ABSTRACT
We care about strangers in the now and for people in the future who do not exist now. We are never separated from the world we exist in; we are never truly isolated or insulated. Totally dependent, at our birth and infancy we develop in a basic environment of care for the vulnerable.
Through a human philosophy of caring, a machine philosophy will develop as a parallel.
Care is now intrinsic to our relationship with machines. It is a pressing point of enquiry to ask: What kind of intelligence are we talking about when we consider the mental health of machines and possible mental health illnesses?
How we address the mental health needs of artificial intelligences that will diverge as personality sets develop with artificial machines is central to this chapter. A vacuum cleaner may not need to have a developed sense of empathy, whereas an artificial intelligence developing a medical diagnostic interface with humans, it can be argued, satisfies its function by “suffering” from, for example, anxiety and empathetic understanding – being in another intelligence’s shoes.
In common with all the sections in the book is the provision of enrichment material and ideas, link pathways, and further reading-viewing suggestions.
