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On the Ted Radio Hour, Data Scientist Hannah Ritchie has a controversial message for young people who think climate change has doomed their generation.

I wanted to turn that on its head and say, we can stop this, we can challenge this and we could be the first generation to achieve sustainability.

Ideas to get you through 2024 that's on the Ted Radio Hour from NPR.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Human beings are hardwired to search for social connection.

We naturally think of even the most basic objects as having feelings and experiences, which makes

us feel attached to them, even if they're just a vacuum.

I mean, there's people who name their rumbas.

It's very, very common for romba owners to give a name and ascribe a personality to their Roombas.

Eve Harold is a science writer and she was fascinated by this desire to connect and how it's driving the technology

we build.

We have robots that express emotions.

Of course there don't feel the emotions at this point but they act and look and move as though they do and

this triggers an emotional reaction in us which is almost irresistible.

Her curiosity about the technology

is why she wrote a new book called Robots

and the People Who Love Them, about social robots

or robots designed to interact with humans

and other robots.

They can do things like care for children, the elderly, even act as a friend.

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