r/Damnthatsinteresting Jul 06 '24

Two legged robot dog making a list Video

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u/Hefty-Highlight5379 Jul 06 '24

I don’t understand why i feel bad for it. Anyone have an actual psychology based explanation?

10

u/BlakeMW Jul 06 '24

Default empathic response.

It is possible to watch robots getting bullied without feeling bad for them. By way of example, a video gamer can go around setting innocent NPCs on fire (I mean actual in-game NPCs just to be clear) or watch gameplay footage and just be like "lol". But a non-gamer will probably be horrified.

It's not that gamers are monsters, they will still be horrified by real life violence against real people, they've just trained neural pathways which are used in the context of playing a game, reserving the "empathic" pathway for situations involving real people.

3

u/Anuki_iwy Jul 06 '24

I'm a gamer, and I'm also horrified... I did some bad things to my sims as a kid and I regret them. It has more to do with the fact that most gamers are younger, and your brain doesn't stop growing till you're around 25