Sherry Turkle

I’m looking forward to joining @katiehafner at @nysoclib on November 12 for a conversation about my new book, Artificial Intimacy. What happens to our capacity for friendship, love, and care when we turn to machines for companionship? And how do we protect what is most human in us? I hope you’ll join us—in person or online—at 6 p.m. EST. Learn more and register: nysoclib.org/events/sherry-…

Thank you, Sam Harris and @MakingSenseHQ, for this great conversation!

In @nybooks, James Gleick wrote a brilliant and comprehensive essay on “talking to it” in which he considers my Artificial Intimacy along with Inventing Eliza. From our earliest experiences with chatbots, he says, we have faced the question: What happens to us when we mistake simulated caring for the real thing? As Gleick writes, “We can befriend them if we like, but they are not befriending us.” nybooks.com/articles/2026/…

Thank you, Becky Hogge, for a thoughtful, thorough review of Artificial Intimacy in @FT. She so eloquently captures the essence of my pro-human argument that successful psychological development can be achieved only in concert with others… in the context of relationships of responsibility, consequence, and care. When I call for corporations to help build new social infrastructure to address loneliness and social dislocation, she is rightly skeptical of whether this is realistic — but given the stakes, I believe we should ask for no less. Read it with this gift link: giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/ac…

“Getting angry and being with your own kind is no training for democracy.” On this midterm Election Day, I’m reflecting on my recent Substack conversation with Priya Parker about what happens when technology pulls us away from one another. Social media keeps us angry and siloed; chatbots invite us into conversations with an ever-agreeable “yes person.” But democracy asks us to engage with people who see the world differently. Conflict and friction are part of how we learn to listen, understand, and live together. Follow Priya and me on Substack for more conversations about what it means to be human—and what we have to offer one another.