Enchanting Robots: Intimacy, Magic, and Technology (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783030125783)

This book argues that robots are enchanting humans (as potential intimate partners), because humans are enchanting robots (by performing magical thinking), and that these processes are a part of a significant re-enchantment of the "modern" world. As a foundation, the author examines arguments for and against intimate relationships with robots, particularly sex robots and care robots. Moreover, the book provides a consideration of human-robot interactions and philosophical reflections about robots through the lens of magic and magical thinking as well as theoretical and practical re-evaluations of their status and presence. Furthermore, the author discusses the abovementioned issues in the context of disenchantment and re-enchantment of the world, characterizing modernity as a coexistence of these two processes. The book closes with a consideration of future scenarios regarding the meaning of life in the age of rampant automation and the possibility that designing robots becomes a sortof new eugenics as a consequence of recognizing robots as persons.

Author: Maciej Musial
ISBN-10: 3030125785
ISBN-13: 9783030125783
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 03/08/2019
Pages: 159
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.44d