On the concept of trust and on forms of human vulnerability
10.1515/9783110677485.Abstract
We live in an aging society where more and more adults are in need of special care. One strategy pursued in this situation is furthering the development of assistive technology devices that could supply some form of care to older adults. This paper aims to show some of the potentials and limitations of replacing human caregivers with assistive technological devices by looking at concepts of trust and reliance. Trust will be introduced as a moral relation that cannot be realized in interaction with robots. Insofar as care relationships have at least the potential of being trust relationships, replacement of caregivers by care robots can only ever be a partial replacement in regard to some specific function. Care relationships, however, will also often be relationships of dependence, which include a high degree of vulnerability. When we depend on another, we often do not have the choice to leave a relationship where we experience broken trust or mistrust. Such relationships are not perceived as valuable and can inflict significant harm. The option to rely on assistive technology systems instead of being dependent on human caregivers can thus prima facie be understood as a valuable option of gaining a degree of independence.