upside down Furbies

While studying at MIT in 1999 student Freedom Baird came up with an idea for an emotional Turing test: a simple test to assess the emotional bond that we feel towards an artificial being, or robot. More than a decade later, with the help of a radio show, she executed the experiment.

"Me scared!"

Freedom noted that her Furby (the fluffy animate toy creature) would say "Me scared!" whenever she held it head-down. This made her wonder whether people would find it more difficult to hold a Furby upside down than to do the same with a Barbie doll. And if so, how does it compare to holding a real hamster upside down?

In short, five children aged 7 and 8 were asked to hold Barbie, Furby and a hamster head-down in front of them. The children easily held the Barbie upside down for a very long time, but would do so only few seconds with the hamster. The Furby led to a interesting situation: clearly, it was a toy, but its protests made the children feel guilty nonetheless. As one of the children said about Furby:

"It's helpless, it kinda makes me feel guilty in a way."

This observation could mean that the Furby elicits an emotional reaction stronger than a Barbie, even if we consciously know that it is an artifact. Perhaps we willingly see a Furby as "more alive" than Barbie.

(above photo by "Alexandra", from pixabay.com/en/furby-cute-blue-eye-soft-toy-toys-974707, rotated by us...)

And, perhaps somewhat unrelated, but oh well, if you want to make it up with the Furbies for all the abuse, just have a nice song with them.