gupsbookreview

[gupsbookreview]

Weakness and Strength

Turkle's main argument from 'Alone Together' is that we need to consciously examine the impacts that new technologies have on our lives and if we depend on it too much. Are we always choosing to communicate with our online friends who are tethered to the tiny screen of our mobile phones rather than actively engaging in conversations with our family at the dinner table? Do we prefer the online persona we have created and feel a sense of disappointment with the real world and, with that, our real selves?  Are we letting technology teach our kids such as putting on a youtube video on their iPad rather than being present with them ourselves? She encourages us to pick and choose carefully rather than blindly accepting technology without a second thought to the consequences.

Turkle herself says she is not against new technology and she herself also goes to bed with her phone, she does however seem genuinely attached to the traditional forms of connection and ways on building and maintaining relationships.  Her work provides a subjective and biased look on the way society is evolving, which I say may be one of the downfalls of the book. We cannot understand the world based on the studies of small groups of people.

'Alone Together' was first published in 2011, the time of when it’s written/published is crucial as it affects the perspective taken, especially when it comes to the subject of technology and the internet which is continuously and rapidly evolving. For example, an article written on the influence of Instagram written in 2013 will not be accurate or relevant to them today. Another weakness of the book is that Turkle does not seem to account for different cultures and how this affects technology and our relationship with it. The findings will not be relevant to parts of the world where there is limited access to advanced machines and the internet

I also believe Turkle does not present a strong enough argument to conclude that being connected makes us more lonely. The sense of connectivity we feel by being online cannot be quantified as non-substantial as it is subjective and different for everyone. Throughout the book and Ted Talks she held, she argues that technology has negatively impacted the bond we have with those close to us, especially romantic relationships. I would argue that technology brings more people together rather than disconnect you from the people around you; technology gives you the ability to connect with people who are not within your immediate. It cultivates new relationships, for example, there are almost 8 billion people in the world, so the chances of the person who will be the most compatible to you as a partner being down the road are slim.

Turkle does conclusively establish her argument that we need to take accountability with our actions surrounding new technology, however, my biggest critique of this book is that too often she fails to see the other side - often the positive side - of the argument. She is too set in the traditional thinking of how we should connect and bond with one another. Society is continuously changing generation by generation, and seemingly the previous generation always has a pessimistic view of the changes as people do not like change and always think the way they grew up is better.

Word count: 560

[gupsbookreview]

Identity Crisis

Turkle believes young children and adolescence are the groups most affected by the way technology reshapes identity as “these young people are among the first to grow up with an expectation of continuous connection: always on, and always on them.” There seems to be a separation between our online self versus our offline self, Turkle (2012) states that we "edit our messages until they portray the self we want to be” (p. 36).  The online world allows us to edit and amend and 'fix' any of our flaws before we publish it for the world to see, it gives us the ability to hide behind a mask and present an act or a performance of who we want to be - adjusting different personality trait to suit the social context. This could be unsettling for young people, especially if they are going through puberty which is already a complex time; trying to figure out who they are as a person and who they want to be. On the same page, Turkle states that people often feel a sense of disappointment when they exit the virtual world and enter the real world. The real world comes with more baggage 

I agree that the virtual world offering people the ability to mould their own persona is happening, however I do not think it is an issue for concern. On our class forum, Helena argues that our networked lives allow us to hide from each other and cites the way we use different forms of social media sites to perform different versions of ourselves; more professional persona on Linkedin and a more casual and happy version on Instagram. While this may be true - and I agree with her statement - as aforementioned in the previous blog entry - this is not a new phenomenon created by the virtual world.

As a society and as human beings with complex social issues, we always have worn 'masks'. It is not a new thing to act and behave differently in front of certain people and social settings. For job interviews, we put on nice suits and rehearse our answers so we can present the perfect candidate for our potential career prospect. To a certain extent, we may find ourselves embellishing our accomplishments; exaggerating our strengths and downplaying our weaknesses. Depending on our relationship with our parents, as people, we tend to not openly discuss all the troubles we get up to with our parents or share our deepest and most intimate secrets.  We are different people around friends, teachers, romantic partners and sometimes with people who have different personalities.

We have never openly presented our rawest form of self to anyone, even before the internet existed. Depending on the context, we hide certain parts of ourselves and change to adapt and fit in. This is not a virtual world phenomenon; it is a human kind phenomenon. As social creatures, we all - one way or another - are on a hunt for validity; validity that you are successful, you are happy, you are beautiful.

Word count: 500

Sources:

https://learn.lboro.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=167996

Turkle, S. (2012).Alone Together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other.  New York. Basic Books

[gupsbookreview]

Artificially Intelligent Robots

 Sherry Turkle examines how people interact with technology; her research method is conducting interviews with people of all ages and backgrounds to get a further understanding of what technology means to that individual's daily lives. 'Alone Together' is centered around the ways new technologies—such as the artificially intelligent robots, which seems to threaten to replace human rapport, and the always connected world available to us in the palm of our hands —affect our interpersonal relationships.

I will be dedicating this blog entry to the topic of artificially intelligent robots, how valid I believe Turkle’s points are and include video examples.

The first half of the book looks at domesticated artificially intelligent robots and lifelike toys with, what seems to be, genuine emotions and needs. To a certain level, Turkle paints a very apocalyptical and sci-fi image of the future where it involves robots so capable and intelligent it can replicate human emotions and replace us. I am attaching a trailer of a very successful BBC series which was released in 2015 called Humans below as this seems to be the future that Turkle is concerned about (please watch from 0:00 - 1:00); households and businesses owning lifelike humanoid servants, robots replacing nurses and providing care for the vulnerable, children forming bonds with the machine, and people committing romantic affairs with them despite the lack of human emotions and sentience. 

I believe this fictional drama provides a clear representation of the future Turkle fears, and it shows that Turkle is too pessimistic in her views of technology. This is supported in her ‘Robotic Moment’ section of the book where she explores how people form one-sided relationships to these machines and claims that, in turn, we are losing that human aspect of care and companionship - especially when looking at vulnerable individuals like the elderly and young children. Turkle advises that we should be concerned when we find ourselves favouring the company of technology rather than real people. I feel she has been somewhat affected by the false claims and over exaggeration of AI robots presented in popular media.

For example, Elon Musk, one of the brightest minds in science today, stated in an interview with CNN that AI representation in fictional Sci-Fi are rarely ever accurate or live up to what truly is happening in real time. Please see video below from 2:00 - 2:40 mark. 

I believe the representation of AI technology in popular media such as fictional films and news outlet plays a large role in how it affects the way society views this technology. For example, Sophia the robot made headlines when she joked about destroying humans, she also left many in awe and shock with how expressive she was and how well she articulated herself [1] [2] [3]. Many believe this to be the big leap and that we are living in the futuristic world, as Sophia was created to help the elderly in homes and support guests at parks and events, she also mimics social behaviours and incites emotional reactions from us [4]. Sophia the robot seems to support Turke’s predictions of the future where robots are so advanced they are able to become teachers and caretakers. However, CNBC exposed that Sophia may not be as advanced as she appears, stating that they had to have their questions approved and amended before meeting her (0:00 - 1:30).

"The idea of some kind of artificial companionship has already become the new normal," Turkle stated. "Kids play with robotic pets, become allies with computer game agents.” I understand and agree with this quote, however I believe Turkle is a nostalgic and resistant to changes that society is going through. As she has stated in her previous book ‘The Second Self’ people have always inserted personalities onto objects. And people have always hated change. Young children inserting personalities and growing attached to objects is not a new phenomenon, they did this with traditional dolls and action figures which did not have the technical features such as the ability to talk back and cry. [5].

In 2015, a hotel entirely staffed by robots opened in Japan.  Of course, we could expect to catch a glimpse of our robot-assisted future in Japan as they have been at the forefront of robotics research. In the video below (11:15 - 11:55), people expressed that once the novelty of the robots had worn off it was ‘boring’ and ‘lonely.’ This shows that, despite how advanced or lifelike these machines may become, there will remain certain areas in which only humans can offer.

Word count: 758

Sources:

CNBC. (2018, 5 June). Humanoid Robot Sophia - Almost Human Or PR Stunt [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fnCQC7bLs0 

CNN. (2016, 28 January). Why Elon Musk is worried about artificial intelligence [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US95slMMQis

Cuthbertson, A. (2018, May 24). Robots will have rights by 2045. The Independent. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/robots-civil-rights-android-artificial-intelligence-2045-destroy-humans-sophia-singularity-a8367331.html 

ET Online. (2017, November 9). Everything to know about Sophia, the Audrey Hepburn-lookalike, first robo-citizen of the world. The Economic Times. Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/everything-to-know-about-sophia-the-audrey-hepburn-lookalike-first-robo-citizen-of-the-world/articleshow/61575904.cms 

Greshko, M. (2018, May 18). Meet Sophia, the Robot That Looks Almost Human. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2018/05/sophia-robot-artificial-intelligence-science/ 

Goddard, C. (2014). More Than Just Teddy Bears. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-guest-room/201407/more-just-teddy-bears

Motherboard. (2015, 23 October). Inside the Japanese Hotel Staffed by Robots [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpzIQt6l4xY 

Roadshow Entertainment. (2015, September 22).  Humans Trailer [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV8qFeZxZPE 

Weller, C. (2017, October 27). Meet the first-ever robot citizen — a humanoid named Sophia that once said it would 'destroy humans'. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-first-robot-citizen-sophia-animatronic-humanoid-2017-10?r=UK&IR=T 

[gupsbookreview]

Alone Together: Introduction

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other is written by Sherry Turke, a professor at M.I.T. This book is essentially split into two books; the first focuses on domesticated robots and artificially intelligent humanoids which we will learn to seek companionship from, the second half is centered around our dependence on the web. For this book, Turke interviewed people of all ages and backgrounds for her research as to why we expect more from technology than we do from people. 

Sherry Turkle is a professor at M.I.T who studies the relationship we have with technology and how it is affecting our identity. She is less concerned with the technology and the way it continues to progress and evolve itself but more on how we interact with it and how this changes not only what we do but also who we are. She is a social psychologist who cares more about the emotions involved rather than studying data and numbers surrounding the subject of technology, hence her book paints a more subjective picture which consists of anecdotal stories told by her interviewees rather than statistics. 

She has written other groundbreaking books on the psychology of human relationship with technology such as The Second Self: Computers and The Human Spirit in 1984 where she explored how people ‘gave life’ to inanimate objects and Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet in 1995, where she expressed her optimism for the Internet and the freedom it provided to express our identity. In Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other, Turkle observes how technology has affected the way we view intimacy and solitude—and cautions of the dangers of welcoming such pseudo-techno relationships rather than lasting emotional connections. Throughout all her books and many of her Ted Talks [1] [2], it is evident that Turke holds traditional forms of human interaction and our relationships with each other to the utmost regards, consistently making reference to how technology deeply changes the way things used to be and - to a certain extent - how she feels it should be. Throughout the book, more so in the second half of the book “Networked” where she focuses on digital communication and human connection (or lack thereof), she expresses her concerns that we all too easily give in to the seduction of the online world, as it draws an illusion of companionship without the hassle of dealing with the unpredictable nature of human emotions. [3] [4] [5]

As a psychologist, it seems that her greatest concern is how our dependence on technology will affect us developmentally, with a strong emphasis on young children who grow up in a household with distant parents; parents who are more focused on their phones at dinner tables rather than giving their children full attention. Turkle emphasises the importance of reclaiming the conversation as this is what we are currently sacrificing for mere connection which in turn makes us lonelier.  

This book review will be sectioned into four parts. In the first part is the introduction to the book, author, and my assignment. In the second part, I will be focusing on Turkle’s points on artificially intelligent robots.  The third section will be centered around our online identify versus our offline identity. The final portion will include a concluding statement on my review of the book, I will analyse her argument and examine how well she argues her point, its validity, and how – if at all – biased her source and evidence are.

This book review will consist of subjective and personal views and experience partnered and backed up with evidence and scholarly sources.

Word count: 643

Sources:

Turkle, S. (2012).Alone Together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other.  New York. Basic Books

Tedx Talks. (2011, May 25).  TEDxUIUC - Sherry Turkle - Alone Together. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtLVCpZIiNs

Turkle, S. (2012).Connected, but alone? TED. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together?language=en#t-427786

https://www.ted.com/speakers/sherry_turkle

https://sherryturkle.com/about/

http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/