The Interplay of Contrary Tendencies in Human-Machine Relationships

• In Event: PRECONFERENCE: Communicating with Machines: Theory and Practice

Abstract

Can we consider our associations with machine beings interpersonal relationships? Following the dialogism of Mikhail Bakhtin (1981), Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT; Baxter, 2004)) suggests all interpersonal relationships are characterized by the presence and communicative management of tensions. These relationship pushes and pulls arise from opposing discourses about the nature and aims of relationality. The ongoing communicative management of dialectics constitutes and relates the entities of interest. The purpose of this talk is to consider the extent to which RDT might illuminate our understanding of emerging relationships between human and machine beings by exploring parallel tensions characterizing discourses of human and human-machine relationships (e.g., instrumentality versus relationality) and considering the implications of the dialectical approach for considering the development of interpersonal relationships with machines as laden with endemic contradictions, non-linear, and communicatively negotiated.

Authors

• Autumn Payge Edwards, Western Michigan U

• Chad Edwards, Western Michigan U