For me, this post gestures at some of the most complicated, and difficult-to-speak-about aspects of care. Most of what I read about the care economy, for good reason, focuses about the burden, load, and stress of caregiving. I think that your fantasies about being a volunteer baby cuddler also points to the joys and nourishment of care. I share your species-centrism about the special bond between humans that no robot (or animal) could ever replace, but I try not to impose by views on others. I respect that for some people, their pets really are their family. (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/21/theyre-my-kids-pet-theft-pet-detectives-and-the-rise-of-the-multispecies-family) And I’ve read some interesting vignettes on Reddit by folks with autism who say they feel more accepted and understood by AI chatbots than they’ve ever felt by a bones-and-flesh human. In a way, expanding the circle of empathy to animals and software might not be such a terrible thing … especially if it help us focus our human-to-human care on more of the activities that give us joy and fewer that give us stress.
I very much want to read Maggie Nelson’s On Freedom. In the intro, she describes how she set out to write a book about cruelty, which turned into a book about freedom, which then turned into a book about care. Describing the pivots, she quotes a friend: “I used to care about freedom, but now I mostly care about love.” (There are copies floating around: https://static.fnac-static.com/multimedia/PT/pdf/9781787332690.pdf)
For me, this post gestures at some of the most complicated, and difficult-to-speak-about aspects of care. Most of what I read about the care economy, for good reason, focuses about the burden, load, and stress of caregiving. I think that your fantasies about being a volunteer baby cuddler also points to the joys and nourishment of care. I share your species-centrism about the special bond between humans that no robot (or animal) could ever replace, but I try not to impose by views on others. I respect that for some people, their pets really are their family. (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/21/theyre-my-kids-pet-theft-pet-detectives-and-the-rise-of-the-multispecies-family) And I’ve read some interesting vignettes on Reddit by folks with autism who say they feel more accepted and understood by AI chatbots than they’ve ever felt by a bones-and-flesh human. In a way, expanding the circle of empathy to animals and software might not be such a terrible thing … especially if it help us focus our human-to-human care on more of the activities that give us joy and fewer that give us stress.
I very much want to read Maggie Nelson’s On Freedom. In the intro, she describes how she set out to write a book about cruelty, which turned into a book about freedom, which then turned into a book about care. Describing the pivots, she quotes a friend: “I used to care about freedom, but now I mostly care about love.” (There are copies floating around: https://static.fnac-static.com/multimedia/PT/pdf/9781787332690.pdf)
Yet again, really enjoying your writing.