ABSTRACT
The title of Archer’s third piece (2020) in this series asked whether we humans can be friends with robots. The piece itself contrasted robophobia with robophilia. Robophobia is certainly associated with automation and the fear of massive job loss that comes with it. With the advent of self-driving cars, the prospect is all the more urgent. Recently, as well, fears have been aroused by the almost uncanny success of computers at the games we had associated with the pinnacle of human intelligence. Computers now defeat the best of us at chess and Go. Specifically, I will examine those features that Archer speculates could enable AIs to collaborate with human beings as emergent from their joint-action. Even as a thought experiment this outcome depends on the AI acquiring personhood, which in turn is dependent on the subject possessing the first-person perspective (FPP) supplemented by reflexivity and concerns in order to define personal and social identity. What I question is the minor role Archer assigns to our emotions (sentience) compared with AI sapience in venturing the possibility of this robophiliac outcome.
