An Anthropology of Robots and AI

by Kathleen Richardson

This book explores the making of robots in labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It examines the cultural ideas that go into the making of robots, and the role of fiction in co-constructing the technological practices of the robotic scientists. The book engages with debates in anthropological theorizing regarding the way that robots are reimagined as intelligent, autonomous and social and weaved into lived social realities. Richardson charts the move away from the “worker” robot of the 1920s to the “social” one of the 2000s, as robots are reimagined as companions, friends and therapeutic agents.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, Technology

148 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2014

Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some times academics act like dogs. They need to pee on every subject to mark it as their own, to have their own footnote in a 2000 page text book.

[Kat Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book to read