Monthly Archives: August 2023

Robots don’t wipe butts – future of elder care?

Gerontology and Geriatrics

If we build them, will they be accepted? The Simpsons S31:E12 does not satirize issues about privacy and personal information – just butt wiping. [1] Might co-design and co-production of care robots improve acceptance? [2]

The crew

A team of international researchers, a model of robot acceptance, a small cross-sectional study across Japan, Ireland, and Finland.

The challenge

“Although care robots are being developed and improved at a rapid pace, their social acceptance has been limited.”

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Will androids be less tribal?

Contention arises easily from personality conflict. Sometimes such conflict is framed as that between different values. Yet, what strikes me more & more is that the problem is not unalike values, but that those values are applied only to one’s tribe. As noted in this article, “small tent” value systems – people loyal to their tribe, “and very unloyal to other tribes.”

In his latest Plaintext newsletter, Steven Levy recounts his conversation earlier this summer with legendary artificial intelligence researcher Geoffrey Hinton, “after he [Hinton] had some time to reflect on his post-Google life and mission” – in his “new career as a philosopher.”

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