Social Robots to Fend Off Loneliness?

This article clarifies and critically evaluates this response. It sets forth a framework for loneliness, which characterizes one kind of loneliness as involving an affective experience of lacking human relations that provide certain social goods. Next, the article discusses social robots and critically reviews the literature on the ethics of using them in light of this loneliness characterization. Third, we present a normative argument connecting the philosophical critique of loneliness-as-absence with the design and deployment of social robots. Finally, we draw out the implications of our analysis for public health and for interrogating the aims of commercial companies who make social robots.PMID:38588135 | DOI:10.1353/ken.2023.a917929
Source: Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Source Type: research