Abusing a Robot Won't Hurt It, but It Could Make You a Crueller Person

Set in a dystopian 2019, the sci-fi classic Blade Runner explores how artificial humans could impact our humanity. Harrison Ford's character experiences powerful emotional and moral effects as he goes about hunting "replicants". Now, in the real 2019, the influence of robots on human behaviour is increasingly relevant. Killer military robots and sex robots, for example, might alter attitudes to killing and to women, respectively. Could treating social robots kindly make us kinder people? And could cruelty towards them make us more callous?