AIs are becoming increasingly sophisticated in processing abstract information, many researchers believe that to match and surpass human intellect, they will need to be embodied in a robotic body. This is the embodiment thesis, which sees humanoid robots as the ultimate frontier of AI. It’s a challenge being tackled by giants like Meta and visionary startups like Figure.
The embodiment hypothesis is rooted in phenomenology, the philosophical movement that centers on the lived experience of the subject. For thinkers like Merleau-Ponty,(1) consciousness is not a pure Cartesian "cogito," an abstract and disembodied "I think," but is always embodied consciousness, rooted in the perception and action of the body in the world.
This intuition is confirmed by modern neuroscience,(2) which has revealed the intimate connection between cognitive processes and bodily states, between brain maps and motor schemes. Thinking is not just manipulating symbols; it also involves simulating perceptual scenarios and action plans, in a continuous interplay between mind and body. An AI might excel in specific tasks, such as playing chess or translating languages, but it will never develop a deep and flexible understanding of the world, the kind that comes from embodied experience.
ELECTRONIC MENTORS - PEDAGOGY IN THE AGE OF EMPATHETIC ROBOTICS
