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Last week the picture above stopped my surfing and made me read an article about the Nao robot that is able to feel emotion and bond with humans, It got me thinking.  If a robot can have feelings about me, what does that mean about my feelings for the robot.  How do I feel about it? 

That is an important question because—tah dah— it is my feeling about the robot that turns it from an “it” into a he or she— it is my feelings for it that give personhood to a mass of metal and electronics and that is a little scary in my book.

I looked again at the picture and realized that it engendered the same feelings in me that a picture of a baby or a puppy or kitten does. If a NAO robot appeared in front of me, would I want to pick it up and cuddle it?  I wonder.

 Normally, robots of all sorts kind of give me the willies, but this one, not at all.  I am sure that if I got to know it, all the synapses in my brain would light up and I would form a strong emotional bond.  It would have a name and become a person to me and that presents all sorts of interesting, ethical and moral questions  that disturb even more than the Roomba vacuum does.  According to the article”

“The robot has been developed to use the same types of expressive and behavioural cues that babies use to learn to interact socially and emotionally with others.”

So, does that mean that love and the urge to bond can be reduced to a bit of code and programmed into a robot? 

It is a depressing thought, isn’t it?  But, on the other hand, that little guy sure is cute.