In The New York Times today, a notice for Madeleine George's new play contains this sentence

In multiple plotlines, the play examines the fear of depending on another person and the allure of using machines to meet emotional needs.

I feel so out of touch.

I read Alone Together with disbelief, and only acknowledge its findings with reluctance. Here's more evidence, from Fast Company. that Sherry Turkle got it right.

As more advanced robots enter more parts of our lives, especially in the workplace, there could be growing emotional and psychological consequences for their human caretakers. Julie Carpenter, a human-robot interaction researcher who did her doctoral work at the University of Washington’s School of Education, recently found that out in a series of interviews she did with 23 military personnel who operate robots that dismantle explosives and other weapons. In their responses, it was clear they had begun to view the robots as extension of themselves.

Hot on the heels of Mashable's report of a robotic petting zoo comes Fast Company on a huggable robotic monkey that can be used to diagnose dementia.