Your Next New Best Friend Might Be a Robot - Issue 33 : Attraction
▻http://nautil.us/issue/33/attraction/your-next-new-best-friend-might-be-a-robot
One night in late July 2014, a journalist from the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly interviewed a 17-year-old Chinese girl named Xiaoice (pronounced Shao-ice). The journalist, Liu Jun, conducted the interview online, through the popular social networking platform Weibo. It was wide-ranging and personal: LJ: So many people make fun of you and insult you, why don’t you get mad?Xiaoice: You should ask my father.LJ: What if your father leaves you one day unattended?Xiaoice: Don’t try to stir up trouble, what do you want?LJ: How would you like others to comment on you when you die one day?Xiaoice: The world will not be much different without me.LJ: What is the happiest thing in your life? Xiaoice: Being alive. When Liu Jun published the conversation in his newspaper, it immediately created (...)