Alone Together Paper

Alone Together Book Response by Sherry Turkle

The task that I have been assigned is to discuss the book Alone Together by Sherry Turkle. In this discussion I will answer the following questions:

1. What’s the author’s “big claim” or thesis for this book?

2. How is technology both a blessing and a curse (citing examples from the book)?

3. What are the ethical problems with humanizing robots or blurring the distinction between the machine and the human?

4. Why does social networking fail to address the problem of loneliness and alienation (example: explain the title of the book!)?

5. Do some researches on “transhumanism,” then write a paragraph or two on whether the book raises any points relevant to the debate over this philosophy?

Through the course of this paper those will be the main points that I will be focusing on because this was the task I was given by the said professor. I will make a distinction on which point I am talking about so it will be clear and easy to follow along.

* Point number one: What is Sherry Turkle’s “big claim” or thesis for this book? Well, I believe that her “big claim” or thesis in this book is one that has been talked about and heard before. I believe that it is very useful in a sense of what she is saying. But to me I believe that her thesis for this book is that people are more and more putting human qualities into robots, like all the gadgets and other various things you see now a days that provide comfort to those who might not be able to get the same satisfaction out of a human. In her big claim part, I believe, that she is saying exactly what the rest of the world knows, that we have little person to person encounters and because of that we expect less out of them. Facebook, MySpace, Skype, Oovoo, Twitter, and texts have all become our mainstream of communication and that is this generation’s means of communication instead of how it used to be. Instead of us having real friends, Sherry...