Book Review by Sue Smith

“Enchanting Robots: Intimacy, Magic, and Technology is part of the book series, Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI, edited by Kathleen Richardson, Cathrine Hasse and Teresa Heffernan, and is written by Polish academic, Maciej Musiał. In Enchanting Robots Musiał discusses ‘magic’ and ‘magical thinking’ in order to critically assess humanity’s current and projected future relationship with newly emerging robot technology.

In brief, ‘magical thinking’ is the ability of humans to imaginatively confer human qualities onto ‘others,’ both animate and inanimate, creating meaningful and intimate connections with the non-human world.  It is through the theoretical lens of ‘magical thinking,’ which Musiał describes as an ongoing historical human process of enchantment, disenchantment and re-enchantment in pre-modern, modern and postmodern societies, that Enchanting Robots explores and examines humanity’s desire to re-enact personal moments of  ‘magic’ with the non-human ‘other’.  According to Musiał, understanding ‘magical thinking’ is of value because it helps explain how humans across differing cultures and time periods productively seek and create authentic moments of novelty and self worth that is of psychological benefit to both the individual and the wider community.  In particular, in the current climate of robot technology, which is creating a generation of love robots, sex robots and care robots in order to facilitate and promote new human relations with technology, Musiał argues that ‘magical thinking’ in today’s western world demands careful consideration for establishing important ethical foundations for the use and acceptance of non-human partners and carers in medicine and social care and across society in general.””Sequentially, Enchanting Robots consists of an ‘Introduction’ and four chapters starting with chapter 2, ‘Robots Enchanting Humans’; chapter 3, ‘Humans Enchanting Robots’; chapter 4, ‘Disenchanting and Re-Enchanting in Modernity’; and finally chapter 5, ‘In Lieu of a Conclusion: Where Will We Go from Here?’…”  Click here to continue reading.

Source

This is a repost of a book review by Sue Smith, posted at BMJ Medical Humanities Blog June 25, 2019