More On the Robot Pet Question

A (I hope) clarifying addendum

Illegal in many jurisdictions. But not all.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that one realizes how best to write a Substack post two hours after it has been sent out into the world. Usually I shrug off this feeling, but for the sake of clarifying what’s interesting about the question of “robot pets,” I want to add a thought to my last post.

Recap: The question is, would people ever want to have robot dogs, cats, or other pets?

I think this is a knot of several questions, about which the clearest way to think would be to ponder this statement:

I really loved X, but then X became inconvenient and annoying, and really expensive too. X just doesn’t do what I want any more. So I went down to that place where they said they’d take care of it, and I dropped X off. I’m going to get a new one soon.

Option 1: X is a child.

If X is my daughter, then I am — psychologically, morally, legally — a monster. A parent’s love for a child should be stronger than irritation, frustration, cost or any o…