The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-05-15 17:31:28
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Kate Darling
- ISBN：B082ZH479L
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Summary
For readers of The Second Machine Age or The Soul of an Octopus， a bold， exciting exploration of how building diverse kinds of relationships with robots--inspired by how we interact with animals--could be the key to making our future with robotic technology work。
There has been a lot of ink devoted to discussions of how robots will replace us and take our jobs。 But MIT Media Lab researcher and technology policy expert Kate Darling argues just the opposite， and that treating robots with a bit of humanity， more like the way we treat animals， will actually serve us better。 From a social， legal， and ethical perspective， she shows that our current ways of thinking don't leave room for the robot technology that is soon to become part of our everyday routines。 Robots are likely to supplement--rather than replace--our own skills and relationships。 So if we consider our history of incorporating animals into our work， transportation， military， and even families， we actually have a solid basis for how to contend with this future。
A deeply original analysis of our technological future and the ethical dilemmas that await us， The New Breed explains how the treatment of machines can reveal a new understanding of our own history， our own systems and how we relate--not just to non-humans， but also to each other。
There has been a lot of ink devoted to discussions of how robots will replace us and take our jobs。 But MIT Media Lab researcher and technology policy expert Kate Darling argues just the opposite， and that treating robots with a bit of humanity， more like the way we treat animals， will actually serve us better。 From a social， legal， and ethical perspective， she shows that our current ways of thinking don't leave room for the robot technology that is soon to become part of our everyday routines。 Robots are likely to supplement--rather than replace--our own skills and relationships。 So if we consider our history of incorporating animals into our work， transportation， military， and even families， we actually have a solid basis for how to contend with this future。
A deeply original analysis of our technological future and the ethical dilemmas that await us， The New Breed explains how the treatment of machines can reveal a new understanding of our own history， our own systems and how we relate--not just to non-humans， but also to each other。
Reviews
Gregory
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Kate Darling's The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots is a thought-provoking read for anyone with an interest in robots real， hypothetical or fictional。 （I received an advance reader's edition copy through Goodreads' Giveaways in exchange for reviewing it。）The book asks readers to consider how humans' different relationships with animals can be used as models for our current and future relationships with robots。 Darling isn't advocating that robots shou Kate Darling's The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots is a thought-provoking read for anyone with an interest in robots real， hypothetical or fictional。 （I received an advance reader's edition copy through Goodreads' Giveaways in exchange for reviewing it。）The book asks readers to consider how humans' different relationships with animals can be used as models for our current and future relationships with robots。 Darling isn't advocating that robots should have the same status and right as animals; rather， she's conducting a thought experiment in viewing robots without the anthropomorphism we usually give them。 If we don't treat robots as human analogues and instead think about them as we would an animal， can we get a clearer understanding of how we should interact with them？Darling argues that we can， and she presents an impressive amount of research about our history with both animals and robots for consideration。 Although the book is exhaustively researched， it's all presented in a very breezy， entertaining manner that still manages to cover a lot of ground。One of the author's main points in deanthropomorphizing robots is to make it clear that "we actually have some control over how robots impact the labor market。 Rather than pushing for broad task automation， we could invest in redesigning the ways people work in order to fully capture the strengths of both people and robots，" just as humans and animals have worked in complementary roles throughout history。 Viewing robots as partners for humans--and not as replacements for them--is necessary to engineer this future， she argues。Also included in the book is a discussion of the legal status of robots （with historical examples of animal legal cases to examine the issue from different perspectives）。 Darling makes the point that we need to confront our knee-jerk response to assign blame to a robot when one causes problems: "It's easier to decry robots than it is to curb the unchecked corporate profit incentives， or care more deeply about privacy， or fight gender and racial and other bias in design and use of robots。" She makes it clear that our tendency to anthropomorphize robots blinds us to holding accountable the makers of the robots when something goes wrong。The New Breed entertainingly guides readers to re-examine our preconceptions about robots and imagine better relationships we can have with them。 。。。more
Daryl
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Dr。 Darling's premise here is that we should look at our （human's） relationship with robots， in the future， based on our relationship with animals in the past and present。 That is， not as replacements for humans （"robots are taking our jobs"） but as a supplement to humans in the way we use animals for work， companionship， etc。 She makes the point most clearly and succinctly in the 4-page epilogue。 I may have saved you from reading the book， though if that sounds interesting to you， give it a go。 Dr。 Darling's premise here is that we should look at our （human's） relationship with robots， in the future， based on our relationship with animals in the past and present。 That is， not as replacements for humans （"robots are taking our jobs"） but as a supplement to humans in the way we use animals for work， companionship， etc。 She makes the point most clearly and succinctly in the 4-page epilogue。 I may have saved you from reading the book， though if that sounds interesting to you， give it a go。 Most of the rest of the book contains examples to make her point。 It's well written and she takes a conversational tone that makes it easy reading， and often peppers her writing with personal stories and jokes that liven up the prose。 I liked it while I was reading it， but I'm not sure how long it will stick with me。 I won my copy through Goodreads' giveaways。 。。。more
Jennifer
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I won this in a Goodreads giveaway and found it very entertaining。 Some AI books can be a little 'out there' and， based on the title alone， I did initially wonder whether this might be one of those， but was reassured by the author's credentials as an expert in Robot Ethics （she is probably best known for her research project that asked volunteers to physically 'discipline' robotic toy dinosaurs， which she discusses in the book）。 The underlying thesis is that， instead of thinking of robots as ana I won this in a Goodreads giveaway and found it very entertaining。 Some AI books can be a little 'out there' and， based on the title alone， I did initially wonder whether this might be one of those， but was reassured by the author's credentials as an expert in Robot Ethics （she is probably best known for her research project that asked volunteers to physically 'discipline' robotic toy dinosaurs， which she discusses in the book）。 The underlying thesis is that， instead of thinking of robots as analogous to humans （which in their current form is far from reality）， it might be more useful instead to think of them as analogous to animals （which have a long history of interacting with humans as providers of physical labor， emotional support and other such roles that robots are now currently being developed and used to provide）。 In support of this argument， she uses a plethora of interesting， and often amusing， examples of human interactions with animals， robots and robot animals。 Although the main argument of the book may have been better served by fewer anecdotes （carefully selected to illustrate each robotics use case）， thereby mitigating the need for the author to restate her thesis redundantly throughout the book to pull the reader back on topic after each detour， since the anecdotes themselves were part of what made this book fun to read it is hard for me to fault them。 And the variety of stories interwoven into the text virtually guarantees that every reader will be able to come away from it having learned something new。 。。。more
David Meyer
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This was a great read from start to finish。 The author used fascinating examples throughout the book， many of which seemingly deserve entire books of their own to explore。 Darling was honest when the situation called for it about her viewpoint and its limitations， though might have even been to humble as she is clearly an expert in her field。 For anyone with even a passing interest in robots and or animals， this is a must read。
Susan Walker
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Interesting story of the history of man and animals and how that can tie in to robots in the future。 This book gives the reader a lot to think about。
Sara Watson
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Dr。 Darling offers an insightful reframing for thinking about our relationship with robots and our future as collaborators。 She also shows us that how we treat robots can teach us a lot about our own humanity。
Sara Weather
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#183 The Good 1。 Puts into perspective what is important when talking about robots- for example， how close we are to actual A。I。 terminator robots vs how close we are to say the normalization of digital surveillance。 I still think we have to be mindful of the push to replace us with robots but it may not even be a possibility in any of our lifetimes。2。 The insight into our relationship with animals – how that could mirror in a some ways how our relationship with robots will be。 It made me think #183 The Good 1。 Puts into perspective what is important when talking about robots- for example， how close we are to actual A。I。 terminator robots vs how close we are to say the normalization of digital surveillance。 I still think we have to be mindful of the push to replace us with robots but it may not even be a possibility in any of our lifetimes。2。 The insight into our relationship with animals – how that could mirror in a some ways how our relationship with robots will be。 It made me think of Bright Green Lies which brought up similar ideas about our relationship with non-humans。3。 The bit of history shown of animals put on trial。4。 It does acknowledge the biases that are put into our technology & that we could input in our technology ways to challenge these biases。5。 We underestimate the power of human empathy and apathy。 The Bad 1。 Repetitive a bit with the main premise- it felt like the same thing was being said over and over in the same way。2。 Instead it would have been interesting to expand more on certain ideas。 – under examined ideas。3。 Especially， since it really hit its stride for me in the last 100 or 70 pages。 Overall Throughout this year I have been unintentionally getting into books that each add different perspectives/thoughts about technology。 So I am happy to add another book that takes my thoughts about technology in a different direction。 Other BooksBright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About ItThe Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them I won this arc from a goodreads giveaway by Henry Holt 。。。more
Glenn Stenquist
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Origional and thought provoking。
Geoff
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