If you had a robot…

[Morrus]

If you had a robot —

— it’s a general purpose domestic humanoid robot capable of doing a wide variety of tasks for you
— it communicates verbally with you perfectly, but for the sake of this hypothetical it is not (and you know it is not) sentient and definitely has no feelings

Would you be polite to it as you would a person?

 

[Ryujin]

If you had a robot —

— it’s a general purpose domestic robot capable of doing a wide variety of tasks for you
— it communicates verbally with you perfectly, but for the sake of this hypothetical. It is not (and you know it is not) sentient and definitely has no feelings

Would you be polite to it as you would a person?

Yes, because being impolite becomes habit.

 

[MarkB]

Probably not. I don't recall ever actually thanking Alexa.

 

[Blue]

The speaking part makes me think yes. Most of my appliances I don't speak to unless they aren't working properly, but ones that I can anthropomorphize like my Roomba (when I had one) I find I bond with/treat differently. If I was speaking to the robot I definitely feel that would kick in, and in speech I generally try to be polite across the board - everyone deserves it.

 

[Nikosandros]

Yes,, I would. I sometimes have the instinct to thank Alexa or even the automatic voice at the toll booth on the highway.

 

[Yora]

I would set it to minimum interaction settings. It's a glorified laundry machine, it should act like a laundry machine. That is, stay in a corner in the basement except to pick up the laundry basket when it's full and to put the folded laundry in the drawers.

 

[Umbran]

I get a little misty-eyed when I think of a rover on the surface of Mars singing Happy Birthday to itself in the loneliness of the thin, cold air of an empty world, so darned straight I'm going to be polite to a robot in my home.

Humans can anthropomorphize almost anything.... except maybe other humans.

 

[Morrus]

I would set it to minimum interaction settings. It's a glorified laundry machine, it should act like a laundry machine. That is, stay in a corner in the basement except to pick up the laundry basket when it's full and to put the folded laundry in the drawers.

So, no then?

 

[Dioltach]

I already talk to my Roomba like a pet when I handle it, so probably yes.

 

[Arilyn]

Oh, I definitely would.