Saturday, October 13, 2007





Researcher: Humans will wed robots

Levy's conclusion was based on about 450 publications in the fields of psychology, sexology, sociology, robotics, materials science, artificial intelligence, gender studies and computer-human interaction.

The thesis examines human attitudes toward affection, love and sexuality and concluded that the findings are just as applicable to human interaction with robots of the future as they are to the relationships between humans of today.

(Via KurzweilAI.net.)


By the time we start deciding to get hitched with bots we'll have likely become semi-artificial creatures, so there's not likely to be much of the moral uproar we might otherwise expect. To say nothing of the possibility that posthumans might eschew conventional marriage in favor of more rewarding forms of intimacy.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If conservatives and evangelicals are opposing gay marriage today....

Besides, it would only make sense if the robospouse had full citizenship rights, so the couple could get their marital bennies, etc.

--W.M. Bear

e said...

"To say nothing of the possibility that posthumans might eschew conventional marriage in favor of more rewarding forms of intimacy."

What is marriage and the nuclear family, with all of its expectations, but a cauldron of neuroses? Surely there are more rewarding types of physical, emotional and relational intimacy.

Mac said...

Elan--

Amen.

e said...

Mechanical people; artificially grown organics; Replicants...the rule of thumb has always been based on a compact between consenting adults – how to quantify “adulthood” in these times?

Mac said...

how to quantify “adulthood” in these times?

Let alone in a world of sentient machines!