Alexis M. Elder - Friendship, Robots, and Social Media: False Friends and Second Selves

Part I
Friendship

Part II
Robots

Part III
Social Media

I am deeply indebted to a great many generous individuals who have supported me throughout this project, more than I could possibly list here. But I will try to name at least a few.

Richard Volkman, who has been encouraging me since my undergraduate days to explore philosophy, Aristotle, ethics of friendship, and ethics of technology. Terrell Ward Bynum for introducing me to computer ethics. Fran Grodzinsky, for giving me the idea for at least one chapter and offering sage advice and supportive feedback at many critical junctures. Heidi Lockwood, for urging me to turn a chance comment in a Q&A into a paper that then grew into a research project in social robotics. Marty Wolf for his mentorship in computer ethics. The ETHICOMP research community for many wonderful and inspiring conferences. IACAP and SPT conference-goers likewise.

The Philosophy and Womens Studies departments at Southern Connecticut State University proved to be grounds for many rich and rewarding conversations that contributed to the development of the ideas in this book: I am indebted to Xiaomei Yang, Armen Marsoobian, Eric Cavallero, Ken Gatzke, Rex Gilliland, Krystyna Gorniak, Chelsea Harry, David Pettigrew, Sarah Roe, and Yi-Chun Tricia Lin, in addition to those already mentioned. Sheila Magnotti, the SCSU Philosophy Departments amazing secretary, is not only phenomenally helpful but also my Snapchat buddy.

Many thanks to Mark Lowe and the Quinebaug Valley Community College community, who had me out to give several talks that turned into wonderful conversations with faculty, administrators, and students alike on the values and risks of social technologies. My fabulous colleagues at the University of Minnesota Duluth have helped me to develop this research in new and unexpected directions, including much helpful guidance on the literature in cognitive science and behavioral economics, as well as social media, robotics, ethics, and yet more Aristotle: Jeanine and Bob Schroer, Jason Ford, Sean Walsh, and Eve Rabinoff, not to mention two terrifically helpful administrative specialists, Bridget Park and Terry Estep. Shannon Vallor, John Sullins, and the audience at the 2016 Pacific APA contributed to a stimulating conversation about social robotics.

I am indebted to the students in my classes at the University of Connecticut, Southern Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University, and the University of Minnesota Duluth, with whom I enjoyed too many terrific discussions to list here and who greatly enriched my thinking about these complex issues. You all are the best students a teacher could ask for. I am also thankful for my colleagues and classmates at the University of Connecticut, with whom I shared many stimulating conversations about the nature of friendship, especially Paul Bloomfield.

And last but certainly not least, Thomas Dorr, steadfast cheerleader, supplier of tamales while research and writing kept me out of the kitchen, extraordinarily conscientious unpaid research assistant and reference management support, and friend.

An earlier version of was published in Ratio (2014) Volume 27 (1), pp. 8499 under the title Why Bad People Cant Be Good Friends. It appears here with permission of John Wiley and Sons.

Portions of were published in Ethics and Information Technology (2014) Volume 16 (4), pp. 28797 under the title Excellent Online Friendships: An Aristotelian Defense of Social Media. It appears here with permission of Springer.