Humans are social animals. They seek condolence through establishing relationships and associations with the people around them. In this process, a sense of intimacy is created, which is the major source of comfort and spiritual power for the majority. With the development of technology, personal relationships seem to have been diminished, as people are increasingly occupied with their cell phones. Some people believe that technology does not free people. Instead, it imprisons people into the cages of convenience. The thriving artificial intelligence is bringing people emotional support previously generated from human-to-human interactions only. However, this human-robot relationship is being criticized for the lack of “authenticity”. This essay will discuss the positive and negative implications of authenticity in intimacy. Through an analysis of the two articles “Alone Together” by Sherry Turkle and “The World and Other Places” by Jeanette Winterson. What matters the most is the genuine feelings and emotions generated from various forms of interactions, not the authenticity of these interaction forms.

Intimate relationships are important for one’s life, especially in the childhood. At a child from a poor family, the narrator of “The World and Other Places” found himself constantly limited by the physical world. The financial status of his family prevented him from getting what he wanted. Despite all that, he still had a happy childhood thanks to his mother and siblings. The family would gather on a special night and play the airplane game, when they pretended to be on an airplane traveling to different places of the world. His mother was actively participating in their game, “who was Chief Steward, swayed down the aisle with cups of tea and toast and Marmite.” In this case, while the children did not get to experience the real India, France, and Egypt, what they did experience was the genuine joy for family members to be together and dream together. This also became the major motivation for the boy to grow up to become a real pilot. The fake scenes and the lack of authenticity became even contributive to the boy’s ambitions. If the family were rich enough to travel around the world but without the games and fun, the intimacy would be completely lost and the boy would hardly be motivated to go and see the world in the future.

The authenticity of intimacy exists not only in humans only, but also in objects. Being a grown up and a pilot who has realized his childhood dreams, the model airplane the boy made when he was little still carried his hopes and dreams. Even if the dreams are realized and the hopes were gone, the emotions were still genuine: “What hopes they carried. More than the altar at church. More than a good school report. In the secret places, under the fuselage, stuck to the tail-fin, I had hidden my hopes.” People feel genuine emotions and feelings for all types of things. Objects that are remote and emotionless to some can bring others to tears. This is not because the objects themselves have any special quality. Instead, it is the persons who have shared special memories with the objects, who have chosen to imprint their emotions onto the objects. In this sense, the authenticity of a wedding ring and an AI robot is not that different. Clearly, the mother and the son had similar emotions towards the model airplane, which is why she said: ‘I gave them a wipe anyway.’ Sharing emotions on non-human objects hardly hinders the emotions between human beings.

Authenticity must derive from inner strength. People with the inner strength to imagine are happy, because they are able to expect good things from the future. After growing up and learning to fly a real airplane, the ability to imagine was lost in the boy. Having seen people from all over the world, he became confused about his purpose of life. “The curious thing is that no matter how different they are, the people are all preoccupied with the same things, that is, the same thing; how to live. We have to eat, we want to make money, but in every pause the question returns: How shall I live?” The embarrassment for his childhood dreams is only one the surface. Deep down, it is the lack of intimate human relationships that made the man lost. Once people lose touch with their loved ones, they become detached from the rest of the world. As described by the homeless person: ‘Nobody used to look at me. Even when I had money, I was one of those guys who get looked through. It’s like being a ghost. If no one can see you you’re dead. What’s the point of trying to live if you are already dead?’ Moreover, inner strength can drive both externally and internally. In addition to the attention and care from the loved ones, inner peace is also important, as the poor but happy women has shown him.

People establish relationships and intimacy through one way or another, and there should not be a priority in these means. Although technology has offered opportunities for people to interact without seeing face to face, the convenience brought by technology is bringing people closer than before, by reducing the physical distance between them. There are some people who feel that technology has taken away the authenticity in the intimacy that they once felt. However, they have failed to find reasons in themselves. In the article by Turkle, an example of Ellen and her grandmother is used to demonstrate the detrimental effects of technology on intimate human relationships. In this case, Ellen felt guilty to be multitasking while Skyping with her grandmother. Although her grandmother felt very happy seeing her, Ellen felt she was not there with her. Multitasking was simply a choice, as Ellen was fully capable of not doing it and concentrating on her grandmother while chatting with her. She had forgotten the basic respect and manners for the person who deserved her full attention. What’s worse, she was blaming technology for it.

Turkle discusses about the seductive nature of technology, that targets human vulnerabilities. However, she has underestimated the power of the relationship between human beings. Since the entire experience of emotional AI is to mimic the best part of the human relationship, it should be considered as genuine as the relationship between humans. Once developed to a certain height, by taking only the best part from the relationship, the robots can serve as teachers, as humans would unconsciously imitate the robots’ behaviors, preparing themselves to become more emotional competent persons. Just as people find emotional support from their pets, which are considered no threat or competition to human relationships, robots and AI should not, either. The example of the authentic turtle in the American Museum of Natural History shows that the younger generation may have less emphasis on authenticity, and more on function and effect. This should not be criticized, and should simply be considered as a matter of preference. There are people who prefer human relationship, and there are also people who enjoy the company of pets and robots. The coexistence of multiple intimacy forms doesn’t mean that one should take over and be dominant in any way.

Currently, technologies are only able to create simulations of humanity. This is done by pushing the “Darwinian buttons” including the way people make eye contact, how people move, and how they express emotions. This may seem fake and unauthentic to some, but being entangled with the details is only going to ruin things. People project human emotions onto their pets, but it doesn’t mean that the pets are truly capable of emotions. Despite the fact that they are mostly depending on nonspecific humans for food, people choose to believe the existence of emotional attachment, because it makes them happy. It is even the same with people. Even in the most intimate relationship among humans, there must be moments that are not entirely about love and positive feelings. It is the choice in belief that make people happy, not the hard, cold truth. There are imperfections in all relationship, even for human-robot ones. Turkle seems to have exaggerated the negative sides of human relationships, such as too much demands, disappointments, lies, cheating, etc. However, it is these deficiencies that make it more necessary for people to learn how to establish and maintain intimate relationships, instead of hiding in the virtual world.

In conclusion, imitate relationships are important for everyone. It is even more influential than the physical environment, especially for children. AI and robotics technologies have brought changes in the way people interact with each other and establish intimate relationships. In this process, the importance of authenticity is decreasing, while feelings and emotions are more important. Some changes can limit people and prevent them from meeting new people. For example, people who send text messages to avoid meeting in person, or those who are addicted to virtual games and cannot face reality. However, it would always be their choice to step out of the virtual environment and see their loved ones in person. Despite the negative influences of technology, emotional artificial intelligence is believed to be a positive thing to help people step out of their own world and interact with people. Just like some people keep pets for emotional support, such technologies should not be considered as a substitution or threat.