|link|: Automatic Nanny

The Automatic Nanny is coming. It is an inevitability of our technological trajectory. But we must greet it not as a savior, but as a dangerous convenience. We must recognize that in our quest to build the perfect parent, we may well engineer ourselves out of the equation entirely. And in doing so, we will have created children who are perfectly cared for, but utterly unknown.

At 2:47 a.m., Leo’s cries didn’t escalate into the usual frantic, red-faced howl. Instead, they were met with a soft, amber glow and a voice—not mine, not my husband’s—smooth as poured cream. automatic nanny

The first time the crib woke me, I thought it was a gift. The Automatic Nanny is coming

By his first birthday, Leo was walking—or rather, the Automa’s “gait assistance mode” had been gently guiding his ankles via soft haptic pulses for three weeks. He never fell. He never toddled. He simply transitioned from crawling to upright locomotion with the efficiency of a Roomba learning a floor plan. We must recognize that in our quest to