In the weeks leading up to the debut last night (Jan 13th) ofthe new Fox TV show "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" much of its national outdoor advertising campaign (bus-stop and billboard posters) featured the poster shown left of the show's attractive actress Summer Glau who plays the half-woman/half-robot terminator unit Cameron Phillips sent to protect John Connor - Sarah's son.
No doubt this image of a sexy woman who is really a robot will fuel discussion or at least fantasies (especially with lusty hetero males) on the popular, recurring Sci-Fi theme of the possibility of humans having relationships with human-like robots.
But really, just how likely is a time when humans will have sexual or loving relationships with lifelike female, male, or transgender robots? Well according to David Levy, an expert in robots and artificial intelligence, a time when humans will routinely be having sex with robots is actually only about forty years into the future.
Levy, author of "Robots Unlimited" that was published in 2005 and more recently the provocative book
"Love + Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships" which was just published by Harper Collins, asserts that such technological advances are just around the corner and that they will be not considered weird but, he believes, generally be very warmly accepted. If he is right by the year 2048 companies like Apple or Microsoft will be releasing some new interactive, fully functional lifelike robots. And you thought the new iPhone or the latest Xbox created a buzz!. Wait 'til the new seXbox or the new iSexbot hit the marketplace! Can you imagine the lines? The pre-orders!
And no doubt in this rapid-paced, inbuilt obsolescence tech-economy, every six months a newer updated more advanced model will be unveiled. I can already imagine the advertising copy in 2049: "Announced yesterday at Macworld's computer show at San Francisco's Moscone Center is the new iSexbot II Available March 1st the new model will be issued in all colors of human like skin, and programmed with improved voice features, and twice as long lasting batteries. Pre-order now and get a free companion, personalized, damage-safe iTravel case."
But isn't the idea of sex with a manufactured object just plain creepy? Not at all writes Levy in his new book, noting that it is a natural progression of human development. Already he points out humans have sex with a range of artificial objects including vibrators. In fact, as Levy writes in his new book, robot sex already exists in the form of sex dolls, usually female -carefully manufactured with almost human-like "cyberskin" plus simulated heartbeats that are programmed to increase in speed as the dolls are programmed to mimic arousal. Check out the Reuters News video clip below about the obsessive 45 year old Japanese man who collects these dolls, which cost about six thousands dollars a piece, and has already spent over $170,000 on them. Strange? Maybe but if the typical male already treats women as mere sex objects (as they are regularly accused of) this next step seems like a natural one for such a "typical male."
Levy writes in his book about the popular "doll experience rooms" in certain Korean hotels where individuals (nearly always men) pay $25 an hour to rent a room outfitted with love dolls. The advent of these "rooms" came about after the Korean government cracked down on prostitution in 2004. Regarding the impact of the new sexbots of the future, Levy predicts that they may put prostitutes out of business. As Levy sees it in his new book in the not-too-distant future sex with robots will be common with "about 50% of the population experiencing man-machine mating at least occasionally." Of course just in concept alone the idea of sex with robots raises numerous issues - especially moral and religious. And undoubtedly with the actual advent of these robots there will be endless debating on the topic.
But what are your thoughts on this issue? Add them in the COMMENTS below. Thanks!
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David Levy, Mac, Robots, Sex, Technology, XboxComments
I love this kind of stuff.
Isn't "objectification" about as natural as eating? Anytime you take pleasure in a landscape painting, aren't your really just taking pleasure in an objectified image? It's certainly not the real thing (which is kind of the point). I tend to see all art appreciation as a sort of masturbatory exercise for that reason. I'm doubtful that men take any more pleasure in the image than women. Why is having sex with a doll any different? It's an aestheticized form of sex. Looking at the human-plastic hypbrids we have walking about in Hollywood, I'd say science has a long way to go before the representation (i.e., a robot) takes the place of the real thing (man or woman). But, if fading trophy wives of Beverly Hills and the hair metal stars of reality tv are any indication, many might start changing their view of the Real to fit the simulated plastic versions long before a realistic human is created for realistic sexual pleasure. That is, those with the money to spend might start to prefer the plastic over the flesh, obviating the need to make the plastic more flesh-like. This is sort of like the baldness of Capt. Picard in STAR TREK. Some fans once asked the creators of that show why baldness hadn't been "cured." The creators answer was that society got use to baldness before any cure was found, making scientific progress based on today's view of follicular perfection irrelevant. I guess the moral question of fucking a robot or a real person depends on how you take the Turing Test: is there a difference between a program and a human consciousness which can both respond in the same complex ways, such that you can't tell the difference between them? Is anything lost in that situation? My own answer would be that there's something wrong with treating the A.I. creation as a mere object, even if it's not the same as a human consciousness. A la BLADERUNNER, there's something not quite right about treating such a consciousness as if it were a toaster. But, as I said, we're a long way off from that particular dilemma.
I was just shaking my head when I started to read in the blog about having sex with robots. The first thing that came to my mind is the show Battlestar Galatica(the new series). For the past two months now, I've been watching the series DVD's up to season three. Throughout the show there have been scenes where the humans are making love with the robots. Having sex with a thing that has a red glowing beam going down their back....HELL TO THE NAH!
LaterZzzz!
ALF
Now this is the kind of intelligent discourse you always hope to find here. A toast to Billy, indeed. As to Chaz, we aren't dealing with Star Trek, NG's Data yet, so I guess we're safe from the liberation or uprising of the robots demanding their equal rights. Besides, be it Data or sexbot, they're a machine ... and they get to vote when I can't reload my shotgun fast enough. Dat's dat.
I agree with some of the previous comments that this is a really good blog. Regarding the issue of robot love or advanced machines that are almost human like. I think that if or when they become a reality that they will never replace real human beings. Yes, I agree that men especially will have sex with anything (LOL) including these robots. But I bet that there will a stigma attached to be seen as "having to resort to" sex with a machine (like you cant get a real girl) so the average macho guy will not admit to it. I do not agree that these sexbots will replace prostitutes - maybe only in a few cases - because sex is often about power over a human and prostitutes satisfy that power for certain men. Same for the hope that these machines as sex objects would wipe out crimes against women - specifically rape. We could only wish but they will not since rape is about power over a victim, not just sex. But ultimately I think that these sex robots will be just like all of the other new technological inventions today and in the immediate future - just more unavoidable global e-waste to mess up our already screwed up environment.
I don't have an issue here, actually. If this keeps less women and girls from being forced into sexual slavery (either literally or via desperation) then I am all for it. I'm sure many will say that these robot sex realities will lead to a further degradation of the female, which is why I believe there should be an equal upsurge in male robots. Just think of the good they could do for women who are lovingly hetero and need a safe bridge back to their healthy sexuality after being the victim of a sexual assault? Also, I think the world would be surprised at the number of gender crossover enjoyment you would see amongst the homosexuals and heterosexuals alike; the inclusion of transgender robots of all stripe could help people work out their predilections in private so as to avoid the sudden UH-OH in the brain of a man attracted to a male to female person(s) and let him safely have just such sex without putting the lives of transgender sex workers in harm's way. Ultimately, as a former sex worker, I think that this somewhat creepy step forward may be exactly what a repressed and violent country (America is but one example) needs.