Response: Language and robots

history and philosophy of technology
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Abstract:

Six commentaries on the paper “You, robot: on the linguistic construction of artificial others” articulate different points of view on the significance of linguistic interactions with robots. The author of the paper responds to each of these commentaries by highlighting salient differences. One of these regards the dangerously indeterminate notion of “quasi-other” and whether it should be maintained. Accordingly, the critical study of the linguistic aspects of human-robot relations implies a critical study of society and culture. Another salient difference concerns the question of deception and whether there is a distinction between real and perceived affordances. The prospect of AI systems creating language or co-authoring texts raises the question of the hermeneutic responsibility of humans. And regarding the missing dimension of temporality, studies of macro- and micro-level hermeneutic change become more important.