Fear of a Bot Planet: Anthropomorphism, Humanoid Embodiment, and Machine Consciousness

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate about the existence of humanoid robotics. The arguments tend to focus on the ethical claims that there is always deception involved. However, little attention has been paid to the ontological reasons that humanoid robotics are valuable in consciousness research. This paper examines the arguments and controversy around ethical rejection of humanoid robotics, while also summarizing some of the landscape of 4e cognition that highlights the ways our specific humanoid bodies in our specific cultural, social, and physical environments play an indispensable role in cognition, from conceptualization through communication. Ultimately, we argue that there is a compelling set of reasons to pursue humanoid robotics as a major research agenda in AI if the goal is to create an artificial conscious system that we will be able to both recognize as conscious and communicate with successfully.