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The New Breed: How to Think About Robots
'A must read for anyone interested in the emerging ethics of robotics' Irene M. Pepperberg
A bold, optimistic exploration of the relationship between robots and humans based on our history with animals, from a renowned MIT researcher
The robots are here. They make our cars, they deliver fast food, they mine the sea floor. And in the near-future their presence will increasingly enter our homes and workplaces - making human-robot interaction a frequent, everyday occurrence. What will this future look like? What will define the relationship between humans and robots?
Here Kate Darling, a world-renowned expert in robot ethics, shows that in order to understand the new robot world, we must first move beyond the idea that this technology will be something like us. Instead, she argues, we should look to our relationship with animals. Just as we have harnessed the power of animals to aid us in war and work, so too will robots supplement - rather than replace - our own skills and abilities.
A deeply original analysis of our technological future and the ethical dilemmas that await us, The New Breed explains how the treatment of machines can reveal a new understanding of our own history, our own systems and how we relate - not just to non-humans, but also to each other.
A bold, optimistic exploration of the relationship between robots and humans based on our history with animals, from a renowned MIT researcher
The robots are here. They make our cars, they deliver fast food, they mine the sea floor. And in the near-future their presence will increasingly enter our homes and workplaces - making human-robot interaction a frequent, everyday occurrence. What will this future look like? What will define the relationship between humans and robots?
Here Kate Darling, a world-renowned expert in robot ethics, shows that in order to understand the new robot world, we must first move beyond the idea that this technology will be something like us. Instead, she argues, we should look to our relationship with animals. Just as we have harnessed the power of animals to aid us in war and work, so too will robots supplement - rather than replace - our own skills and abilities.
A deeply original analysis of our technological future and the ethical dilemmas that await us, The New Breed explains how the treatment of machines can reveal a new understanding of our own history, our own systems and how we relate - not just to non-humans, but also to each other.
315 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
January 24, 2021
I'm conflicted about this book. On the one hand it has a very interesting thesis (and a way of thinking of robot human relations that I hadn't considered before). It's also full of lots of interesting examples, anecdotes, and histories of animals in human society. But for some reason it wasn't that great a read. It felt disjointed and jumpy, as if the author was going from one cool set of stories to another, and I didn't catch much of a unifying cohesion or through line to her story. In the end I appreciate it for the stories and a new way of thinking, but I feel like it could have been better than it was.
**Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
**Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
February 11, 2022
3,5*
[...] 'we need to move beyond the idea that robots are here to replace humans and understand that our past, current, and future relationships are more complex than that. Yes, having robots may bridge a need for connection in cases where other connections aren't possible. But the most likely and ideal case, just like we're seen with our pets, is that robots will become a new type of relationship altogether.'
Ši knyga - apie robotus/dirbtinį intelektą (DI), apie mūsų ryšius su jais, tame tarpe ir emocinius. Įdoms rakursas - robotų lyginimas su mūsų prijaukintais gyvūnais - naudai, pramogai, komfortui. Šiuos ryšius autorė apžvelgia istoriškai, analizuoja, lygina juos su robotais ir DI. Knygoje šiai naujai neorganiniai rūšiai autorė ir advokatauja. Ji dirba MIT Media laboratorijoje, kur fokusuojasi į robotų etiką. Štai prašau jums ir Azimovas. Man labai patiko Kate Darling įžvalgos apie mūsų psichologiją auginamų namuose gyvūnų atžvilgiu ir besimezgančius ryšius su robotais. Jos laboratorijoje daryti eksperimentai su robotukais-dinozaurais - labai iškalbingi. Niekam nekilo ranka mušti (buvo duota tokia užduotis) neseniai vaikštinėjusio ir mielus garsus leidusio gyvio.
Ačiūdiev, vis garsiau kalbama apie gyvūnų teisę. Turėkim omeny, kad ateityje bus ir DI teisė. Ir tai yra normalu, bet, damn, kaip klaikiai tai skamba, kuomet daug kur elementarios žmogaus teisės yra ignoruojamos.
Negaliu sakyti, kad autorė pakeitė mano požiūrį į DI ir robotus apskritai. Aš jį pradėjau keisti jau palyginus senokai. Gal nuo Azimovo skaitymo laikų. Tačiau kai kurios mintys buvo netikėtos. Mėgstu mintinius netikėtumus.
Summa summarum, būtų dar labaiu patikusi, jei būtų geriau parašyta. Tema mane labai domina, bet tekstas, mano galva, tiesiog nesutvarkytas. Ypač nervino autorės nuklydimai į naminių gyvūnų ir augintinių labai ilgas istorijas ir šiaip visokie pasikartojimai. Tikrai jautėsi autorės dalyko išmanymas, bet rašytoja iš jos nekokia. Tačiau skaityti vis tiek verta - gausu įdomios informacijos.
[...] 'we need to move beyond the idea that robots are here to replace humans and understand that our past, current, and future relationships are more complex than that. Yes, having robots may bridge a need for connection in cases where other connections aren't possible. But the most likely and ideal case, just like we're seen with our pets, is that robots will become a new type of relationship altogether.'
Ši knyga - apie robotus/dirbtinį intelektą (DI), apie mūsų ryšius su jais, tame tarpe ir emocinius. Įdoms rakursas - robotų lyginimas su mūsų prijaukintais gyvūnais - naudai, pramogai, komfortui. Šiuos ryšius autorė apžvelgia istoriškai, analizuoja, lygina juos su robotais ir DI. Knygoje šiai naujai neorganiniai rūšiai autorė ir advokatauja. Ji dirba MIT Media laboratorijoje, kur fokusuojasi į robotų etiką. Štai prašau jums ir Azimovas. Man labai patiko Kate Darling įžvalgos apie mūsų psichologiją auginamų namuose gyvūnų atžvilgiu ir besimezgančius ryšius su robotais. Jos laboratorijoje daryti eksperimentai su robotukais-dinozaurais - labai iškalbingi. Niekam nekilo ranka mušti (buvo duota tokia užduotis) neseniai vaikštinėjusio ir mielus garsus leidusio gyvio.
Ačiūdiev, vis garsiau kalbama apie gyvūnų teisę. Turėkim omeny, kad ateityje bus ir DI teisė. Ir tai yra normalu, bet, damn, kaip klaikiai tai skamba, kuomet daug kur elementarios žmogaus teisės yra ignoruojamos.
Negaliu sakyti, kad autorė pakeitė mano požiūrį į DI ir robotus apskritai. Aš jį pradėjau keisti jau palyginus senokai. Gal nuo Azimovo skaitymo laikų. Tačiau kai kurios mintys buvo netikėtos. Mėgstu mintinius netikėtumus.
Summa summarum, būtų dar labaiu patikusi, jei būtų geriau parašyta. Tema mane labai domina, bet tekstas, mano galva, tiesiog nesutvarkytas. Ypač nervino autorės nuklydimai į naminių gyvūnų ir augintinių labai ilgas istorijas ir šiaip visokie pasikartojimai. Tikrai jautėsi autorės dalyko išmanymas, bet rašytoja iš jos nekokia. Tačiau skaityti vis tiek verta - gausu įdomios informacijos.
May 19, 2021
This book is based on a fascinating concept - that we've got robots all wrong. Kate Darling is admittedly a robot enthusiast, but she makes a convincing argument that too often we compare robots to humans, where a more useful parallel might be domesticated animals. As Darling shows, most of things that worry us about robots, whether it's their usurping us or needing robot rights, are concerns that have already been developed in some depth when we think of animals.
Darling also suggests that long term we don't need to worry about robots taking our jobs, just as the luddites didn't need to worry about technology - robots can and will cause disruption, but long term the outcome is more likely to be beneficial than negative. Darling also points out that predictions of robots doing more generalised tasks tend to hugely over-promise. Self-driving cars, for example, still have a long way to go and many robotic devices still need human oversight. (You might not think of self-driving cars as robots, but one of the underlying themes here is that useful robots are hardly ever the SF humanoid cliché.)
This isn't a totally rose-tinted picture, though. Darling does remind us of the issues faced by anything making life-changing decisions for us based on artificial intelligence - but overall, with the right safeguards, she is enthusiastic about a future where robots will have a similar relation to us as pets and working animals.
The one shame about this book is that it didn't have a science writer as co-author. Although Darling starts off in a chatty fashion, the writing suffers considerably from needing a good writer's oversight, to cut down on the significant amount of repetition and to give more sense of narrative to what can often seem like a collection of facts and ideas with insufficient structure. There is also too much on the history of animal domestication and animal rights - it needed to be fed in, but not to have whole chapters dedicated to it. It might also have helped with some of the prehistoric context. For example we are told that humans have punished animals for hundreds of thousands of years - that's a bit of a stretch.
Overall, though, despite some writing issues, the book is thought-provoking and at a time when the ethics of AI and robotics is a popular topic, provides genuinely novel insights and imagination.
Darling also suggests that long term we don't need to worry about robots taking our jobs, just as the luddites didn't need to worry about technology - robots can and will cause disruption, but long term the outcome is more likely to be beneficial than negative. Darling also points out that predictions of robots doing more generalised tasks tend to hugely over-promise. Self-driving cars, for example, still have a long way to go and many robotic devices still need human oversight. (You might not think of self-driving cars as robots, but one of the underlying themes here is that useful robots are hardly ever the SF humanoid cliché.)
This isn't a totally rose-tinted picture, though. Darling does remind us of the issues faced by anything making life-changing decisions for us based on artificial intelligence - but overall, with the right safeguards, she is enthusiastic about a future where robots will have a similar relation to us as pets and working animals.
The one shame about this book is that it didn't have a science writer as co-author. Although Darling starts off in a chatty fashion, the writing suffers considerably from needing a good writer's oversight, to cut down on the significant amount of repetition and to give more sense of narrative to what can often seem like a collection of facts and ideas with insufficient structure. There is also too much on the history of animal domestication and animal rights - it needed to be fed in, but not to have whole chapters dedicated to it. It might also have helped with some of the prehistoric context. For example we are told that humans have punished animals for hundreds of thousands of years - that's a bit of a stretch.
Overall, though, despite some writing issues, the book is thought-provoking and at a time when the ethics of AI and robotics is a popular topic, provides genuinely novel insights and imagination.
October 13, 2021
It took me a while to get into this book. In the first third or so of the book I started reading mainly topic sentences. The author discussed "The robots are taking our jobs." While factual and thoughtful, many people, me included, have already followed those arguments.
The later part of the book was much more interesting to me, in that our reactions to robots are often similar to our reactions to animals. The author drew parallels to our love/empathy to household pets and farm animals. Most of these comparisons made a lot of sense, but also stimulated a desire for more such experiments and research. I want to have more on this topic.
The later part of the book was much more interesting to me, in that our reactions to robots are often similar to our reactions to animals. The author drew parallels to our love/empathy to household pets and farm animals. Most of these comparisons made a lot of sense, but also stimulated a desire for more such experiments and research. I want to have more on this topic.
August 2, 2021
With this book, Darling succeeds in bringing a different perspective to discussions and predictions in the area of human-robot interaction. She’s right to point out that most of the philosophical energy spent on imagining our future with robots is focused on robots that are human-like, and the idea that we will have robots that are animal-like much sooner is certainly a neglected topic.
However, I’m not sure there was really a book’s worth to say on this topic. The book reads largely like a survey of academic literature on HRI with forays into psychology and the history and future of animal rights. I find it all to be quite reasonable, and for the short to medium term, it’s worth thinking about these things, so I’m glad that Darling and others are doing so. As advances in robotics deliver more on the promise of assistants that extend human capabilities, I hope and expect that engineers are keeping these things in mind while they’re designing these machines.
More importantly, though, none of this is an argument against consideration of the things Darling seems to think people are wasting their time on: the possibility of robots replacing human workers, the ethics of building machines that might be conscious and/or have the ability to suffer; and of course the possibility of the development of superintelligent AI. These things also have their place, and even if Darling is right that we should be more concerned about the analogies between how we’ve treated animals and how we’ll treat robots in the next 25 years, what about in the next 75?
It’s certainly feasible that engineers will look to our history with animals and develop companions, assistants, and partners for humans that are very different from us in many unique and useful ways. But there’s no reason to think that they’ll stop there - rather, they’ll continue to build upon those capabilities, and will eventually arrive at something that has unique intellectual abilities as well. And those abilities, given the higher limits of processing speed and power available on a mechanical rather than biological platform, will potentially put us in relationship to an entity that may well be able to decide how to treat us, the way we’ve decided how to treat animals.
In summary, I found the book worthwhile, but the key points that Darling made were ones that I’d gotten the basic idea of just from hearing her in a podcast interview, with much of the additional content being references to back up her position. And as noted, there’s no need to downplay the longer term concerns in favor of her view - it seems to me that both perspectives are valid and worthy of further discussion and study.
Note: I received a free advance copy of this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. Thanks very much to the author and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review it!
However, I’m not sure there was really a book’s worth to say on this topic. The book reads largely like a survey of academic literature on HRI with forays into psychology and the history and future of animal rights. I find it all to be quite reasonable, and for the short to medium term, it’s worth thinking about these things, so I’m glad that Darling and others are doing so. As advances in robotics deliver more on the promise of assistants that extend human capabilities, I hope and expect that engineers are keeping these things in mind while they’re designing these machines.
More importantly, though, none of this is an argument against consideration of the things Darling seems to think people are wasting their time on: the possibility of robots replacing human workers, the ethics of building machines that might be conscious and/or have the ability to suffer; and of course the possibility of the development of superintelligent AI. These things also have their place, and even if Darling is right that we should be more concerned about the analogies between how we’ve treated animals and how we’ll treat robots in the next 25 years, what about in the next 75?
It’s certainly feasible that engineers will look to our history with animals and develop companions, assistants, and partners for humans that are very different from us in many unique and useful ways. But there’s no reason to think that they’ll stop there - rather, they’ll continue to build upon those capabilities, and will eventually arrive at something that has unique intellectual abilities as well. And those abilities, given the higher limits of processing speed and power available on a mechanical rather than biological platform, will potentially put us in relationship to an entity that may well be able to decide how to treat us, the way we’ve decided how to treat animals.
In summary, I found the book worthwhile, but the key points that Darling made were ones that I’d gotten the basic idea of just from hearing her in a podcast interview, with much of the additional content being references to back up her position. And as noted, there’s no need to downplay the longer term concerns in favor of her view - it seems to me that both perspectives are valid and worthy of further discussion and study.
Note: I received a free advance copy of this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. Thanks very much to the author and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review it!
January 20, 2023
This was an interesting read but I didn’t love all of it. In this book the author compares robots to animals instead of comparing them to humans which I think has often been the case, from this we certainly get a different perspective and potentially a more relevant comparison too. I’m not sure animals are entirely the right way to go, and she (the author) admits this herself, but having read this book I do believe it makes more sense than anything else I can think of.
The book is more about actual robots with a physical body than AI smart devices for example although all ‘robots’ are mentioned/covered to some extent.
This is definitely one to make you think, the book's purpose is to challenge the singular view of robots, and you’re “encouraged to stretch your mind and question your underlying assumptions” regarding robots and even animals for that matter. On that point however I felt at times the author discusses animals and how they are treated almost more than the robots, I get we are using them as examples, but a little more on the robot side of the conversation would have been better.
I found this book to be a refreshing view having read many books about how robots/AI will be the end of us all and/or take our jobs, it was a new angle for me at least but is she right? At times she seems so far the other way, being overly positive, almost like she had been sponsored by the robotics companies themselves.
Overall the book was a little up and down for me, yes it did make me think and I definitely have some ideas to mull over now regarding how we think about robots, and also how we think and treat animals too (there is a lot of this) but it did get a bit repetitive, this is one big argument for how we deal with robots told in several different ways, with a lot of animal examples, some of which I found interesting but at times it felt like a laborious read when she’s trying to make the same point repeatedly. I feel like this book could have even been shorter, although it’s not long at 230 pages.
A hard one to score, I think I am somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I’ll be kind and round up for the fact that she got my cogs whirring, but I am glad to be done with this now.
The book is more about actual robots with a physical body than AI smart devices for example although all ‘robots’ are mentioned/covered to some extent.
This is definitely one to make you think, the book's purpose is to challenge the singular view of robots, and you’re “encouraged to stretch your mind and question your underlying assumptions” regarding robots and even animals for that matter. On that point however I felt at times the author discusses animals and how they are treated almost more than the robots, I get we are using them as examples, but a little more on the robot side of the conversation would have been better.
I found this book to be a refreshing view having read many books about how robots/AI will be the end of us all and/or take our jobs, it was a new angle for me at least but is she right? At times she seems so far the other way, being overly positive, almost like she had been sponsored by the robotics companies themselves.
Overall the book was a little up and down for me, yes it did make me think and I definitely have some ideas to mull over now regarding how we think about robots, and also how we think and treat animals too (there is a lot of this) but it did get a bit repetitive, this is one big argument for how we deal with robots told in several different ways, with a lot of animal examples, some of which I found interesting but at times it felt like a laborious read when she’s trying to make the same point repeatedly. I feel like this book could have even been shorter, although it’s not long at 230 pages.
A hard one to score, I think I am somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I’ll be kind and round up for the fact that she got my cogs whirring, but I am glad to be done with this now.
June 15, 2023
This book is great- I spend 10 minutes reading an analysis of how the Lassie franchise changed postwar Americas perception of dogs and then suddenly I remember I’m reading a book about robots.
September 5, 2024
There are unquestionably some interesting observations, historical anecdotes, thought experiments, and speculations in this book. But none of them were "wow!" inducing. One story about people asked to torture a toy dinosaur got closest to the "wow" mark for me but didn't quite cross. Honestly, without the wow factor of our imminent future, all that's left is a somewhat depressing history of how despicable (at worst) and hypocritical (at best) human beings are. I might point out that human beings are also animals, and as we've made a pretty sizeable mess of this planet and still haven't figured out how to be nice to each other, how we treat robots in the future isn't really the next hot topic on my radar.
So why did I read this? It says right there in the subtitle: "What our history with animals reveals about our future with robots." I wanted a future reveal.
Darling implies we're likely to treat robots badly, hypocritically, and inconsistently... just like we treat animals now. Not the earth-shattering thesis I was hoping for, and one that could've been adequately explained in a well-organized forty or so paged essay. As it stands, the book has a lot of filler, repetition, and digressions that led to me taking forever to finish it.
Darling writes well and isn't condescending, even when talking on topics she clearly has chosen a side to. Her prose is conversational and easy to read, which aided greatly in my experience. Still, hard to recommend a book that doesn't really do much more than state what we all kind of already know. Or at least I did. While I never sat down and thought: how would murdering a teddy bear make me feel? I didn't need a full-length book to help me answer that question once it was posed. I know that when my kids break their stuff, anthropomorphic or not, it bugs me. I feel like that alone will help me navigate the robot apocalypse.
2.5 stars rounded up.
Thanks Good Reads and Henry Holt for the ARC and sorry for taking forever to review it.
So why did I read this? It says right there in the subtitle: "What our history with animals reveals about our future with robots." I wanted a future reveal.
Darling implies we're likely to treat robots badly, hypocritically, and inconsistently... just like we treat animals now. Not the earth-shattering thesis I was hoping for, and one that could've been adequately explained in a well-organized forty or so paged essay. As it stands, the book has a lot of filler, repetition, and digressions that led to me taking forever to finish it.
Darling writes well and isn't condescending, even when talking on topics she clearly has chosen a side to. Her prose is conversational and easy to read, which aided greatly in my experience. Still, hard to recommend a book that doesn't really do much more than state what we all kind of already know. Or at least I did. While I never sat down and thought: how would murdering a teddy bear make me feel? I didn't need a full-length book to help me answer that question once it was posed. I know that when my kids break their stuff, anthropomorphic or not, it bugs me. I feel like that alone will help me navigate the robot apocalypse.
2.5 stars rounded up.
Thanks Good Reads and Henry Holt for the ARC and sorry for taking forever to review it.
Read
April 20, 2021#183
The Good
1. Puts into perspective what is important when talking about robots- for example, how close we are to actual A.I. terminator robots vs how close we are to say the normalization of digital surveillance. I still think we have to be mindful of the push to replace us with robots but it may not even be a possibility in any of our lifetimes.
2. The insight into our relationship with animals – how that could mirror in a some ways how our relationship with robots will be. It made me think of Bright Green Lies which brought up similar ideas about our relationship with non-humans.
3. The bit of history shown of animals put on trial.
4. It does acknowledge the biases that are put into our technology & that we could input in our technology ways to challenge these biases.
5. We underestimate the power of human empathy and apathy.
The Bad
1. Repetitive a bit with the main premise- it felt like the same thing was being said over and over in the same way.
2. Instead it would have been interesting to expand more on certain ideas. – under examined ideas.
3. Especially, since it really hit its stride for me in the last 100 or 70 pages.
Overall
Throughout this year I have been unintentionally getting into books that each add different perspectives/thoughts about technology. So I am happy to add another book that takes my thoughts about technology in a different direction.
Other Books
Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It
The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them
I won this arc from a goodreads giveaway by Henry Holt
The Good
1. Puts into perspective what is important when talking about robots- for example, how close we are to actual A.I. terminator robots vs how close we are to say the normalization of digital surveillance. I still think we have to be mindful of the push to replace us with robots but it may not even be a possibility in any of our lifetimes.
2. The insight into our relationship with animals – how that could mirror in a some ways how our relationship with robots will be. It made me think of Bright Green Lies which brought up similar ideas about our relationship with non-humans.
3. The bit of history shown of animals put on trial.
4. It does acknowledge the biases that are put into our technology & that we could input in our technology ways to challenge these biases.
5. We underestimate the power of human empathy and apathy.
The Bad
1. Repetitive a bit with the main premise- it felt like the same thing was being said over and over in the same way.
2. Instead it would have been interesting to expand more on certain ideas. – under examined ideas.
3. Especially, since it really hit its stride for me in the last 100 or 70 pages.
Overall
Throughout this year I have been unintentionally getting into books that each add different perspectives/thoughts about technology. So I am happy to add another book that takes my thoughts about technology in a different direction.
Other Books
Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It
The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them
I won this arc from a goodreads giveaway by Henry Holt
May 8, 2021
Dr. Darling's premise here is that we should look at our (human's) relationship with robots, in the future, based on our relationship with animals in the past and present. That is, not as replacements for humans ("robots are taking our jobs") but as a supplement to humans in the way we use animals for work, companionship, etc. She makes the point most clearly and succinctly in the 4-page epilogue. I may have saved you from reading the book, though if that sounds interesting to you, give it a go. Most of the rest of the book contains examples to make her point. It's well written and she takes a conversational tone that makes it easy reading, and often peppers her writing with personal stories and jokes that liven up the prose. I liked it while I was reading it, but I'm not sure how long it will stick with me. I won my copy through Goodreads' giveaways.
March 16, 2022
The overall premise of comparing how we could build and relate to robots with how we've related to nonhuman animals was compelling, novel, and important. The book is easy to read and appropriate for a popular audience who want an introduction to humans' relationship to robots and humanity's history with nonhuman animals. My only issue was in the overuse of the concept of anthropomorphism and even to an extent empathy. More nuance on these psychological processes could have really enhanced Darling's arguments.
December 30, 2022
This is one of those books that has a catchy title and looks interesting but it was too lacking in everything robotics. There are some interesting stories, such as the initial discussion on human robot interaction and managing expectations in robot design. Some animal anecdotes were also interesting, e.g. animal trials. But the book is so repetitive and bloated, e.g. the anthropomorphism section. Would have liked more robotics specific chapters and was secretly hoping for a parody chapter where we become the pets of robots - hopefully they keep us around 🤖.
July 14, 2023
Informative!
This book really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I found some of the experiments that were conducted with small focus groups of people to be extremely interesting and revealing. I think there is hope for humanity and our future relationship with robots. Yes, there are evil people, there always will be whether they're dealing with animals, children or robots. But I have hope that technology and good will prevail.
This book really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I found some of the experiments that were conducted with small focus groups of people to be extremely interesting and revealing. I think there is hope for humanity and our future relationship with robots. Yes, there are evil people, there always will be whether they're dealing with animals, children or robots. But I have hope that technology and good will prevail.
October 31, 2024
This whole book is built around one intuition, which in itself is very interesting. However, the author collects fun stories illustrating different aspects of that intuition to “make her case”. She offers no conceptual structure to think about the philosophical and ethical issues involved in her views, and her takes on some of the scientific evidence are slightly more than anecdotal.
The book felt like a 300-pages-long TED talk, which is exciting and it really leaves you wondering; but it doesn’t go deeper into the ideas but just hovers about them.
The book felt like a 300-pages-long TED talk, which is exciting and it really leaves you wondering; but it doesn’t go deeper into the ideas but just hovers about them.
November 16, 2022
A unique perspective into robots and how we as humans will interact with them. The author revealed some comparisons that led to discussions and late night thinking of certain scenarios.
I’d recommend this book for anyone who wants to imagine how robots will be a part of society today, tomorrow and in the future.
I’m excited to be a part of the journey.
I’d recommend this book for anyone who wants to imagine how robots will be a part of society today, tomorrow and in the future.
I’m excited to be a part of the journey.
December 30, 2024
Not what I was expecting, but not due to the description but because of someone else's recommendation. I almost put it down, but it became more compelling when it started to get into the history, philosophy, and morality of our relationships with animals and how that might apply to robots.
November 30, 2023
Jedna z najlepších kníh aké som kedy čítala. Aspoň pre mňa plná inšpiratívnych podnetov na zamyslenie. Etické a právne výzvy umelej inteligencie podané v tejto knihe na histórii vzťahu ľudstva k zvieratám a ich právam vypovedajú veľa o človeku. Ale aj o nádeji a zmene k väčšej citlivosti.
February 17, 2022
I thought this was extremely interesting and original, considered and well written
June 21, 2022
3.5. I don't think a whole book would have been necessary to get the message across. It made it a bit slow and repetitive. Still, it was a 'fun' read. I especially liked her view - which I have myself too - that robots should be seen not as replacements or copies of us but rather as compagnons: they should add to our lives something that we cannot.
March 16, 2025
This is a rather strange book. Seems like the author, Kate Darling has had an idea and wants to push it to the limit. The basic idea is that we have no need to worry about Robots taking over the world. We just need to think about them as we think of our pets. And apply the same sort of logic to robots that we apply to our pets. Issues of animal cruelty: the same can apply to cruelty to robots. Well, my own view on this is that I think she is profoundly wrong. I think she should take a long hard look at what Suleyman Mustafa says in his recent book “The Coming Wave”. OK I’ve only read the Blinkist summary version of the book and this review is based on that summary version. But, unless the crew at Blinkist have made a hash of it, then I think Darling is far to blasé, and way out of step with what is happening with AI. I find this very odd because she is working at MIT in the heart of the action in this area. Anyway, I think it’s really dangerous to think that robots are going to remain those cute little machines with googly eyes that deliver your food in restaurants in Japan now or that vacuum up the dust in your house or that plough your fields. With the incredible improvements that are taking place with AI it’s just a matter of time before the machines are smarter than us and when that happens we become the gorillas in the zoo. Or the pets kept by the machines.
Anyway, here is the gist of what she says:
Make no mistake: there will be more robots in the future, but who says they’re going to look or act like humans?......But so far, there’s little to suggest that the threat is so imminent. AI is nowhere near the level of the human mind. In fact, a human toddler is better at performing simple tasks such as identifying a glass of water or momentarily stopping a task to pick up something that fell on the floor. [Is this really the case? AI with feedback looks so it can self improve is going ahead is leaps and bounds....I think this statement is already out of date].
But AI can act like a different kind of autonomous being. It can learn, it can react–albeit in ways that are different from humans, but perhaps not so different from animals....Humans have always found ways to improve their lives through animal relationships. Oxen made it possible to transform agriculture on a mass scale. Horses and camels made long-distance transportation feasible. Dogs helped us hunt for food and became such beloved companions that we consider them family members.....These are the kinds of things that robots can already do.
In the early 1800s, the famed Luddites staged an uprising over the deployment of textile machines......The key message here is: We have a long history of working alongside programmed autonomous assistants.. [again, I think this is myopic thinking....The luddites are always trotted out as examples of people trying to stop the march of technology...ultimately failing but still humanity ended off better off and everyone found new and more exciting jobs. This is the classical economists article....Don’t worry we are smart we will find new and better jobs. Well, as Mustafa Suleman points out, this time with advanced AI and with advanced DNA techniques.....things might well be different. And there might be a lot of people (like economists) looking for new jobs]. ....Throughout the years, animals have helped us in countless ways both big and small. Carrier pigeons have performed acts of espionage during numerous conflicts. Ferrets have helped engineers run wires and cables through underground pipes in London.....If we continue to think of robots as performing the kind of narrow-focused tasks we’ve given to animals, we can continue to use our technological advances in even more incredible ways.
By keeping animals in mind we could come up with better designs and laws for robots....In Austria, the owner of a Rottweiler dog must be sober when they take the dog for a walk...It’s not hard to imagine similar degrees of regulation put on future robots, and their owners. [This seems mind-bogglingly naïve....the real issue is going to be how do we put controls on what these new breed robots and advanced AI ...especially Artificial Capable Intelligence or Artificial General Intelligence.....will be doing in the future].
There's solid evidence showing how household pets can lower your cortisol levels, improve your immune system, as well as reduce levels of depression and chronic pain.....Therapy animals have been a growing tool at places like schools, hospitals.
People have already grown used to conversing with digital assistants through their phones
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders have marvelled at how AI robots have opened new avenues for improved communication with their kids.
Human beings have a very natural tendency to anthropomorphize robots, or attribute human traits to them...Just as you wouldn't want a veterinarian to offer you a new dog, customers wanted their Dustin Bieber to be fixed, not replaced.....How attached people can get, and how far they'd be willing to go to keep their robot companions "alive” is something that needs to be sorted out. Another concern is surveillance.....So many voice-activated smart devices are being brought into our homes that it's difficult to know what's being recorded.
In establishing laws to protect robots, we may also improve our animal rights laws.
What if the owner was the one stomping on his own robot dog as it flailed and yelped under his foot? Should such behavior be considered acceptable?..In considering robot rights, we could again learn from our history with animals and perhaps even discover ways of improving our current laws and regulations in the process.....Pigs have been shown to be just as smart as some dogs, but far fewer people have spent enough time with them to develop empathy......It should be clear that abusing any animal, as well as abusing any robot, either human-like or animal-like, is ultimately unethical and potentially harmful to our society.
SummaryFor generations, we've been exposed to the idea of robots in the form of human-like machines that are often smarter and stronger than us. Many of us have come to equate robots with a threat to humanity. And with recent advances in artificial intelligence, the concern that robots may take our jobs and have more control over our lives has only increased.
But technology is nowhere near the level of replacing the human mind or taking over the jobs that we're uniquely capable of. Instead, the future of robotics is more likely to be similar to our relationship with animals, which has been historically beneficial in many ways. Robots, like animals, can be tools and companions. They can assist us to perform jobs and achieve otherwise impossible ends. Many questions surround the ethics and potential problems we may face as more robots enter our households, but by looking at our history with animals, we can get a better understanding of how to answer those questions.
So what’s my overall take on this book? It seems very old fashioned. In fact, I thought that it had been written about 10-15 years ago. But no. It was written about 2021. Admittedly, before Chat GPT and variants and DeepSeek that has just emerged. But I think her whole thesis is badly flawed. It’s as though she has no concept of the issues of run-away intelligence that can pose great dangers to humanity......”No..don’t worry!” ...she seems to be saying....”it’s going to be more like your pooch, Jess lying at your feet”. Well that’s not what the guys who are designing these AI programs are telling us. A lot of them seem to be worried about putting constraints’ on the AI that can actually work. I give the book one star.
Anyway, here is the gist of what she says:
Make no mistake: there will be more robots in the future, but who says they’re going to look or act like humans?......But so far, there’s little to suggest that the threat is so imminent. AI is nowhere near the level of the human mind. In fact, a human toddler is better at performing simple tasks such as identifying a glass of water or momentarily stopping a task to pick up something that fell on the floor. [Is this really the case? AI with feedback looks so it can self improve is going ahead is leaps and bounds....I think this statement is already out of date].
But AI can act like a different kind of autonomous being. It can learn, it can react–albeit in ways that are different from humans, but perhaps not so different from animals....Humans have always found ways to improve their lives through animal relationships. Oxen made it possible to transform agriculture on a mass scale. Horses and camels made long-distance transportation feasible. Dogs helped us hunt for food and became such beloved companions that we consider them family members.....These are the kinds of things that robots can already do.
In the early 1800s, the famed Luddites staged an uprising over the deployment of textile machines......The key message here is: We have a long history of working alongside programmed autonomous assistants.. [again, I think this is myopic thinking....The luddites are always trotted out as examples of people trying to stop the march of technology...ultimately failing but still humanity ended off better off and everyone found new and more exciting jobs. This is the classical economists article....Don’t worry we are smart we will find new and better jobs. Well, as Mustafa Suleman points out, this time with advanced AI and with advanced DNA techniques.....things might well be different. And there might be a lot of people (like economists) looking for new jobs]. ....Throughout the years, animals have helped us in countless ways both big and small. Carrier pigeons have performed acts of espionage during numerous conflicts. Ferrets have helped engineers run wires and cables through underground pipes in London.....If we continue to think of robots as performing the kind of narrow-focused tasks we’ve given to animals, we can continue to use our technological advances in even more incredible ways.
By keeping animals in mind we could come up with better designs and laws for robots....In Austria, the owner of a Rottweiler dog must be sober when they take the dog for a walk...It’s not hard to imagine similar degrees of regulation put on future robots, and their owners. [This seems mind-bogglingly naïve....the real issue is going to be how do we put controls on what these new breed robots and advanced AI ...especially Artificial Capable Intelligence or Artificial General Intelligence.....will be doing in the future].
There's solid evidence showing how household pets can lower your cortisol levels, improve your immune system, as well as reduce levels of depression and chronic pain.....Therapy animals have been a growing tool at places like schools, hospitals.
People have already grown used to conversing with digital assistants through their phones
Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders have marvelled at how AI robots have opened new avenues for improved communication with their kids.
Human beings have a very natural tendency to anthropomorphize robots, or attribute human traits to them...Just as you wouldn't want a veterinarian to offer you a new dog, customers wanted their Dustin Bieber to be fixed, not replaced.....How attached people can get, and how far they'd be willing to go to keep their robot companions "alive” is something that needs to be sorted out. Another concern is surveillance.....So many voice-activated smart devices are being brought into our homes that it's difficult to know what's being recorded.
In establishing laws to protect robots, we may also improve our animal rights laws.
What if the owner was the one stomping on his own robot dog as it flailed and yelped under his foot? Should such behavior be considered acceptable?..In considering robot rights, we could again learn from our history with animals and perhaps even discover ways of improving our current laws and regulations in the process.....Pigs have been shown to be just as smart as some dogs, but far fewer people have spent enough time with them to develop empathy......It should be clear that abusing any animal, as well as abusing any robot, either human-like or animal-like, is ultimately unethical and potentially harmful to our society.
SummaryFor generations, we've been exposed to the idea of robots in the form of human-like machines that are often smarter and stronger than us. Many of us have come to equate robots with a threat to humanity. And with recent advances in artificial intelligence, the concern that robots may take our jobs and have more control over our lives has only increased.
But technology is nowhere near the level of replacing the human mind or taking over the jobs that we're uniquely capable of. Instead, the future of robotics is more likely to be similar to our relationship with animals, which has been historically beneficial in many ways. Robots, like animals, can be tools and companions. They can assist us to perform jobs and achieve otherwise impossible ends. Many questions surround the ethics and potential problems we may face as more robots enter our households, but by looking at our history with animals, we can get a better understanding of how to answer those questions.
So what’s my overall take on this book? It seems very old fashioned. In fact, I thought that it had been written about 10-15 years ago. But no. It was written about 2021. Admittedly, before Chat GPT and variants and DeepSeek that has just emerged. But I think her whole thesis is badly flawed. It’s as though she has no concept of the issues of run-away intelligence that can pose great dangers to humanity......”No..don’t worry!” ...she seems to be saying....”it’s going to be more like your pooch, Jess lying at your feet”. Well that’s not what the guys who are designing these AI programs are telling us. A lot of them seem to be worried about putting constraints’ on the AI that can actually work. I give the book one star.
June 5, 2021
This book is so damn good, it makes me sick. Although, I’ve been a computer nerd my whole life and love technology, I have little to no interest in robots or AI (Which is weird because as a kid, my dream was to go to MIT, so maybe I’m resentful because I realized how it was near impossible to fulfill that dream). So, when I saw this book recommended by another author I love, I left a reply on Twitter explaining that this topic isn’t really my thing. Then, after the author replied to my tweet (and this is surprisingly rare), I read the description and decided to give it a try because it mentioned that it was going to discuss some of the ethical and philosophical aspects of robots, and these are topics I do enjoy. Once I finally started reading htis book, I was hooked.
First off, Kate Darling is a great writer. I love to learn, but sometimes, when diving into unfamiliar territory, the jargon goes way over my head, and that’s what I was expecting from this book, but that wasn’t the case. Kate does an incredible job writing in a way that anyone can understand, but also, her whole thesis and comparing the history and treatment of animals to the future of robots made it even easier to follow. As a vegetarian, maybe Kate’s arguments resignated more with me, but I do think most people would enjoy this book. She covers so many great topics about the past, present, and future of robots and our relationships with them, and I was pleasantly surprised that there’s quite a bit of psychology discussed in the book as well.
So, do I recommend this book? Absolutely. Not only did I love this book, but she made me interested in the topic as a whole. Now that I’ve finished it, I have a bunch of books on my list to check out for more discussions around the ethical and philisophical aspects of robots and AI.
First off, Kate Darling is a great writer. I love to learn, but sometimes, when diving into unfamiliar territory, the jargon goes way over my head, and that’s what I was expecting from this book, but that wasn’t the case. Kate does an incredible job writing in a way that anyone can understand, but also, her whole thesis and comparing the history and treatment of animals to the future of robots made it even easier to follow. As a vegetarian, maybe Kate’s arguments resignated more with me, but I do think most people would enjoy this book. She covers so many great topics about the past, present, and future of robots and our relationships with them, and I was pleasantly surprised that there’s quite a bit of psychology discussed in the book as well.
So, do I recommend this book? Absolutely. Not only did I love this book, but she made me interested in the topic as a whole. Now that I’ve finished it, I have a bunch of books on my list to check out for more discussions around the ethical and philisophical aspects of robots and AI.
Read
July 23, 2022→ dnf @ 16%
Thank you Henry Holt & Co. for sending me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not dnf'ing this book because it's bad; I'm dnf'ing because I don't think I'm the right reader for it.
From what I read, I can tell you that The New Breed offers a very interesting perspective on our relationship with robots and AI and I actually enjoyed the points Kate Darling made. My problem is that reading this felt like reading a very dense essay. I just finished my final exam period and I desperately need a break from academic style writing. Reading this was literally giving me flashbacks to proofreading my essays (I'm dying out here <3) and I really don't want to spend my free time reading something that reminds me of my uni assignments. Don't get me wrong, it's very accessible and not at all hard to understand (again, Kate Darling does an excellent job here), but I just couldn't bring myself to keep pushing through something I wasn't that eager to read about.
I'd definitely recommend this to someone who is really keen to learn about this topic, and more willing to read a 300+ book on it. Unfortunately, that someone is not me. It took me three months to read 50 pages, and I'd rather not spend another year on this just for the sake of finishing it.
Thank you Henry Holt & Co. for sending me an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not dnf'ing this book because it's bad; I'm dnf'ing because I don't think I'm the right reader for it.
From what I read, I can tell you that The New Breed offers a very interesting perspective on our relationship with robots and AI and I actually enjoyed the points Kate Darling made. My problem is that reading this felt like reading a very dense essay. I just finished my final exam period and I desperately need a break from academic style writing. Reading this was literally giving me flashbacks to proofreading my essays (I'm dying out here <3) and I really don't want to spend my free time reading something that reminds me of my uni assignments. Don't get me wrong, it's very accessible and not at all hard to understand (again, Kate Darling does an excellent job here), but I just couldn't bring myself to keep pushing through something I wasn't that eager to read about.
I'd definitely recommend this to someone who is really keen to learn about this topic, and more willing to read a 300+ book on it. Unfortunately, that someone is not me. It took me three months to read 50 pages, and I'd rather not spend another year on this just for the sake of finishing it.
June 4, 2021
I’m obsessed with this book. Darling considers our future with robots (how do you define a robot?) through the lens of our history with animals. From economics and labor to empathy and companionship the parallels are striking and provocative.
I’ve not read a lot about robots so this may not be saying much but this book put forward ideas and questions I had never begun to consider. The ideas are novel in a way I’ve been missing post grad-school. On top of that the book is very readable, and well researched. Extensive citation of female scholars and activists (did you know there were women in tech!?) is the cherry on top.
I began recommending this to people before I even finished it and will continue to do so. Think it is of interest to futurists and vegetarians alike.
I’ve not read a lot about robots so this may not be saying much but this book put forward ideas and questions I had never begun to consider. The ideas are novel in a way I’ve been missing post grad-school. On top of that the book is very readable, and well researched. Extensive citation of female scholars and activists (did you know there were women in tech!?) is the cherry on top.
I began recommending this to people before I even finished it and will continue to do so. Think it is of interest to futurists and vegetarians alike.
January 27, 2022
First off, I'm a huge fan of Kate Darling and her research, so this review is probably slightly biased.
I really enjoyed all the topics that were explored, showing the connections between how we anthropomorphize animals and robots. I do wish that the author would've tied all the concepts explored together; instead, they're all transient ideas explored more or less independently of one another. I also think that the author underplayed future robotics/AI threats that humanity will eventually have to deal with.
I really enjoyed all the topics that were explored, showing the connections between how we anthropomorphize animals and robots. I do wish that the author would've tied all the concepts explored together; instead, they're all transient ideas explored more or less independently of one another. I also think that the author underplayed future robotics/AI threats that humanity will eventually have to deal with.
June 29, 2021
"When I think about our future with social robots, I want us to look beyond our current fears of replacement and see some of these important questions. What keeps me up at night isn't whether a sex robot with replace your partner, it's whether the company that make the sex robot will exploit you." (p. 169).
I like animals. I like robots. So when I heard an interview with the author on NPR, I had to pick this book up.
Darling's main point was that we can shift our fears from robots to the organizations controlling/making robots and view robots as supplements to the human experience, rather than replacements.
I'm not really sure if this book would change a die-hard "robots are going to take over!" type of person. Darling approaches the topic with lots of reasoning (robots can work alongside humans to create and achieve things humans alone couldn't do, the way adding animals to farm labor did in early agriculture; robots can do jobs too dull, dangerous, or dirty for humans; robots can provide comfort like therapy animal alternatives). She then addresses how our real fears should be directed not toward robot replacements for jobs/relationships, but towards governments/companies that want to take advantage of people for societal control and/or monetary gain. I think people who really fear the idea of robots would agree with Darling's point about who the real puppet masters are. But I think she would lose this audience by referencing her thesis, as is a standard in academia, over and over. There would need to be more acknowledgement of where this side's fears are coming from and meeting them where they are in their beliefs. For example, interviewing factory workers, portraying their fears with empathy, and then giving an anecdote on a similar situation with animals might help engage that type of reader.
There were a WHOLE lot of references from online news articles, Japan, and Brian Fagan's The Intimate Bond. My favorite anecdote from this novel was about the Pleo baby dinosaur robots at a conference. I also had a trip down memory lane to recall that brief moment in time where setting Tickle Me Elmo on fire was an internet trend. I definitely want to read the WIRED article by Daniel Roth based on the following quote Darling embedded. "Yet give something a couple of eyes and the hint of lifelike abilities and suddenly some ancient region of my brain starts firing off empathy signals. And I don't even like Elmo." (p.212) Speaking of empathy, Darling had great comments about the connection between people's empathy and how they treat robots socially.
Lastly, the section "New companions in Health and Education" definitely got me thinking how I may incorporate robots into speech therapy for school-age children. I could see myself in the future programing and working with a robot to demonstrate articulation cues based on the robot's quick analysis of spectrograms in real-time. And if a kid feels less pressure to practice articulation targets with a robot, that's great! The therapist is not replaced. Rather, the therapist would then get to focus on working with the child to transfer skills to different contexts. Darling acknowledged how therapists and parents should be cautious of "new therapy methods without sufficient evidence that they're effective" (p. 148). This line jumped out at me the most and is something I will remember when I think about my own future as an SLP working with supplemental technology. P.S., I'd love to read an article about neurodiversity and robots as communication partners rather than just the robot teaching an autistic child neurotypical communication skills.
February 22, 2022
Was I the only one who thought that if ever an AI wanted to convince humanity that AI and robots were not a threat, THIS would be the book Skynet would write?
So, I seem to be an outlier in my two-star opinion. I rate it only 'Okay' not because the book was poor, but rather that this treatment wasn't very informative and tended to repeat the premise rather than illustrating how thinking of AI partnerships as we do animal partnerships will be useful. So telling rather than showing. Neither did I appreciate the sense of inevitability of this integration. There is nothing inevitable about robotics, this is a choice of future not a requirement. Neither did the book address a basic difference between coexistence of humans with animals and with robots: the integration of animals was a negotiation, they were already here as a finished project. People needed to adapt to their capacities and learned to make do with the idiosyncrasies of a living thing with it's own agenda. Robotics is the creation of purpose-built agents that we can redefine at will. There is a very different dynamic happening, although I believe Darling has made a useful re-framing of future relationships. Also, Darling repeatedly suggests that our relationships with the animals we coexist with is free somehow of the anthropomorphism she believes is so damaging when applied to robots. That is just simply, obviously, wrong.
The good of the book was that it was very accessible and presented a sensible premise for rethinking how people can integrate more automation, more AI, and more functionally useful robotics into our daily experience. It just simply failed in my opinion to demonstrate what that would look like, and that is my only interest in reading this book.
I also wasn't all that fond of the little personal anecdotes found in each chapter. They didn't serve much of a purpose and were annoying in that Thomas Friedman (aka: The Mustache of Understanding) Meets Another Folk Philosopher Driving His Cab vein.
So, I seem to be an outlier in my two-star opinion. I rate it only 'Okay' not because the book was poor, but rather that this treatment wasn't very informative and tended to repeat the premise rather than illustrating how thinking of AI partnerships as we do animal partnerships will be useful. So telling rather than showing. Neither did I appreciate the sense of inevitability of this integration. There is nothing inevitable about robotics, this is a choice of future not a requirement. Neither did the book address a basic difference between coexistence of humans with animals and with robots: the integration of animals was a negotiation, they were already here as a finished project. People needed to adapt to their capacities and learned to make do with the idiosyncrasies of a living thing with it's own agenda. Robotics is the creation of purpose-built agents that we can redefine at will. There is a very different dynamic happening, although I believe Darling has made a useful re-framing of future relationships. Also, Darling repeatedly suggests that our relationships with the animals we coexist with is free somehow of the anthropomorphism she believes is so damaging when applied to robots. That is just simply, obviously, wrong.
The good of the book was that it was very accessible and presented a sensible premise for rethinking how people can integrate more automation, more AI, and more functionally useful robotics into our daily experience. It just simply failed in my opinion to demonstrate what that would look like, and that is my only interest in reading this book.
I also wasn't all that fond of the little personal anecdotes found in each chapter. They didn't serve much of a purpose and were annoying in that Thomas Friedman (aka: The Mustache of Understanding) Meets Another Folk Philosopher Driving His Cab vein.
August 6, 2021
Was wäre wenn wir aufhören Roboter mit Menschen zu vergleichen und stattdessen sie einmal mit Tieren vergleichen. Seit langer Zeit haben wir begonnen Tiere zu domestizieren und für unsere Zwecke zu nutzen. Wir nutzten dabei u.a. die Stärke von Pferden, der Riechsinn des Hundes und den Orientierungssinn von Brieftauben. Kate Darling führt uns ein in die Geschichte der erfolgreichen und nicht so erfolgreichen Nutzung von Tieren zur Erledigung von Aufgaben. Smarte Roboter können ebenfalls einige Sachen besser als wir. Sie sind aber auch häufig beschränkt in ihren Fähigkeiten. Immer wieder zieht sie deshalb den Vergleich zu smarten Robotern und zeigt auf, was es für unseren zukünftigen Umgang mit diesen heissen könnte. Können wir, wie zu Tieren, Beziehungen zu Roboter aufbauen? Können Roboter Empathie zu uns entwickeln oder ist es wie bei einigen Tieren nur eine von uns getragene Illusion? Sollten sie, vergleichbar zu Tieren, auch gewisse Rechte bekommen?
Endlich ein Buch, dass sich nicht nur um das Trolley-Dilemma dreht und mir einen neuen Blick ermöglichte auf ethische und moralische Fragen rund um künstliche Intelligenz und Roboter. Kate stellt auch immer den grösseren historischen Kontext dar und zeigt auf, wie sich unser Verhältnis mit Tieren über die Zeit änderte und durchaus unterschiedliche Positionen bestehen. Es fühlt sich auch einmal erfrischend an, nicht dauernd Roboter mit Menschen zu vergleichen, sondern einmal der Frage nachzugehen welchen Platz wir in unserer Gesellschaft mit teilen wollen.
Endlich ein Buch, dass sich nicht nur um das Trolley-Dilemma dreht und mir einen neuen Blick ermöglichte auf ethische und moralische Fragen rund um künstliche Intelligenz und Roboter. Kate stellt auch immer den grösseren historischen Kontext dar und zeigt auf, wie sich unser Verhältnis mit Tieren über die Zeit änderte und durchaus unterschiedliche Positionen bestehen. Es fühlt sich auch einmal erfrischend an, nicht dauernd Roboter mit Menschen zu vergleichen, sondern einmal der Frage nachzugehen welchen Platz wir in unserer Gesellschaft mit teilen wollen.
December 16, 2022
This was a really thought-provoking read. The book is an argument for a paradigm shift when it comes to how we think about robots; we typically compare them and their abilities to humans but our relationships with animals are a closer match.
I found the author’s criticism of sci-fi themes and tropes about robots refreshing. It’s more beneficial to imagine a world where we are in relationship with robots, not that they are going to outsmart and control us (that never made sense to me). Whether you agree with this view, the book is worth reading for a few reasons. First, it is packed with interesting facts about our (the West’s) treatment of animals throughout history. Another is the notion that we are wired to have empathy for robots and it’s completely irrational. Lastly, that examining how we treat robots can illuminate the inconsistencies around we treat animals (and I’ll extend to that, the planet).
A limitation of this book is that it’s strictly a Western view. The author is the the head of robot ethics for MIT and although it doesn’t read too academic, that is the bias. I would love if this book and conversation could have been expanded to include other views, particularly indigenous views (as they look at the human relationship to plants and animals in an entirely different way).
Highly recommend this read if you want to learn about robots and are willing to sit with some uncomfortable realities of the human psyche.
I found the author’s criticism of sci-fi themes and tropes about robots refreshing. It’s more beneficial to imagine a world where we are in relationship with robots, not that they are going to outsmart and control us (that never made sense to me). Whether you agree with this view, the book is worth reading for a few reasons. First, it is packed with interesting facts about our (the West’s) treatment of animals throughout history. Another is the notion that we are wired to have empathy for robots and it’s completely irrational. Lastly, that examining how we treat robots can illuminate the inconsistencies around we treat animals (and I’ll extend to that, the planet).
A limitation of this book is that it’s strictly a Western view. The author is the the head of robot ethics for MIT and although it doesn’t read too academic, that is the bias. I would love if this book and conversation could have been expanded to include other views, particularly indigenous views (as they look at the human relationship to plants and animals in an entirely different way).
Highly recommend this read if you want to learn about robots and are willing to sit with some uncomfortable realities of the human psyche.
November 11, 2023
A look to the past on how we treated our animals from not noticing them, to they make work simpler for us, to the family pet and how our treatment of animals will tell us how we will treat robots in our future.
I found this interesting. She goes into the history of animals in human society and how we treated them. There is humor here and truth in what she says. She says that how we have treated animals in the past is the steppingstone to how we will treat robots in our future. We put human characteristics on animals, and we are starting to do it with some robots that are in our lives. As robots become more prevalent the question is how much humanness will we give them? I enjoyed how she says non-scientists use Isaac Asimov's ROBOTS as a starting point. She points out that robots are not human, and humans are programming robots. I liked that she admits that sometimes she just has to walk away.
I liked how she look at the history of humans and animals with a little robot thrown in, then looks at present day and how animals went from work to companion, then looks at the future where there are more robots. She asks questions about laws and responsibility when things go wrong with a robot and a human or property is damaged. She makes good points.
This is easy to read. I found humor in it but also important ideas we need to think of as robots become more present in our workplace and homes.
I found this interesting. She goes into the history of animals in human society and how we treated them. There is humor here and truth in what she says. She says that how we have treated animals in the past is the steppingstone to how we will treat robots in our future. We put human characteristics on animals, and we are starting to do it with some robots that are in our lives. As robots become more prevalent the question is how much humanness will we give them? I enjoyed how she says non-scientists use Isaac Asimov's ROBOTS as a starting point. She points out that robots are not human, and humans are programming robots. I liked that she admits that sometimes she just has to walk away.
I liked how she look at the history of humans and animals with a little robot thrown in, then looks at present day and how animals went from work to companion, then looks at the future where there are more robots. She asks questions about laws and responsibility when things go wrong with a robot and a human or property is damaged. She makes good points.
This is easy to read. I found humor in it but also important ideas we need to think of as robots become more present in our workplace and homes.
August 9, 2021
Very good point on how to think about robots and AI
Not a fear mongering book at all. The author makes a point that to think about how we are going to and we are interacting with robots is thinking about how we interact with animals. She takes a long time to make that pont from all possible angles: replace of human labor? Robot rights? Are robots to replace humans in general? Do we feel bad about robots sentiments? The main argument is that studying how we interact with animals give us a framework. This is very good argument. Also she reviews the state of the art of possible and no, Terminator is not around the corner and maybe never be. For the future it is important to remember that all predictions on technology are hard and always missed what really transformed our life (internet? Mobile phones?). I was between a 4 or 3 stars because at least for me the book was hard to read, maybe the point with animals is stressed and, maybe, repeated too much? Also she points that it is hard to define what's robot is, and never come back to this point. And maybe she is right, we do not need to have a philosophical complete and rational definition of what a robot is: robots are here and we are reacting to them. Just start from there
Not a fear mongering book at all. The author makes a point that to think about how we are going to and we are interacting with robots is thinking about how we interact with animals. She takes a long time to make that pont from all possible angles: replace of human labor? Robot rights? Are robots to replace humans in general? Do we feel bad about robots sentiments? The main argument is that studying how we interact with animals give us a framework. This is very good argument. Also she reviews the state of the art of possible and no, Terminator is not around the corner and maybe never be. For the future it is important to remember that all predictions on technology are hard and always missed what really transformed our life (internet? Mobile phones?). I was between a 4 or 3 stars because at least for me the book was hard to read, maybe the point with animals is stressed and, maybe, repeated too much? Also she points that it is hard to define what's robot is, and never come back to this point. And maybe she is right, we do not need to have a philosophical complete and rational definition of what a robot is: robots are here and we are reacting to them. Just start from there
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