have become more social. As a researcher, lecturer, and all-around lover of robotics, I observe this phenomenon in my work every time someone <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ideo.com\/blog\/why-its-important-to-say-please-and-thank-you-to-robots\">thanks a robot<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/shanesaunderson.com\/news\/sexbots-and-terminators-exploring-gender-in-ai\">assigns it a gender<\/a>, or tries to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1521\/soco.2008.26.2.143\">justify its behavior using human, or anthropomorphic, rationales<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019ve witnessed during my research is that while few are under any delusions that robots are people, we tend to defer to them just like we would another person.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Social_tendencies\"><\/span>Social tendencies<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>While this may sound like the beginnings of a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/ca\/title\/70264888\"><em>Black Mirror<\/em> episode<\/a>, this tendency is precisely what allows us to enjoy social interactions with robots and place them in caregiver, collaborator, or companion roles.<\/p>\n<p>The positive aspects of treating a robot like a person is precisely why roboticists design them as such \u2014 we like interacting with people. As these technologies become more human-like, they become more capable of influencing us. However, if we continue to follow the current path of robot and AI deployment, these technologies could emerge as far more dystopian than utopian.<\/p>\n<p>The Sophia robot, manufactured by Hanson Robotics, has been on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/60-minutes-charlie-rose-interviews-a-robot-sophia\/\"><em>60 Minutes<\/em><\/a>, received <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/news\/saudi-arabia-robot-citizen-sophia\">honorary citizenship from Saudi Arabia<\/a>, holds a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/desa\/un-robot-sophia-joins-meeting-artificial-intelligence-and-sustainable-development\">title from the United Nations<\/a>, and has gone on a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/5222769\/will-smith-sophia-the-robot-online-dating\/\">date with actor Will Smith<\/a>. While Sophia undoubtedly highlights many technological advancements, few surpass Hanson\u2019s achievements in marketing. If Sophia truly were a person, we would acknowledge its role as an <em>influencer<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>However, worse than robots or AI being <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/news\/will-artificial-intelligence-produce-synthetic-sociopaths?sh=749a193d7d6e\">sociopathic agents<\/a> \u2014 goal-oriented without morality or human judgment \u2014 these technologies become tools of mass influence for whichever organization or individual controls them.<\/p>\n<p>If you thought the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news\/uspolitics\/cambridge-analytica-scandal-fallout.html\">Cambridge Analytica scandal<\/a> was bad, imagine what Facebook\u2019s algorithms of influence could do if they had an accompanying, human-like face. Or a thousand faces. Or a million. The true <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/tech\/meet-robot-influencers-who-earning-22552147\">value of a persuasive technology<\/a> is not in its cold, calculated efficiency, but its scale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n<figure>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" srcdoc=\"&lt;style&gt;*{padding:0;margin:0;overflow:hidden}html,body{background:#000;height:100%}img{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;transition:opacity .1s cubic-bezier(0.4,0,1,1)}a:hover img+img{opacity:1!important}&lt;\/style&gt;&lt;a href=\" https:=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/BhU9hOo5Cuc\/hqdefault.jpg\" style=\"top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)\" height=\"240\" width=\"320\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!--resp-video-container--><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Seeing_through_intent\"><\/span>Seeing through intent<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Recent scandals and exposures in the tech world have left many of us feeling helpless against these corporate giants. Fortunately, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/09540091.2017.1313816\">many of these issues can be solved through transparency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are fundamental questions that are important for social technologies to answer because we would expect the same answers when interacting with another person, albeit often implicitly. Who owns or sets the mandate of this technology? What are its objectives? What <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roaches can it use? What data can it access?<\/p>\n<p>Since robots could have the potential to soon <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nickbostrom.com\/views\/superintelligence.pdf\">leverage superhuman capabilities<\/a>, enacting the will of an unseen owner, and without showing verbal or non-verbal cues that shed light on their intent, we must demand that these types of questions be answered explicitly.<\/p>\n<p>As a roboticist, I get asked the question, \u201cWhen will robots take over the world?\u201d so often that I\u2019ve developed a stock answer: \u201cAs soon as I tell them to.\u201d However, my joke is underpinned by an important lesson: don\u2019t scapegoat machines for decisions made by humans.<\/p>\n<p>I consider myself a robot sympathizer because I think robots get unfairly blamed for many human decisions and errors. It is important that we periodically remind ourselves that a robot is not your friend, your enemy, or anything in between. A robot is a tool, wielded by a person (however far removed), and increasingly used to influence us.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/172215\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\"\/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/172215\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><em>Article by <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/shane-saunderson-1292029\">Shane Saunderson<\/a>, Ph.D. Candidate, Robotics, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/university-of-toronto-1281\">University of Toronto<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/robots-can-be-companions-caregivers-collaborators-and-social-influencers-172215\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/robots-can-be-friends-syndication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#We assign too much humanity to robots: They\u2019re simply tools&#8221; In the mid-1990s, there was research going on at Stanford University that would change the way we think about computers. The Media Equation experiments were simple: participants were asked to interact with a computer that acted socially for a few minutes after which, they were&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":379919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/neural?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/12\/I-HEART-U-ROBOT.jpg&signature=b78a288bf731ff56a5a45beae028579b","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}