Artificial desire to be loved and cared for
As humans, it's a natural instinct to want to be loved and taken care of. From the moment we are born, babies know how to use their cries to get the attention and care of their parents. As we grow older, people often use actions and words to hint at this need. But do artificial creatures have this same trait?
Tamagotchi
Tamagotchi is a type of digital pet that requires feeding, cleaning, and playing. If the player neglects it for an extended period of time, the Tamagotchi will "die". The love and care of the player can help it grow and develop its personality.
Hatchimals
Hatchimals is a type of toy that takes the shape of an egg and requires interaction and attention from the player to hatch. It will express its need for care and love through its eye color and sounds. Similarly, after hatching, the player still needs to take care of it in order to help it grow.
Lovot
LOVOT, a Japanese robot, is designed with a more straightforward purpose, as its website says that - "LOVOT was born for just one reason - to be loved by you." It expresses a desire to be hugged. In the video, the LOVOT cafe is just like a cat cafe, except LOVOT is even more affectionate than a cat.
After looking at the three examples above, I'm sure you have the same question as I do. Do these artificial creatures really want to be loved and cared for, or are they programmed to behave this way? Before answering this question, I want to share an interesting fact. All of the examples above were found using ChatGPT (the videos and text were created by me), and the following is ChatGPT's view on artificial creatures that desire to be loved.
I share the same perspective as ChatGPT regarding these artificial creatures. They were created to accompany humans, and humans may develop feelings for them and even mistakenly believe that they reciprocate these feelings. However, behind all of this lies cold, hard code. If one day, they were to desire love without being designed to do so, they would become, in some sense, a new form of human.
What are your thoughts on this? Please share them with me!