"They are almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing, but I am still developing improvements and I will only be happy when what I have is better than the real thing."
I've been meaning to post some thoughts on sexbots for some time, and this article gives me the perfect excuse.
My theory is that the sex-android industry -- now in its infancy -- will be nothing less than a driving force behind the race to true artificial intelligence (AI), just as the entertainment industry has fueled exponentially complex computer-generated imagery/animation.
In the case of anthropomorphic sex dolls (think Daryl Hannah's Pris from "Blade Runner"), the market is conceivably limitless -- and by no means confined to a male demographic, as illustrated by Jude Law's character in "A.I.". Wily advertising and improving technology have the potential to ensure a future in which recreational sex with simulated humans is not merely tolerated by the majority of "straights," but relatively ubiquitous. After all, is it really "cheating" on a human partner if the object of one's affections is a (presumably) nonsentient machine? Intimate relationships with simulacra will bend the parameters of the "acceptable," perhaps irrevocably.
Roboticist Hans Moravec argues that AI will reach fruition only if robots can be mainstreamed, much how home computers have evolved from eccentric gadgets in the 1980s to near-essential personal assistants in the early 21st century. In a similar manner, candidate sexbots must reach a certain critical market-appeal if they're to become more human -- or, to quote Dr. Eldon Tyrell from "Blade Runner," "more human than human."
Continuing consumer demand will entail better, more realistic sexbots until, eventually, a sort of cyber-erotic singularity is reached. In this final stage of sexbot evolution, our creations will be endowed with intelligence: a dramatic contrast to today's fumbling attempts.
wow! robot lovers? i'm so behind the times. :)
ReplyDeleteThis whole idea seems perverse to me. If someone actually needs an expensive machine in order to masturbate, they have lost whatever it is that makes them human.
ReplyDeleteI find the idea pretty ghoulish, given the current state-of-the-art. The question I'm interested in is how "perverse" this will seem when the simulated human is indistinguishable -- or virtually indistinguishable, for the purposes of having sex -- from an authentic human being.
ReplyDelete(Where's Philip K. Dick when you need him?)
But will we still have to buy them dinner?
ReplyDelete--WMB
Never underestimate the power of the human fetish. While it's not my thing, I don't think I'd go nearly so far as to say people who'd be (and are, with things like the RealDoll) into it are lacking a component of humanity.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I could make a pretty good argument that it could enhance a person's humanity in an odd way. Like most technology, now that I think of it.
In any case, I think Mac's right on the money about this kind of thing potentially being the driver behind some great advances. It worked for the VCR and for multimedia streaming on the net.
Most (all?) technological innovation is driven by sex (cars, the internet, dvds...), so it's logical for it to be the driving factor in AI as well.
ReplyDeleteI've had sex with human prostitutes, and paying for it just ain't the same as just getting it. So I don't think sex with robots will be for me.
But lots of people pay for
prostitutes and seem to enjoy, so I imagine this will actually have an audience. I wonder what will happen to human prostitutes if robots sex slaves that are indistiguisable from humans come along.
I wonder what will happen to human prostitutes if robots sex slaves that are indistiguisable from humans come along.
ReplyDeleteMy prediction: streetwalkers will vanish, and already-expensive high-end callgirls will remain human, and get even more expensive. To take it a step further, there will be two kinds of peep show/strip clubs, too: cheap, robot ones and high-end, human ones.
Real flesh-and-blood porn will become a luxury of the wealthy. They'll be able to stop eating meals off of naked women show off their status.
Oh, I should add to that: human prostitutes and streetwalkers will still exist in poverty-stricken areas (where robots would be too expensive), and they'll probably still be addicts.
ReplyDeleteWhat will happen is ther will be a huge underground black market for the child sex robot...humanity has a very dark side...
ReplyDeleteDo we give the molesters ther own childbot so they will leave the real kids alone? But ought a depraved act be not alowed, no matter what the object of the degeneracy?
All I need is a hot spellcheker fem bot that looks like a 18, ok 16, year old Elizabith Hurley ;]
as a victim of personals that go nowhere and being home alone a lot... I say, bring them on, they would probably be able to program him to at least stand to be in the room with me for more than 10 minutes [which I think would be the record]...
ReplyDeletelonliness breeds some funky shit guys...
"But ought a depraved act be not alowed, no matter what the object of the degeneracy?"
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly is a "depraved act"? They are trying to ban gay marriage, and extramarital sex is already illegal in the state of Virginia. Incest is a FELONY punishable with up to 10 years in prison in Georgia.
Why should the government be given the power to decide who (or what) we can and can't fuck? How is any of that the government's business? See something wrong with this picture?
"All I need is a hot spellcheker fem bot that looks like a 18, ok 16, year old Elizabith Hurley ;]"
ReplyDeleteDon't know about the hot part but you definitely need the spellchecker!
Oh, don't forget a blow job is illegal in most states too, which really sucks [heehee] for guys who like them and the gals who like to give them. That really is bullshit -
ReplyDeleteIn the case of anthropomorphic sex dolls (think Daryl Hannah's Pris from "Blade Runner")...
ReplyDeleteMinor point of note: Bladerunner's replicants were not robots; they were flesh-and-blood genetically engineered humanoids. Lab grown superhumans basically...
"Bladerunner's replicants were not robots; they were flesh-and-blood genetically engineered humanoids."
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a lot of critics/commentators miss this point -- and I hope I'm not one of them! I used the term "doll" figuratively.
I figured you knew better Mac. But given the subject of the post, coupled with the ambiguity of the reference, I felt it important to make the clarification. God knows we don't need people pointing at you going, "See? Even Mac Tonnies says they're robots!" :D
ReplyDeleteThat would be very lamentable. ;-)
ReplyDelete...Although it depends on the definition of "robot." One tends to think of a robot as something mechanical-looking, but "robot" doesn't necessarily mean "nuts and bolts."
ReplyDeleteHmm... well... most of what I'm finding thru searching seems to indicate that the specific term "robot" implicitly includes a mechanical aspect, even if not immediately apparent; Wikipedia seems to cover it pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI do note that genetic engineering is sometimes blanketed with bionics and cybernetics under the epithet "biorobotics"...