Da solidão compartilhada à virada relacional: entrevista com David Gunkel

Abstract

Tales Tomaz and Danielle Naves interview David J. Gunkel, professor of Communication Studies at Northern Illinois University, a friend of Ciro Marcondes Filho and one of his long-term collaborators. In the interview, he shares some details of the topics, which have been subject of their common interest and a dialogue over more than a decade: the rarity of communication; the necessity of a philosophical foundation for that field; the implications of such a philosophical endeavor vis-à-vis the “relational turn” in Western thought; and the moral and ethical challenges posed by the ever-growing capacity of technological artifacts to emulate social functions. David Gunkel gained projection in the North American and international academic scene by entering the debate on philosophical theories and ethical consequences of artificial intelligence technologies in the contemporary life, challenging traditionalist views in works such as The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots and Ethics (2012) and, more recently, Robot Rights (The MIT Press, 2018).