Will we one day create machines that are essentially just like us? People have been wrestling with that question since the advent of robotics. But maybe we're missing another, even more intriguing question: what can robots teach us about ourselves? We ponder that question with Kate Darling of the MIT Media Lab in a special taping at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
Mar 9
Yuck! The Science of Disgust
Disgust is a strong emotion, one designed by evolution to protect us from danger and diseases. But disgust also spills into other areas of our lives, influencing our morals, our intuitions about right and wrong, even our politics. We talk with psychologist David Pizarro about how ... Show More
1h 37m
Sep 2021
Ruth Aylett and Patricia A. Vargas, "Living with Robots: What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know" (MIT Press, 2021)
There's a lot of hype about robots; some of it is scary and some of it utopian. In this accessible book, two robotics experts reveal the truth about what robots can and can't do, how they work, and what we can reasonably expect their future capabilities to be. It will not only ma ... Show More
1h 3m
Dec 2021
Why we have an emotional connection to robots | Kate Darling
We're far from developing robots that feel emotions, but we already have feelings towards them, says robot ethicist Kate Darling, and an instinct like that can have consequences. Learn more about how we're biologically hardwired to project intent and life onto machines -- and how ... Show More
12m 15s
Jun 2017
AI, Machine Learning and Human Creativity
<p>Just as manufacturing automation cuts into human jobs, the prospect of creative artificial intelligence raises the specter of robot writers, robot artists and robot musicians who never sleep and always agree with their patron. But paranoia aside, where will creative machine le ... Show More
1h 17m
Nov 2016
10 - Robots, Artificial Intelligence, & Extinction?
<p>Will we see robots that look, feel, and communicate in such lifelike ways that we won’t be able to tell them apart from other humans in our lifetime? When did the artificial intelligence movement begin? Is our progress with artificial intelligence leading to an inevitable, Sky ... Show More
37m 22s
Oct 2019
Why we have an emotional connection to robots | Kate Darling
We're far from developing robots that feel emotions, but we already have feelings towards them, says robot ethicist Kate Darling, and an instinct like that can have consequences. Learn more about how we're biologically hardwired to project intent and life onto machines -- and how ... Show More
11m 58s