More Than Machines?: The Attribution of (In)Animacy to Robot Technology (Science Studies) - Softcover

Voss; Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3837655601 ISBN 13: 9783837655605

Publisher: Transcript Verlag, 2021

Synopsis

We know that robots are just machines. Why then do we often talk about them as if they were alive? Laura Voss explores this fascinating phenomenon, providing a rich insight into practices of animacy (and inanimacy) attribution to robot technology: from science-fiction to robotics R&D, from science communication to media discourse, and from the theoretical perspectives of STS to the cognitive sciences. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, and backed by a wealth of empirical material, Voss shows how scientists, engineers, journalists - and everyone else - can face the challenge of robot technology appearing »a little bit alive« with a reflexive and yet pragmatic stance.

About this title

About the Author

Laura Voss is a science manager in the Research Strategy Unit of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. With a background in neuro-cognitive, organizational, and occupational psychology, she previously worked as a science and technology studies researcher and as a science manager at the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) and for international robotics R&D consortiums at the Technische Universität München.

Edition details

• Publisher: Transcript Verlag
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3837655601
• ISBN 13: 9783837655605
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216