Of mice and men and robots: mapping human interactions with nonhuman significant others

From technoscience fiction to research, human encounters with animals and machines have unfolded and exposed issues of identity, affection, trust, intimacy and how artificial systems settle what kinds of relationships are possible. This is because relations matter to humans, and what makes others significant for us is not set in stone: we have co-evolved ways of communicating and constructing relational meanings when we interact with significant nonhuman entities. In this essay, we argue that while the relations between those companions may not at all be the same, significant relations between animals, robots and humans are “the products of their relating” (Haraway, 2003:7), that is: they are co-constituted as they emerge from the situated, dynamic negotiation and mutual understanding of those involved; and they are significant for those engaged in them. This, we argue, is a critical standpoint to take in trans-ontological conversations: by framing human relations to robots and animals as significant engagements, we underscore the engagers’ perspective . To support this argument, this article offers a mapping exercise based on the analysis of six different conceptual domains, aimed at bringing out the possibilities, differences, similarities and limitations of human interactions with different types of companions – animal and robots. In this analysis, we mark down "relational coordinates”, that is, domains contributing to draw relational boundaries of engagements between human, robots and animals and what implications are taken to follow.