More Than Machines? : The Attribution of (In)Animacy to Robot Technology / Laura Voss

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910642296003321
• Autore: Voss Laura (Technische Universität München, Deutschland)
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Bielefeld, : transcript Verlag, 2021
• ISBN: 3-8394-5560-X
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (216 p.)
• Collana: Science Studies
• Disciplina: 303.4834
• Soggetti: Robot; Artificial Intelligence; Animacy; Anthropomorphism; Agency; Technology; Society; Science; Sociology of Technology; Sociology of Culture; Sociology of Work and Industry; Sociology
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1. Robots Wanted – Dead And/Or Alive -- 2. Disciplinary Context and Terminology -- 3. Making Robots: In/Animacy Attributions in Robotics Research and Development -- 4. Showing Off Robots: In/Animacy Attributions in Robotics Demonstrations, Science Communication, and Marketing -- 5. Reporting on Robots: In/Animacy Attributions in Media Discourse -- 6. Conclusions … and Openings -- References -- List of Figures -- List of Abbreviations -- Appendix
• Sommario/riassunto: We know that robots are just machines. Why then do we often talk about them as if they were alive? Laura Voss explores this fascinating phenomenon, providing a rich insight into practices of animacy (and inanimacy) attribution to robot technology: from science-fiction to robotics R&D, from science communication to media discourse, and from the theoretical perspectives of STS to the cognitive sciences. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, and backed by a wealth of empirical material, Voss shows how scientists, engineers, journalists - and everyone else - can face the challenge of robot technology appearing »a little bit alive« with a reflexive and yet pragmatic stance.