We're letting [technology] take us places that we don't want to go.

Technology is seductive when what it offers meets our human vulnerabilities. And as it turns out, we are very vulnerable indeed. We are lonely but fearful of intimacy. Digital connections and the sociable robot may offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. Our networked life allows us to hide from each other, even as we are tethered to each other. We’d rather text than talk.

We expect more from technology and less from each other.

As a therapist, I know that when you're vulnerable, the best way to move on is to admit your vulnerability, don't beat yourself up for it, and try to find a way to analyze your vulnerability. Pull up your socks and try to do better for you and your family.

Does virtual intimacy degrade our experience of the other kind and, indeed, of all encounters, of any kind?

I think few people of education enter politics because it seems like a contact blood sport.

Technology proposes itself as the architect of our intimacies.