Of Objects and Affect

Artificial Empathy, Pure Sociality, and Affective Coordination

Abstract

This article begins by introducing Paro, a robot designed for (substitute) pet-therapy in retirement homes and hospitals. Paro’s success as a social robot illustrates the fact that, in an interaction, “social agents” give precedence to their relation to other agents over the relations to objects. However, Paro’s artificial empathy is characterized by its failure to engage with the world and provides an example of what may be called “pure sociality”. Among humans, examples of relations of pure sociality are rare. Most social relations rests on an object or pretext that allows them to arise. Violence and passionate love are among the few examples of relations of pure sociality suggesting that such relations which involve strong emotions can also be self- defeating. How can this be squared with Paro’s apparent success?