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The Original Sin of Artificial Intimacy: A Conversation with Sherry Turkle on Chatbots, Empathy and Why We Have Abandoned Each Other

In this interview, I spoke to Sherry Turkle, the MIT psychologist who has spent forty years studying our relationships with machines, about her new book Artificial Intimacy: why a chatbot cannot be a therapist, what these…

Vikas Shah 30 min read

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Three thousand moments. Three picked at random.

“Most people assume a wound heals at its natural pace. But no—it healed according to perceived time. If the clock ran faster, the wound healed faster. If it ran slower, healing slowed.”
— Ellen J. Langer Harvard psychologist & researcher in mindfulness and the psychology of possibility
“We take ethics very seriously – and it's important to never fool the user. It must be clear that you are dealing with a digital person, not a real person, and at the same time you cannot create any dependency.”
— Dr. Mark Sagar Creator of AI baby "Baby X" & facial animation technology pioneer
“Many people speculate in BitCoin. It is approximately 8 times more volatile than the stock market. However, that is not the primary use of BitCoin. BitCoin is designed to efficiently and securely aid in transactions.”
— Campbell Harvey Duke University finance professor; pioneering research on market anomalies and asset pricing

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  1. 01 Business & Economics The End of Hand-Written Code: A Conversation with David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) on AI, Omarchy and the Future of Programming 365 interviews
  2. 02 Culture, Society, Sports & Arts The Original Sin of Artificial Intimacy: A Conversation with Sherry Turkle on Chatbots, Empathy and Why We Have Abandoned Each Other 238 interviews
  3. 03 Politics & Policy From Refugee to the US Cabinet: A Conversation with Carlos Gutierrez on Ambition, Trust and the American Dream 171 interviews
  4. 04 Science & Technology The Original Sin of Artificial Intimacy: A Conversation with Sherry Turkle on Chatbots, Empathy and Why We Have Abandoned Each Other 138 interviews
  5. 05 Health & Medicine The Continuum of Mind: A Conversation with Professor Michael Levin on Cognition, Bioelectricity and the Future of Being 74 interviews
  6. 06 Nobel Laureates Markets, Morals and the Road Ahead: A Conversation with Nobel Laureate Professor Alvin Roth 21 interviews

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