Have you ever lost a cell phone and felt like you lost a piece of yourself? It’s just a phone. Or was it? Technology—in the form of computers, cell phones, iPods, etc.—increasingly mediates our experience with the world. And, consequently, we form a special bond with these gadgets. Is this human bond with inanimate objects a new phenomenon? What distinguishes our intimacy with technology from that with other objects?

This program is part of The Big Idea Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

Recorded June 2010; Posted September 2010