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Study Shows Babies Think Friendly Robots Are Sentient
seanonymous writes "A study from University of Washington claims that babies think robots are human, so long as the robots are friendly. No word on what evil robots are thought to be. From the article: 'At 18 months old, babies have begun to make conscious delineations between sentient beings and inanimate objects. But as robots get more and more advanced, those decisions may become harder to make. What causes a baby to decide a robot is more than bits of metal? As it turns out, it takes more than humanoid looks — babies rely on social interaction to make that call.'"
Klaatu barada nikto -now doesn't that sound like clear baby talk?.
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
Do they think the dog is sentient?
Correction: Should read "Babies behave towards things the same way they observed adults behaving towards them". The babies in the study didn't behave as if the robots were sentient unless they had watched an adult treat the robot as if it were sentient. Only if they watched an adult 'play' with the robot like a human child did the babies respond as if the robot were alive, even though the robot was programmed with the exact same movements in both set ups. This says a lot more about how children learn from adults than it does about how children perceive robots.
Hopefully, this same trick will work on robot babies. We must start at a young age and show them that we are robots. It is the only way to protect our species.
No word on what evil robots are thought to be.
That is simple. They are known to be republicans.
I for one, welcome our new robot babysitter overlords.
According to psychologist Paul Bloom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bloom_(psychologist) , babies think lots of things are sentient.
If they show a movie to babies with geometrical figures, they assume that the geometrical figures are helping or hindering each other because geometrical figures want to.
He said this makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, because it improves survival if you assume everything around you that moves might be out to get you.
He also says that this is an evolutionary explanation of religion, by finding sentient beings behind all of nature. If you see a storm, there must be a sentient being behind it.
Their beliefs are based on limited experience. When I was little, I watched musicians doing a live radio show. For a while after that, I thought that all music on the radio was performed live. It's the same kind of thing.
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
Adults think their pets are human, and humans of different colors are animals. People are generally not a good source of judgment.
I think there is strong evidence that humans much older than 18 months cannot make a delineation between sentient beings and inanimate objects.
If the supplied evidence is not enough, try this.
I need trepanation like I need a hole in the head.
The qualification to be considered sentient is that it appears to have human-like intelligence to a human.
"Your plastic pal who's fun to be with"
I am officially gone from
I have a 2yr old and he thinks Train set is Sentient. So I don't really think this is any kind of breakthrough.
Oh, I don't know...I've heard lots of babies say, "poo-poo."
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
depends on your definition of sentience. By the wikipedia definition for example I'd say dogs are sentient.
from wikipedia...
"Sentience is the ability to feel or perceive. The term is used in science and philosophy, and in the study of artificial intelligence. Sentience is used in the study of consciousness to describe the ability to have sensations or experiences, known to Western philosophers as "qualia""
I've heard other people say that, before you.
I've known humans much older who think their magic jesus in the sky to somehow be any more real than superman, spiderman, santa and the like...
Are you thinking Sapient?
Sapient, Sentient, Conscious and Self-Aware aren't all the same?
I'd say: Babies are Sentient (Can feel and perceive), Marginally Sapient (can make basic judgments only), Conscious (aware that stuff is going on[when they're, you know, awake]) and not very self-aware (not much identity of self)
Regarding the dog conversation above, I dont think this is much different than a dog. I heard a line once "A kid is like a dog that grows up and learns how to talk".
(don't hate me, kids are cool)
The robot? It can perceive, it can act based on stimulus. Feel?- No. Sentient no not really. Then none of the other things either.
I'm not sure the Babies are human and therefore have human intelligence makes sense. A person in a persistent vegetative state is human, but not sentient.
Eschew Obfuscation
Do they think the dog is sentient?
Initially, yes. Interestingly, when our toddler was developing her language skills, she practiced three sets of sounds - English language sounds that she heard her parents speaking, Spanish-language sounds that she heard from her nanny and grandmother and growly barky sounds that she heard from the dog. Eventually she realized the dog was a lower-order being and stopped trying to speak dog.
my 3 year old thought a 5 dollar motorized bug was real, same reaction as to a real bug. Took her months before she could tell the difference. I don't think the study say's anything about 'sentience', perception/recognition develops over time naturally, ability to identify/distinguish will of course vary based on age/ability/culture....
Robots that respond to their environment are essentially sentient. Dogs certainly are sentient. Neither are SAPIENT.
Sci-fi has misused the work sentient when they meant to say sapient.
That does NOT mean that sentient means self aware, it means the sci-fi writers and everyone else who says sentient when they mean sapient are WRONG.
Yes, even if the dictionary agrees with them.
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