Alone Together

Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other

360 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 2011 by Basic Books.

ISBN:
978-0-465-01021-9
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OCLC Number:
535492220

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1 star (1 review)

In "Alone Together," MIT technology and society professor Sherry Turkle explores the power of our new tools and toys to dramatically alter our social lives. It's a nuanced exploration of what we are looking for--and sacrificing--in a world of electronic companions and social networking tools, and an argument that, despite the hand-waving of today's self-described prophets of the future, it will be the next generation who will chart the path between isolation and connectivity.

2 editions

Disappointingly Robotic

1 star

Sherry Turkle is one of the major voices in social response to machines. Her previous books are required reading in this area, and were both interesting studies that looked at how humans form connections with devices. Alone Together is presented as the third in this trilogy, and deals ostensibly with AI (although a lot of what it covers is emotional connection to robotics).

Turkle begins the book with a horrible gaffe, stating that she is unlike other anthropologists who study "simple" people – her topics are western computer-users. It's a bad setup for a book that continues in this vein. Soon after, she writes about her shock at her daughter and some other children who believe a turtle in a museum could just as easily be a robot, as it is near motionless. The adults are shocked. They claim that would be inauthentic. But she never explains why this authenticity …

Subjects

  • Social aspects
  • Interpersonal relations
  • Human-computer interaction
  • Information technology

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