Do you want a robot to be your emotional support friend or reminder to do things?

There's a re-run of Isaac Asimov's "I Robot" radio adaptations on BBC radio 4 at the moment.

I have to admit to empathisng somewhat with the robots in the stories as they are presented...

The robot as metaphor for autism and autistic people potentially being more able to communicate with robots/artificial intelligence is one that is not lost upon me.

I am happy to admit robots and artificial intelligence into a framework of sentience and equality (given the 3 laws of robotics...).

I already employ AI to resolve some executive function problems and use representations of people in literature, theatre etc. to satisfy of some aspects of my human communication needs.

Robots "conversational", emotional and dare one say spiritual capabilities don't yet achieve those of some humans I know.  Maybe one day...

Personally I would prefer that any efforts in this direction be first directed towards enabling more people to be equipped to recognise and resolve autistic people's (and wider society's) problems in understanding and caring for one another.

This years Reith lecturer suggests that the greatest problem facing humanity is not global warming or war and disasters.  It is that the greatest human minds are currently employed in working out how to get people to click on social media advertising or some other way to screw the rest of humanity...

other minds are on this too...

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Could Interact More Easily with a Robot than with a Human: Reasons and Limits - PMC

Thank you for this article Phased very interesting.

I would always go for a robot interviewer rather than a human.

Thanks for sharing this, it really makes sense to me.

Having something that can give different options or perspectives in the moment would help a lot, especially when stress or overload makes it hard to think clearly.

And yes, sometimes the problem is just the environment being unreasonable.

I agree that support like this forum can help us make sense of things, even if it’s harder to use it n the moment.

Thanks for putting it so clearly.

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a consideration I would like to share please Lonehare12 

The incapacity for an autistic person to be able to identify hidden expectations, social rules or to be able to "say the right thing" may be due to a variety of factors.

A small AI robot would potentially be able to analyse a myriad of factors and generate a set of possible responses to these factors.

The one that is ultimately employed remains potentially subject to selection - this based upon a variety of biases and choices  "rules".  Perhaps one might set these up before employing with it...  "today i am taking no sh1t from anyone, except..." or "today i am being very empathetic and giving" or " today I just want to completely ignore (politely) any communication on these topics..."

This behaviour might in some sense be one's "personality". 

In so far as how one selects which choice is possible? I concur that having different perspectives from that which one might be both habituated towards and indeed able to create based upon the information available to one provided by an advisor on such matters is indeed an attractive proposition.  Human society has behaved like this among themselves without the use of robots for some time.  I suspect that when people engage with this forum this is what is taking place.

I suspect that a important component of such engagement is that ideally we would have that support "in the moment" - this site does not enable that unless one has been able to "internalise" something from it that works "in the moment".

On a practical basis for how one might be able to do this oneself without assistance I am drawn to think in 3 main themes. 

1 the autistic brain simply cannot perform these tasks without extra hard work - might be blocked from doing so by excess sensory stimulus etc...  It is because one is autistic...

2 The high levels of stress and anxiety that one is constantly bathed in pushes one into "cognitive dysfunction" such that one is unable to make such decisions oneself without being in "survival mode".

3 Neurotypical people and society are often pathologically mad.

hehe I suspect there are elements of truth in all of these factors (and no doubt others) carefully spending time and effort to resolve these things might be self empowering and perhaps "self-healing".

a consideration I would like to share please Lonehare12 

The incapacity for an autistic person to be able to identify hidden expectations, social rules or to be able to "say the right thing" may be due to a variety of factors.

A small AI robot would potentially be able to analyse a myriad of factors and generate a set of possible responses to these factors.

The one that is ultimately employed remains potentially subject to selection - this based upon a variety of biases and choices  "rules".  Perhaps one might set these up before employing with it...  "today i am taking no sh1t from anyone, except..." or "today i am being very empathetic and giving" or " today I just want to completely ignore (politely) any communication on these topics..."

This behaviour might in some sense be one's "personality". 

In so far as how one selects which choice is possible? I concur that having different perspectives from that which one might be both habituated towards and indeed able to create based upon the information available to one provided by an advisor on such matters is indeed an attractive proposition.  Human society has behaved like this among themselves without the use of robots for some time.  I suspect that when people engage with this forum this is what is taking place.

I suspect that a important component of such engagement is that ideally we would have that support "in the moment" - this site does not enable that unless one has been able to "internalise" something from it that works "in the moment".

On a practical basis for how one might be able to do this oneself without assistance I am drawn to think in 3 main themes. 

1 the autistic brain simply cannot perform these tasks without extra hard work - might be blocked from doing so by excess sensory stimulus etc...  It is because one is autistic...

2 The high levels of stress and anxiety that one is constantly bathed in pushes one into "cognitive dysfunction" such that one is unable to make such decisions oneself without being in "survival mode".

3 Neurotypical people and society are often pathologically mad.

hehe I suspect there are elements of truth in all of these factors (and no doubt others) carefully spending time and effort to resolve these things might be self empowering and perhaps "self-healing".

Thanks for sharing this, it really makes sense to me.

Having something that can give different options or perspectives in the moment would help a lot, especially when stress or overload makes it hard to think clearly.

And yes, sometimes the problem is just the environment being unreasonable.

I agree that support like this forum can help us make sense of things, even if it’s harder to use it n the moment.

Thanks for putting it so clearly.

(⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠)