How to Talk About Loneliness

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

More people than ever are down loading this a, this chatbot called replica. Replica can pretend to be your best friend or psychotherapist and talk to you about anything. Sherry: We should be cultivating our empathy rather than chasing after something that machines are just not good for. Our country is divided. And we all need to understand each other better.

Psychologist and author Sherry Turkle of MIT talks about her book, The Empathy Diaries, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. The Empathy Diaries is a memoir about Turkle's secretive family and how that secrecy turned Turkle into an acute observer, skilled at revealing the story behind the story. She also chronicles the early days of artificial intelligence and the evolution of the computer. Topics in this conversation include the challenges of family, the role of technology in our lives, the limits of artificial intelligence, and the importance of Bambi.