Robots that look like people are called androids. One company, Real Dolls, has been working towards functioning sex androids for more than a decade. Some of the futurists point to that company's progress, but little robotics have been incorporated into their products.
Artificial partners
Levy's thesis intriguingly titled, "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," Levy postulates that someday the robots humans design and build will become virtually indistinguishable from people. They will mimic humans in every way and some humans will literally fall in love with them, lust for them, and enter into sexual relationships with them.
While no one wants to marry their toaster, advanced AI melded with advanced robotics and materials will be almost more human than some humans. And eventually, some will be unable to resist the appeal of designing their lover--every specification including personality, intelligence level, emotional depth, and so on.
"It may sound a little weird, but it isn't," Levy asserts. "Love and sex with robots are inevitable."
Of course, other than the legal and moral implications or human-robot sex and actual relationships, ethics will become a key issue.
Levy agrees. "...the ethical issues on how to treat them are something we'll have to consider very seriously, and they're very complicated issues."
If all of this comes to pass whatever will become of the girl next door? And hey, would you really want your daughter to date one?
Links
"The Rise of Sex robots and pleasure machines," Geoff Shearer. FOX News
"Forecast: Sex and Marriage with Robots by 2050," Charles Q. Choi. Live Science
"Scientist predicts sex with robots by 2011," Tima Vlasto. Examiner
"Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships," David Levy. HarperCollins
Original article here.
Copyright AYM Communications. 2010
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