I'm Alan Alder and this is Clear and Vivid, conversations about connecting and communicating.

What I'm interested in and what the computer can never do, the robot can never do, these

empathy machines that are being built can never do is give you the feeling that I'm here

for the duration to keep trying because I've had human experiences too and loss and pain and

I'm going to try to relate mine to yours.

I'm not anti-technology and pro-conversation.

Sherry Terkel knows her stuff when it comes to conversation.

She has a joint doctorate in sociology and personality psychology from Harvard University.

She's an expert on culture and therapy, mobile technology, social networking and sociable

robotics.

She's an advocate for more and better conversation and she's an awfully good conversationist

herself.

This is so great to be talking to you because you know that I talk about all the stuff

that you've spent decades studying and I'll tell you what the main reason that I'm so

happy to be talking with you is that we never call these interviews, we call them conversations

and you're the queen of conversation right now in our culture.

I'm very excited to hear you say that.

Well, you really stand up for conversation and you show us in ways you've studied the problem

how important conversation is and we're sort of surrounded by devices that hold back

conversation.

I think so.

I think that's the biggest danger of these devices at the end of the day.

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