Synthetic Friends: A Philosophy of Human-Machine Friendship - Hardcover

by Hendrik Kempt (Author)

This book explores the notion of whether we can be friends with machines in a philosophically meaningful way. Depending on our concept of friendship, we may be inclined to answer differently. Since social technology has made new forms of friendships possible between people across the globe, the author argues that the philosophical concept of friendship, forged thousands of years ago, should be re-examined. The author proposes a new approach to the debate that reflects the unique relationship we can build with machines as our synthetic friends.

Back Jacket

​Friendship is an important human good. Most (though perhaps not all) humans crave it. Why does it matter so much? What brave new world of friendship awaits us with the advent of machines that are able to mimic human-like behaviours and relationship styles? Hendrik Kempt's book takes a deep dive into these topics and rewards the reader with a rich and philosophically nuanced analysis of the possibility of friendship with technology. Anyone interested in the future of friendship should read this book.

- John Danaher, Lecturer in the School of Law at NUI Galway, Ireland

This book explores the notion of whether we can be friends with machines in a philosophically meaningful way. Depending on our concept of friendship, we may be inclined to answer differently. Since social technology has made new forms of friendships possible between people across the globe, the author argues that the philosophical concept of friendship, forged thousands of years ago, should be re-examined. The author proposes a new approach to the debate that reflects the unique relationship we can build with machines as our synthetic friends.

Hendrik Kempt is Research Associate at the Applied Ethics Group at RWTH Aachen, Germany. He was previously a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California and Brown University, USA. He is editor of RuPaul's Drag Race and Philosophy (2020) and author of "Chatbots and the Domestication of AI" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) as well as several articles on the topic of human-machine interaction.

Author Biography

Hendrik Kempt is Research Associate at the Applied Ethics Group at RWTH Aachen, Germany. He was previously a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California and Brown University, USA. He is editor of RuPaul's Drag Race and Philosophy (2020) and author of "Chatbots and the Domestication of AI" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) as well as several articles on the topic of human-machine interaction.