Out of control sex-bots

Joel Achenbach has a good review of David Levy’s Love and Sex with Robots.

No doubt it is a good bet that technology and sexual desire will continue to have a mutually supporting relationship. But Levy is not merely saying that sex toys will be more elaborate in the future. He is envisioning robots as essentially interchangeable with people. The problem is, a robot programmed to fall in love with a person is essentially a fancy inflatable doll. Imagine the awkward moments:

Robot: I love the clever way you comb those few, thin, feeble locks of hair all the way over the vast bald region of your head.

Human: You’re just saying that.

Levy stipulates, near the end of the book, that an important part of sexuality is "the possibility of failure or denial," and thus sexbots will need to be able to mimic human "capriciousness." But at some point you wind up with sexbots out of control, which, come to think of it, is a great idea for a science fiction movie.

I tend to agree with the bit about the possibility of "failure or denial."  I’d argue it’s actively immoral to create any form of intelligent life without said possibility, and that goes for both pleasure and labor. 

Anyhow, I think the jump of robots into love in a meaningful sense of the term is the jump of robots into intelligence.  So I think that’s really a separate issue.  Similarly the question of just having much more elaborate sex toys is fairly boring.  That said, I’d bet the first big breakthrough in that field comes from Japan.

The more interesting area is the grey space between sex toys and love.  Be it one night stands or old rich people wanting arm candy, there’s a lot of areas where people aren’t looking for the possibility of failure or denial that comes with love.  Some of these relationships are mutually beneficial on multiple-levels for those involved.  Others really aren’t and I’m hoping that at least in the capital intensive parts of the world robots might manage to replace some of the demand for exploited humans.  In the labor intensive parts of the world, I don’t think we should expect that change to happen any time soon.

Comments

[Sex Shops]

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[Adult Toys Online]

The thought of having robots programmed to fall in love does not sound like a good idea. Technology should be no replacement for a meaningful loving relationship.

[Greg Sanders]

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[Australian Sex Toys]

As a person with no sex toys - I don't have to spend so much energy in envisioning robots as human replacements. However, my lists (and there are usually several) frequently involve things like thus sexbots will need to be able to mimic human "capriciousness."

[Male Sex Toys]

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[Folie]

Sex with robots? Strange and creepy thing, indeed earth population is so small, that we a running out of people?