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Good Robot, Bad Robot

Dark and Creepy Sides of Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, and AI

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  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jo Ann Oravec

    1. University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, Whitewater, USA

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  • Draws on science fiction, legal, and ethics literatures as well current research agendas of robotics, autonomous vehicle
  • Focus on the impacts of initiatives to make robot interactions more human like
  • Explores efforts by computer designers and software developers to have an ethical impact on robot and AI concerns

Part of the book series: Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI (SOCUSRA)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Entering the Second Century of Robotics and Intelligent Technologies: An Opening Note

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 1-10

  3. Dramaturgical and Ethical Approaches to the Dark Side: An Introduction

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 11-38

  4. Negative Dimensions of Human-Robot and Human-AI Interactions: Frightening Legacies, Emerging Dysfunctions, and Creepiness

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 39-89

  5. Love, Sex, and Robots: Technological Shaping of Intimate Relationships

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 91-123

  6. The Long Robotic Arm of the Law: Emerging Police, Military, Militia, Security, and Other Compulsory Robots

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 125-152

  7. Gilding Artificial Lilies: Artificial Intelligence’s Legacies of Technological Overstatement, Embellishment, and Hyperbole

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 153-176

  8. “Our Hearts Go Out to the Victim’s Family”: Death by Robot and Autonomous Vehicle

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 177-204

  9. Robo-Rage Against the Machine: Abuse, Sabotage, and Bullying of Robots and Autonomous Vehicles

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 205-244

  10. The Future of Embodied AI: Containing and Mitigating the Dark and Creepy Sides of Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, and AI

    • Jo Ann Oravec
    Pages 245-276

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 277-283
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Keywords

About this book

This book explores how robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance human lives but also have unsettling “dark sides.”  It examines expanding forms of negativity and anxiety about robots, AI, and autonomous vehicles as our human environments are reengineered for intelligent military and security systems and for optimal workplace and domestic operations. It focuses on the impacts of initiatives to make robot interactions more humanlike and less creepy (as with domestic and sex robots).  It analyzes the emerging resistances against these entities in the wake of omnipresent AI applications (such as “killer robots” and ubiquitous surveillance). It unpacks efforts by developers to have ethical and social influences on robotics and AI, and confronts the AI hype that is designed to shield the entities from criticism. The book draws from science fiction, dramaturgical, ethical, and legal literatures as well as current research agendas of corporations. Engineers, implementers, and researchers have often encountered users' fears and aggressive actions against intelligent entities, especially in the wake of deaths of humans by robots and autonomous vehicles. The book is an invaluable resource for developers and researchers in the field, as well as curious readers who want to play proactive roles in shaping future technologies.  

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, Whitewater, USA

    Jo Ann Oravec

About the author

Jo Ann Oravec (MA, MS, MBA, PhD) is a full professor in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (Department of Information Technology and Supply Chain Management), as well as the Holtz Center for Science & Technology Studies, UW-Madison. Her publications include Virtual Individuals, Virtual Groups. She was the first chair of the Privacy Council of the State of Wisconsin. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Good Robot, Bad Robot

  • Book Subtitle: Dark and Creepy Sides of Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, and AI

  • Authors: Jo Ann Oravec

  • Series Title: Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14013-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-14012-9Published: 01 October 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-14015-0Published: 02 October 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-14013-6Published: 30 September 2022

  • Series ISSN: 2523-8523

  • Series E-ISSN: 2523-8531

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 283

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Sociology, general, Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Science

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