Assignment 2

We have seen examples of robots that have been subjectified: a form of personification or anthropomorphism where we treat robots as living creatures, as if they can share and understand emotions. We might talk to the machines, call them nicknames, or even react emotionally to them.

This phenomenon goes even further, since humans tend to subjectify more than just artificial intelligence: we can also subjectify completely inanimate objects. Examples of non-robotical objects that humans will subjectify are often toys, such as action figures. However, as humans get older, so do their toys, and so we see subjectification of things like guitars, where a proud owner might clean “her” and “put her away” (while my guitar gently weeps). This shows the owner projecting emotions on the object as the object gives them a lot of joy, to them it is precious. Similarly, we give (sailing) boats names and also a certain identity, arguably for the same reason: a special object that we can use to give us joy. On their own these objects are inanimate, yet when we use them for our hobbies they seem to grow a personality, and we want to make sure they are safe and clean.

On the other hand, there are many forms of A.I. and robots that we don’t subjectify and merely see as industrious machines. Modern washing machines and elevators are all forms of artificial intelligence, yet there is little to no subjectification for them. Similarly, a car manufacturing arm, or other factory arm, is a classical robot like structure that is only seen for its purpose of combining car parts or sorting things.

Moreover, the Mars Rover is greatly subjectified, yet a bomb detecting robot is not a classic example of something we will project our emotions onto, despite these two robots having many similarities in their structure and purpose.

Additionally, humans possess an interesting tendency to see objects and identify features such as faces, known as pareidolia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

Some examples are: