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ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
People owning robotic pets that make demands of them is a relatively new twist in the complex relationship between humans and machines. Sociologist Sherry Turkle of MIT has studied people's dealings with computational objects.
Dr. Turkle, what's at work here when humans seek out robotic companionship?
Dr. SHERRY TURKLE (Sociologist, MIT): Well, one of the most seductive things that an entity can do is to ask for your nurturings. And computational objects have started to do that. The very first ones on the market were the Tamagotchis that asked you to clean up after them and feed them and amuse them. And then there were the Furbies, and now the AIBOs. This demand for caretaking really pushes on our evolutionary buttons to respond to these creatures as though they were alive in a new kind of way for us.
SIEGEL: But, of course, the notion of having a robotic pet forces us to think about the not-so-simple notion of having a living pet and why it is that people would have dogs to begin with and train with them, or cats and not even hope...