Summary: HR Happy Hour - Episode 87 - 'Robots and Social Networks' Thursday February 17, 2011 In the last thirty years the remarkable advances in technology have irreversibly changed and shaped our relationship with these technologies,and quite possibly each other. Whether it is the development and increasing influence of smart and sociable robots, or the constant connectivity and apparent intimacy of social networks like Facebook and Twitter; these modern technologies have impacted us in ways that perhaps were unanticipated, unwanted, and potentially detrimental. Do the advances in robot technology detract from our ability to connect and relate to each other? Does the constant connectivity, the prevalence of lives led online, in virtual relationships that have the potential to overtake our real world connections, threaten to drive us, paradoxically, into increased solitude? Are we trading the real for the artificial? And if so, what does that mean for us, for our relationships, our understanding of privacy, and for the future of our workplaces? Joining us on the show will be Professor Sherry Turkle of MIT, and author of 'Alone Together', to talk about the implications of the advances in these technologies, and the potential impacts, both good and bad, from the rise of the social age. This should be an interesting and provocative show, and I hope you can join us.
