W11en we invest computers with human characteristics are we actually enlarging the world of human value and feeling, in much the same way as we give meaniJ1g co paintings, sculptures, and buildings?...

W11en we invest computers with human characteristics are we actually enlarging the world of human value and feeling, in much the same way as we give meaniJ1g co paintings, sculptures, and buildings? When people praise Michelangelo's Piela for its emotional depth, or Van Gogh's S111iflo111crs for its vitality, they are ascribing to stone and pigments on canvas qualities these objects actually lack. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher i11 the Rye and Pip f rom Great Expectations have no real thoughts and feelings although we sometimes act as though they do. How does our response to Furbies and Tamagotchis differ from our response to works of art or fictional characters? When we humanize them, are we diminishing ourselves?