An ontic–ontological theory for ethics of designing social robots : a case of Black African women and humanoids
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Date
Authors
Lamola, M.J. (John)
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
Given the affective psychological and cognitive dynamics prevalent during human–robot-interlocution, the vulnerability to cultural-political influences of the design aesthetics of a social humanoid robot has far-reaching ramifications. Building upon this hypothesis, I explicate the relationship between the structures of the constitution social ontology and computational semiotics, and ventures a theoretical framework which I proposes as a thesis that impels a moral responsibility on engineers of social humanoids. In distilling this thesis, the implications of the intersection between the socio-aesthetics of racialised and genderised humanoids and the phenomenology of human–robot-interaction are illuminated by the figuration of the experience of a typical black rural African woman as the user, that is, an interlocutor with an industry-standard socially-situated humanlike robot. The representation of the gravity of the psycho-existential and socio-political ramifications of such woman’s life with humanoids is abstracted and posited as grounds that illustrate the imperative for roboticists to take socio-ethical considerations seriously in their designs of humanoids.
Description
Keywords
Computational semiotics, Humanoids, Robot gender, Robotic ethics, Robot race, Postphenomenology
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Lamola, M.J. An ontic–ontological theory for ethics of designing social robots: a case of Black African women and humanoids. Ethics and Information Technology 23, 119–126 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-020-09529-z.