Friendship, Robots, and Social Media: False Friends and Second Selves - Paperback

by Alexis M. Elder (Author)

Various emerging technologies, from social robotics to social media, appeal to our desire for social interactions, while avoiding some of the risks and costs of face-to-face human interaction. But can they offer us real friendship? Elder outlines a theory of friendship drawing on Aristotle and contemporary work on social ontology.

Author Biography

Alexis M. Elder is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her research focuses on friendship and social technologies. Her publications include "Excellent Online Friendships: An Aristotelian Defense of Social Media" in Ethics and Information Technology, and "Zhuangzi on Friendship and Death" in Southern Journal of Philosophy.