Technophiles: Love And Love

1290 Words3 Pages

Technology creates a manufactured connection with its users. These users often outgrow their technology-loving phases, although there are some who grow up to be adult versions of their technology-loving child selves. “Technophile” is a term referring to an extreme enthusiasm for technology, thus technophiles are those who engage in romantic relations with technology. With artificial intelligence, the ability to love a non-humanoid being allows for technophiles to engage in personal relationships with machines. Recently, technophiles are a growing epidemic in Japan as a result of Japan’s growing pop culture. In Sherry Turkle’s, “Selections from Alone Together”, Barbara Fredrickson’s, “Selections from Love 2.0”, and Ethan Watters’, “The Mega-Marketing …show more content…

To love is to experience the interactions of emotions between two beings. Artificial intelligence beings lack the capability to love; they cannot feel, as humans cannot program emotions into their software. Many argue that artificial intelligence respond in a manner similar to that of humans, resulting in a spark of love from the subsequent conversations. However, these responses are merely chosen from a predetermined databank. Therefore, the love felt by the human and machine cannot be considered real love. “Love, as you’ll see, is not lasting” (Fredrickson 108), it must be renewed to further the continuation of relationships, and thus, emotionless AIs cannot make strides towards the betterment of their relationship with a human being. This oversteps the ethical boundaries regarding love because technology is essentially consuming the love lives of others. Those who are romantically involved with machines lose the ability to create and maintain relationships with other human beings, as they are being conditioned to believe love between a machine and a human is more worthwhile. As a result of the lack of connections between technophiles and the rest of humanity, many technophiles turn to artificial intelligence since they are more convenient, easier to interact with, and generate less painful experiences. This results in the personification of AIs as a means for technophiles to mimic human relationships without actually being involved in a human-to-human

Open Document