94 - Robot Friendship and Hatred

Can we move beyond the Aristotelian account of friendship when thinking about our relationships with robots? Can we hate robots? In this episode, I talk to Helen Ryland about these topics. Helen is a UK-based philosopher. She completed her PhD in Philosophy in 2020 at the University of Birmingham. She now works as an Associate Lecturer for The Open University. Her work examines human-robot relationships, video game ethics, and the personhood and moral status of marginal cases of human rights (e.g., subjects with dementia, nonhuman animals, and robots).

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Show Notes

Topics covered include:

• What is friendship and why does it matter?
• The Aristotelian account of friendship
• Limitations of the Aristotelian account
• Moving beyond Aristotle
• The degrees of friendship model
• Why we can be friends with robots
• Criticisms of robot-human friendship
• The possibility of hating robots
• Do we already hate robots?
• Why would it matter if we did hate robots?

Relevant Links

• Helen's homepage
• 'It's Friendship Jim, But Not as We Know It: A Degrees-of-Friendship View of Human–Robot Friendships' by Helen
• Could you hate a robot? Does it matter if you could? by Helen

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