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Emotional Bonding with Space Probes
bfwebster writes "Space.com has a story on the scientists and technicians working on the Mars rovers, Spirit and Oppotunity--and how they will react when the rovers finally break down, go silent, or otherwise die. Of course, humans becoming emotionally involved with hardware is high on the list of overused science fiction cliches (see I.14), and humans were naming (and anthropomorphizing) their cars long before they started doing it to their computers. Some argue that anthropomorphic design can ease end-user acceptance [PDF], with some interesting results among toys for children. On the other hand, when software manufacturers try to give our computers some 'personality', we tend to vehemently react against it--witness Microsoft's attempts with the much-loathed Bob and Clippy. And when our personal computers are aged or ailing or simply misbehaving, we usually are more than happy to put them out of our misery. So in the case of Spirit and Opportunity, the issue may be the large investment of time, money, and professional credibility in having two semi-autonomous rovers 100 million miles away function correctly. Best quote from the Space.com story: when Spirit, early into its mission, shut down for reasons then unknown, the Spirit mission manager happened to get a phone call from her husband. He asked her how her day had been, and she said, 'Well...I think I'm personally responsible for the loss of a $400 million national asset.' Doncha hate it when that happens?"
I don't know about everyone else, but *I* hated Bob and Clippy because they were not useful and quite aggrivating. Other things that lend toward personalization however, such as personalized menus, I find quite useful.
People didn't react badly to the anthropomorphizing, they reacted badly to the patronizing tone. Nobody would complain if they started Office 2K5 and were greated by The Librarian.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
The fact that these things are robots has nothing to do with attachment. It's the time and devotion that has gone into creating, testing, and improving them. It's like how a lot of people get attached to their first cars (even though they are always rust-bucket deathtraps). If you have enough history with something, you'll probably miss it when it's gone.
I think that the spectacular failures of Clippy and Bob have more to do with the attitudes of the characters themselves than the idea. It's like that really upbeat perky girl in the office whom everybody hates. Give me a sarcastic little bitch for a computer, and I'd be happy to embrace such tech...
I have actually grown to 'bond' more with my computer the longer it continues to work. I've had this old beige G3 desktop for 6 years this month, and many times have tried to replace it with a newer model. The newer ones have all failed eventually, of course I didn't buy them brand new, but the old G3 keeps on chugging. All I've had to do is replace the ROM chip and a hard drive. Regardless of it's speed or lack thereof, it still manages to play Diablo II, and Civilization CTP without a hitch. So what I'm trying to say is, even as they get older and faster stuff becomes available, it's almost like they're remaining faithful.
I was about to say roughly the same thing... it wasn't the anthropomorphization that put people off, but what the little bastards would say and do.
However, it is important to note (and is consistant with the articles) that because they -were- anthroporphized, they provided a clearer target for our frustration than a simple pop-up window does.
What might have saved clippy is if they added a feature where the user could, Black&White style, pimp slap him upside the head whenever he did something aggravating and proceeded to grin at you about it. At least then we'd feel some emotional resolution to the frustrations these programs often cause rather than just having to stare at another box asking you to accept something you don't like or want by clicking 'ok'.
Samir: No, not again. I... why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam? I swear to God, one of these days, I just kick this piece of sh-t out the window.
Michael Bolton: You and me both, man. That thing is lucky I'm not armed.
Samir: Piece of sh-t.
Those women drivers... Sheesh!
these sexist jokes... they get old!
there is no universal method of detecting emotions in humans. This impressed Smith, who had independently noticed that years of research in psychology had failed to uncover the Rosetta stone of human emotions.
Violence is the only language that Clippy understands.
I don't want a computer that reacts to my emotions because such a system is likely to be poorly used and to make my user experience less predictable and less useful. I want a system that works the same way every time, or else changes in some particularly predictable way (virus updates).
On a side note, I think Americans are becoming more 'promiscuous' with objects (I'm an American) since they're easily aquired and mass produced. It seems to me that people living a long time ago were more likely to assign emotional value to objects and hand things down in their families.
I have some plates that I got from my grandmother. They're handmade. I'm going to give them to my grandkids if I don't break the things first. We have a table from my grandfather that was made in the Black Forest. It's still in good condition. But I doubt I'm going to start many such traditions because most of the things I own are not unique, not made to last, and not particuarly valuable. The table my parents gave me when they moved is broken now, and I'll be selling my couches when I move or else trashing them. etc.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
I think I'd find it a lot easier to become attached to my computer. Let's face it, Bob & Clippy appear more masculine than feminine.
Let's give a computer a personality, and give that personality an animated image. An athletic hot chick, wearing skimpy clothing (although being highly intelligent) with a nice (not overly cheesy "sexy" though) voice. I think it would work, people would become attached. (Of course, that's the opposite of what every company with the power to do this really wants, force people to upgrade, don't get them attached to their current PC!)
When you consider the emotional ride these engineers and scientists have been on, a period of adjustment to post-mission life is certainly understandable. From living on a Martian schedule, to the torture of anticipation endured during touch-down, to the milestone discoveries, all of this must be amazing to experience first-hand. Think of all the data analyzed, the nights lying in bed pondering improvements to the software code -- projects such as these become easily become one's life. I just hope the JPL have more interesting projects to look forward to in the future (i.e., propulsion drives, space telescope flotillas, Europa ice-drillers...).
In terms of human discovery, it's a great time to be alive!
we tend to vehemently react against it--witness Microsoft's attempts with the much-loathed Bob and Clippy.
We managed to slip in an anti-"M$" jab even in an article about emotional bonding with fucking space probes.
Bob was over 10 years ago, and Clippy hasn't even been in a default install since the beginning of the decade. A simple click of "Hide" got rid of him way back when. Can we please get over Clippy already? The damn neverending light bulb in OpenOffice is much, much worse...
After all, people don't assign programmers to different tasks--all organizations are one-track minds. When a kernel changelog releases spelling changes in the source code, they could have spent that time improving file I/O! Oh, that's right, people actually work on different things at the same time.
Well. Slashdot wasn't here when Clippy was invented. Clippy is *old*.
I didn't intend to make the point that Clippy is bad or widely hated. I took it on assumption from the story, and was only trying to point out why the haters hate it. I know plenty of people that like Clippy too.
A more on-point contradiction might be that those folks who like Clippy probably wouldn't like something less playfull, like Stephenson's Librarian.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Of course the researchers and designers of space probes bond with them: they have put huge parts of their lives into making those complex system function and have sent them vast distances. They have to care because the machine represents a vast amount of intellect.
I was in the submarine service, reported to a boat in new construction, road her down the ways, watched her go from a nearly empty tube (forward of the reactor compartment) to a fully functioning warship. I was on watch during initial criticality, during her first dive, her first surface. I KNEW her, as only the crew of a new vessel can know. I knew the people who built her, who tested her, and (of course) who operated her.
She will be decommissioned this summer. I'll go. It will be a sad time, to watch the life of a vessel end. She's the last of her kind.
I'm sure the designers and mission planners and researchers will feel much the same when Spirit and Opportunity go silent. They SHOULD - they earned the caring.
I have never felt that way about any computer I have ever owned. And definately NOT about a piece of software.
What is happening here is that a designers are getting attached to their babies. Naming something you just purchased and purhaps made some relatively minor modifications to (minor in comparison to the overall original design effort) is not comparable.
I can say from experience that the emotional investment in the success of a project that you've worked say, 90 hours a week for 2 years solid, on is HUGE!!! In my case, my baby didn't fail but, rather, had its feet ripped out from under it before it was ever given a chance. It happened in the early '90s and I still carry hatred for the high level official that did the unjustified deed.
Even at 40 hours of concentrated effort a week, you are almost certainly spending more time paying focused attention to your creation than almost anyone ever pays to any member of their family. Your investment in your job in almost every measure is the biggest investment you make in your life. Next time you hear someone say something like "he put his heart and soul into _______", know that it has very real meaning behind it and feel compassion if whatever "it" is failed.