How are the arguments for banning sexbots different from the arguments for banning porn? Both seem rooted in the idea that if we suppress wicked desires, they will go away.
Robots will soon serve as companions and friends to many lonely people. That may create a social dependence that could be a problem if they don’t seek out human companionship. We could see a entire generation of socially repressed people. Basically the internet times a thousand. People might go months without interacting with a real person.
Sex is an obvious branch of Robotic research. Some will seek out more than companionship from their robot friends. The perfect date that never gets grumpy or says no.
I have no issues with Robot companions (sexual or not) except for the social concerns. People need to interact with each other to grow and learn. A friend will argue with you. Tell you when you’re wrong. Robots probably won’t do much except agree with whatever you say. I wonder about the mental health aspects?
It’s worth noting that Robotic research is still decades away from producing a real life-like companion with AI that could interact with people in any substantial way.
The Robots sold now are little more than novelty toys. The Roomba for example often gets lost or stuck somewhere in a room. Japan seems the most fascinated with Robotics. robotoshop dot com sells the most current ones. its interesting to see what the current tech really offers. We are a long way from anything very useful for home consumers.
2.) Most guys, I suspect, wouldn’t “pleasure” the sexbot, anyway. If it was necessary, they’d install a Foreplay Routine. It’d be like an electric starter. Literally.
3.) If you’re constructing your Ideal Sexbot Woman, you can make certain that you can find the clitoris. You can make it light up. Or you can make it as large as you need. Or you could put it on the tip of her nose, for that matter.
The arguments mights sound similar, but porn has the potential to objectify, degrade, and abuse the objects; these bots have the potential to do so only to willing subjects.
That this is framed as a women’s right issue is, frankly, bizarre. The movement central argument is that sex robots somehow demean and objectify real life women while conveniently forgetting women are the biggest customers of current sex robots (motorized dildos). I’m not sure about the rest of you guys but the thought of a woman taking her cooch to poundtown through the help of a detached battery operated penis isn’t making me feel objectified nor demeaned.
I’m pretty sure women, in the faraway year of 2045 when realistic sexbots might be feasible, would leap at the chance of jumping on android Ryan Gosling Jr’s carbon fiber bones.
I don’t remember (and, if I did, wouldn’t admit it) how I got into it, but I saw a bunch of the non-moving (but pose-able) ‘dolls’ being shown by their ‘boyfriends’.
To say these were ‘creepy’ is a massive understatement.
The only one I remember specifically:
Doll is posed sitting in a chair beside a Christmas tree. She is wearing a glittering sheath-type dress. With a strand of tree tinsel draped around her neck. She is posed with her hands holding a large box decorated in gift wrap and ribbon with large bow.
IOW: He has given his ‘girlfriend’ a Christmas Present and she is about to open it.
The creep-O-meter has already been pegged. Adding some kind of robotics and intelligence can only be slightly better than the current ‘state of the art’.
But we are maybe a decade away from someone setting up and doing 3d motion capture on a porn star and then building a library of services that can be programmed into a bot. Spiderbots with natural motion is standard fair for high school projects. Scaling that up to human size is not that big a deal. Servos are getting cheaper and strong as are batteries.
ETA: usedtobe, it sounds like your talking about the RealDolls I mentioned in my OP.
For probably a few thousand years, one of the first applications of any new technology is sex.
The very first ‘photographs’ were porn. The boss may have used the tech for nice things, but as soon as a second person had access to the gear, out came the naked women.
The old impact line printers on the very first computers were used to print pr0n images.
An early ‘email’ circa 1978 contained this:
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Still, we have OMG! 'bots are going to be used for SEX!!! mentality.
I’m not seeing that there will be any impact. There is currently a problem with male sexbots where the batteries only last three minutes and no one has been able to determine why.