SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human

Is Robot Empathy a Trap?


Listen Later

Can robots care? And why should we care if they do? SAPIENS host Jen Shannon meets Pepper the robot, and host Chip Colwell goes on a quest to find out how the robotics industry is (re)shaping intimacy in Japan. He speaks with anthropologists Jennifer Robertson, Daniel White, and Hirofumi Katsuno, all researchers in the field of robotics, to learn more about what artificial emotion can teach us about what it means to be human.

  • Jennifer Robertson is a professor of anthropology and of the history of art at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

  • Hirofumi Katsuno is an associate professor in the department of media, journalism, and communications at Doshisha University, Kyoto.

  • Daniel White is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of history and cultural studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.

  • Learn more about artificial intelligence at SAPIENS.org

    • The Age of Cultured Machines by Matthew Gwynfryn Thomas and Djuke Veldhuis

    • Learning to Trust Machines That Learn by Matthew Gwynfryn Thomas and Djuke Veldhuis

    • Life and Death After the Steel Mills by Elizabeth Svoboda

    • An original score inspired by the 1927 film Metropolis called 2026: Musik Inspired by Metropolis by the composer Scott Ampleford appeared in this episode.

      This episode of Sapiens was produced by Arielle Milkman, edited by Matthew Simonson, and hosted by Chip Colwell, Esteban Gomez, and Jen Shannon.

      Sapiens producer Paul Karolyi, executive producer Cat Jaffee, and House of Pod intern Lucy Soucek provided additional support.

      All music is produced and designed by Matthew Simonson with illustration by David Williams, and fact-checking by Christine Weeber.

      Sapiens is part of the American Anthropological Association Podcast Library.

      This is an editorially independent podcast funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and produced by House of Pod.

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything HumanBy SAPIENS

      • 4.8
      • 4.8
      • 4.8
      • 4.8
      • 4.8

      4.8

      204 ratings


      More shows like SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human

      View all
      This American Life by This American Life

      This American Life

      91,067 Listeners

      Stuff You Should Know by iHeartPodcasts

      Stuff You Should Know

      78,266 Listeners

      Radiolab by WNYC Studios

      Radiolab

      43,982 Listeners

      Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

      Freakonomics Radio

      32,126 Listeners

      Fresh Air by NPR

      Fresh Air

      38,508 Listeners

      The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

      The New Yorker Radio Hour

      6,754 Listeners

      Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

      Hidden Brain

      43,686 Listeners

      99% Invisible by Roman Mars

      99% Invisible

      26,201 Listeners

      The Daily by The New York Times

      The Daily

      112,584 Listeners

      Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe by iHeartPodcasts

      Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

      2,337 Listeners

      Post Reports by The Washington Post

      Post Reports

      5,452 Listeners

      Throughline by NPR

      Throughline

      16,204 Listeners

      The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

      The Ezra Klein Show

      16,085 Listeners

      Unexplainable by Vox

      Unexplainable

      2,297 Listeners

      Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus by Lemonada Media

      Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus

      10,669 Listeners