and the little robot spins in circles...

John was so excited on Christmas morning...and not because of the presents he might be receiving but because of something he was giving me.  It was one of those little robot vacuum cleaners.  Right now, it is buzzing around downstairs, picking up lint and Christmas tree icicles and cat hair.  Oh yeah, and freaking the cat out, too. 

The interesting thing is that we all (immediately) starting thinking of this little machine as a live thing...like a pet, almost.  We talked about how cute it was, spinning around and hitting the wall and bouncing off.  How smart it was.  How it was chasing the cat...as if it could do that on purpose.  Bonnie immediately wanted to name it, though we've not come up with anything clever yet.

It reminded me:  Years ago, we gave Adam a Lego Robotics kit for Christmas.  We were spending Christmas in Florida with my MIL then.  He put this little robot together and it raced around Grandma's apartment.  We named it Waldo, as in Where's Waldo...since that was a question we all kept asking.  It kept going underneath her bed and we tried to coax it out.  How naughty it was, we exclaimed.  Grandma was quite attached to the little fella, and seemed genuinely disappointed when we packed it up to take it back to Oregon with us. 

What is it, I wonder, that makes us want to feel that something that moves around is really alive, and has some sort of emotional consciousness?   What will happen when robots are a real day-to-day, one-in-every-household item?  Will we grow attached to them, like our pets?  Will we give them human attributes and relate to them, sometimes instead of other people?  I really wonder...

Comments

[Ken]

I noted that you filed this in "nonsense":

The robotic vacuum cleaner may already have a name. Perhaps it's a unique number and you just don't know what it is?

Several decades ago I read a book titled Beyond Supernature by Lyall Watson. He cited some scientific studies (which I did not pursue) and made the case that plants and trees were possibly conscious, and that it was our perception, partly a result of the fact that plants and trees do not move from their birthplace (sprouting or planting place?) like animals do, that tends to make us assume they are not conscious. He then went on to present his rational for their consciousness, which included their ability to communicate with each other.

Robotic vacuums seem to move around, so, consider the following questions: Can the vacuum find its own power receptacle to self-serve itself power? Does it come with a wireless interface of some kind for communication?

A world without love is difficult for humans to imagine, but isn't a world without fear the dream of many? If humans are building robots that have the potential for consciousness either in the past, now, or in the future, and if it were possible to give them emotions such as animals have, then would it be desirable to do so?

Perhaps the experience of any such conscious machine would be different from humans or animals, in a analogous way to the differences between plants and animals, so why would humans wish machines to have the qualities that we possess that seem, at many times, highly flawed?

[Tonya @ Kingfisher Cove]

Especially if it's cute, right? Which your little vac sounds like it is! How do you like it? I've been contemplating one myself!

[Margaret]

In answer to your question, I certainly will. Anything that helps me around the house is my best friend!

[Leslie]

Great question! Makes me stop and think about how I relate to my car, my Mac....haven't even made to the robot stage yet!! LOL