The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir

Turkle starts dating an MIT mathematician named Seymour Papert, 20 years her senior. They connect over a shared interest in metacognition, where one is cognizant of one’s thoughts. Papert’s AI research involves people speaking aloud as they solve problems, which Turkle connects to psychoanalytical free association. Turkle visits Papert’s lab, in which children learn to program computers, to conduct research on the emotional impacts of the children’s interaction with the machines. Professionally, Turkle connects with Papert. She realizes that their research interests are complimentary and that his seniority at MIT could be a great asset to her career as an advocate for her research in the scientific community. On a personal level, Turkle falls in love with Papert for the way he thinks and understands her ideas.

Papert and Turkle begin to date and eventually get engaged. Throughout this period, Turkle is troubled by Papert’s relationships with his ex-girlfriends and students and the secrets he keeps from her. He often keeps in communication with other women he’s dated, and Turkle receives threats from one of his obsessive ex-girlfriends. He also hides his marital past from Turkle and tries to hide pieces of the story of his daughter, Diane, and her mother, his ex-wife who lives in Switzerland.