Infidelity 2.0

Posted at 1:50 PM on June 9, 2011 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Life

Rep. Anthony Weiner's online escapades may be the latest evidence of a technical sexual revolution, an MIT researcher is suggesting.

"Crude connections may signal a 'robotic moment' for society where humans begin turning to artificial intelligence to fulfill emotional needs," Sherry Turkle, director of MIT's Initiative on Society and Self, tells InnovationNewsDaily.

Turkle, who's written "One Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other," says her research has found people more interested in "artificial" boyfriends, girlfriends, and spouses.

Say what?

"They were not being ironic. They felt that people had failed them. And that a robot would be a safe choice," she says.

If you're in a relationship with a real person, are you unfaithful if you take up with a virtual one?

It depends on what your definition of infidelity is, according to Robert Weiss, founding director of The Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles. He now defines infidelity as the act of keeping secrets in a relationship.

This is going to be a problem.

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Comments (9)

One of many reasons I recently renewed my membership to Luddites Of America.

The rapidly increasing number of techo tools makes it all that much easier to be a tool.

Posted by Jim Shapiro | June 9, 2011 2:02 PM

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I tend to agree with Weiss that infidelity is the act of keeping secrets in a relationship. There are many kinds of families and relationships that work for different kinds of people. The key to making any relationship work is trust.

All that being said, it seems to me that the other real issue here is that our elected officials seem incapable of handling social media appropriately. I see so many distractions from real issues made by stupidity on Twitter, for example, see Capitol View blog:
a href="http://url" target="_blank">http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2011/06/senate_ethics_c.shtml?refid=0

When we face a government shut down, real problems facing real people, and so many funding shortfalls, I cannot help but get angry that Twitter is getting so much of our attention. Our actions (or inactions) show where our real priorities are. Frustrating.

Posted by Christin | June 9, 2011 2:27 PM

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Alright so I posted HTML for the link wrong...sorry all. (I'm not the most tech-savvy).

Posted by Christin | June 9, 2011 2:29 PM

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@Jim - well put.

Further listening here:
http://www.radiolab.org/2011/may/31/

Posted by RadioNed | June 9, 2011 2:30 PM

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The issue here is not the technology, it's the humanity. People do easily forget that when there is a machine between them and the other person, be that machine a computer or a car or anything else.

But to characterize this sorry event as anything other than a human failure is a serious mistake. A 46 year old man likely going through mid-life crisis while simultaneously awaiting his first child AND receiving a tremendous amount of media attention for his work probably hit ego overload. What he needs is for his old friends to grab him and say, "I know you, this isn't you, cut it the Hell out!"

Worrying about the technology that he used is ridiculous. Men in his state have found ways to make serious mistakes long before there was a damned "twitter".

Posted by Erik Hare | June 9, 2011 4:57 PM

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Eric -Interesting point. But you seem to have missed the point of the post. Sure, men have always fallen into the trap of allowing their little head to think for their big head, but now the ways to get into trouble are multiplied because of the technology.

Posted by Jim Shapiro | June 9, 2011 6:45 PM

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Jim, I didn't miss the point - I rejected it. I see no reason why this should be analyzed as a "crime of opportunity". Men in this position often explode regardless of the situation. I do not see that the technology played anything other than a very minor role in this particular story.

Posted by Erik Hare | June 10, 2011 9:38 AM

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Erik - Again, true enough. Men in positions of power often self-destruct, frequently through sexual indiscretions. But to use your own argument, because it happens so frequently, the unique part of the story was in fact the technological means by which this guy did himself in. I don't understand your insistence on denying that part of the story. Have significant interest in Twitter, do we? :-)

Posted by Jim Shapiro | June 11, 2011 9:44 PM

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Quick correction:
Turkle's book is called Alone Together, not One Together. It is well worth the read.

Posted by Katie | June 14, 2011 11:03 AM

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