Of robots and simulacra: The dark side of social robots

In this chapter, the author proposes a theoretical framework for evaluating the ethical acceptability of robotic technologies, with a focus on social robots. The author proposes to consider robots as forms of mediations of human actions and their ethical acceptance as depending on the impact on the notion of human presence. Presence is characterised by a network of reciprocal relations among human beings and the environment, which can either be promoted or inhibited by technological mediation. A medium that inhibits presence deserves ethical evaluation since it prevents the possibility of a mutual exchange, thus generating forms of power. Moreover, the impact of social robots on human beings should be carefully studied and evaluated for the consequences brought about by simulated forms of human presence, which have both physical and psychological dimensions and are still unknown, especially with respect to weak categories, such as children, elderly, and disabled people.