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.'"

Comments

understandable

[pilgrim23]

Klaatu barada nikto -now doesn't that sound like clear baby talk?.

Correction

[MozeeToby]

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.

Re:These are not the humans you are looking for

[melikamp]

Who cares about robot babies? I am more concerned about robot babes.

Babies think everything that moves is sentient

[nbauman]

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.

Re:Babies think everything that moves is sentient

[smooth wombat]

NOVA (from PBS) had a three-part show called "The Human Spark" which was hosted by Alan Alda. In the shows, they examined what makes us human compared to the rest of the animal kingdom and how it relates to our brain.

During the show, they showed how babies (roughly 3 - 9 months old) could discern good from bad by watching colored blocks and how they behaved towards one another or how puppets played nice with one another.

One thing that came out during the show and made me say, "Hmmm" was the fact that if I were to point at something, without saying anything, you would look in the direction I was pointing.

Oddly enough, so do dogs. If you point at something, a dog will look. Here's the interesting part: wolves don't do this. Apparently, through the ages, as we've bred dogs to their current form, we have inadvertently bred this trait into them whereas wolves, ostensibly the originator of modern dogs, lack this trait.

To see the programs, visit http://video.pbs.org/program/1356407145/

or here:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/humanspark/tag/alan-alda/

In the second link, the second excerpt called Social Networks and the Spark, has the video of a baby choosing an inanimate toys who appears friendly/cooperative compared to one that isn't.

Exactly

[snspdaarf]

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.

Adults think their pets are human

[blair1q]

Adults think their pets are human, and humans of different colors are animals. People are generally not a good source of judgment.

Are you sure about that 18 months?

[Just_Say_Duhhh]

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.

Remember the Sirius Cybernetics Corp's definition

[dkleinsc]

"Your plastic pal who's fun to be with"

Re:How does this differ between humans and animals

[CohibaVancouver]

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.