Very interesting discussion. The negative aspects to manipulation of behavior was touched on several times, but I wonder if there might be a positive use for current and emerging technology in this area. There are some social engineering use cases which could be very advantageous to explore, which would benefit society, and by thinking of it as a system, looking at the end goal in that context, certain outcomes become more clearly practical in terms of their being arrived at.<br>Kate referenced the concept of behaving towards robots or embodied AI systems using the pet model, where people treat them a specific way, and this I think is effective in part because it essentially hijacks a familiar dynamic, a relationship, one which humans are very accustomed to. I think this pet model is very promising, though perhaps not in the way discussed, and that manipulating existing pathways of response may be a highly effective approach, as much as we see in politics or advertising, but with more positive and constructive goals.<br>The premise here is based on positive and negative reinforcement, and how much we are trained from a very early age to not only respond but require these influences on our behavior. As children, one of the most devastating things you might experience from a parent is not just something like physical abuse or punishment, but disappointment. At the other end of that spectrum, earning adulation, reward and the pride of one's parents is a very strong driver. This dynamic is seen with pets as well, where behavior is clearly influenced and even modified by these expressions.<br>This is a form of social engineering, and it exists and has existed for some time in the world at large. In my lifetime for example, the recycling of materials has gone from a fringe behavior to the established norm, to the point where one who does not recycle is seen as a bad person, even a pariah. This change happened quite quickly, and it was in part effected by the positive and negative reinforcement dynamic, both passively by fellow citizens and deliberately by government messaging. This could be as straightforward as signage and messaging, "Thank-you for recycling!" wording on receptacles. We see this today in more modern form with autonomous radar-based speed detectors, which have a screen that displays the driver's speed and a message of caution or thanks, using a font and color intended to provoke a specific response in the driver.<br>A more sophisticated system using the same dynamics, where the human is the pet or child and the robot or AI system is the owner or parent, could I think be an effective way to passively carry out positive social engineering, and help normalize the existence of these agents in regular daily life at the same time. Extensive research exists on what vocal tones and facial cues are able to convey and how that, for lack of a better word, manipulate one's mental and emotional state and thus one's behavior, and we have seen in many implementations how even crude representations of human features can accomplish this.<br>I can imagine a robot head or torso deployed in various environments which react to the actions of people in a way such that it over time influences their behavior. A recycling bin which smiled, played a pleasing tone or even a positive vocalization when used or used correctly, and did the opposite when not. A camera-based system which could identify and respond to littering, jaywalking and other detectable behaviors. When you consider the principle involved, much more sophisticated applications become apparent, and while manipulating behavior and social engineering are certainly things with the potential to be abused, if the system is designed and deployed with avoiding this in mind, I think it may be a meaningfully effective and important element of changing certain human behaviors universally, towards things like green energy or sustainability in general, in addressing certain social issues and even moving us along in terms of progression in certain fundamental areas.<br>Certainly images of Black Mirror-style usages fill our heads when we consider such things, or possibly authoritarian manifestations like China's Social Credit System, but this manipulation is happening every day, for everyone, with existing social media and online platforms, as well as our media in general. That something is effective and almost exclusively used negatively, does not mean that thing is itself negative. I wonder if our fear of being influenced or controlled by certain systems in the present and near future might be preventing us from exploring usages with beneficial outcomes.