Whitney Cummings: Comedy, Robotics, Neurology, and Love

Whitney Cummings is a stand-up comedian, actor, producer, writer, director, and the host of a new podcast called Good for You. Her most recent Netflix special called “Can I Touch It?” features in part a robot, she affectionately named Bearclaw, that is designed to be visually a replica of Whitney. It’s exciting for me to see one of my favorite comedians explore the social aspects of robotics and AI in our society. She also has some fascinating ideas about human behavior, psychology, and neurology, some of which she explores in her book called “I’m Fine…And Other Lies.” This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts or support it on Patreon. This episode is presented by Cash App. Download it (App Store, Google Play), use code “LexPodcast”.  The episode is also supported by ZipRecruiter. Try it: http://ziprecruiter.com/lexpod Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. 00:00 – Introduction 03:51 – Eye contact 04:42 – Robot gender 08:49 – Whitney’s robot (Bearclaw) 12:17 – Human reaction to robots 14:09 – Fear of robots 25:15 – Surveillance 29:35 – Animals 35:01 – Compassion from people who own robots 37:55 – Passion 44:57 – Neurology 56:38 – Social media 1:04:35 – Love 1:13:40 – Mortality