Artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands recently completed (Oct 12, 2007) his Ph.D. work on the subject of human-robot relationships. 

His work reminds me of “The Caves of Steel“, from Asimov, where Elijah Baley, the human detective, and R. Daneel Olivaw his number 2 robot detective, preludes in 1954  the story of an human-robot relationship  bearing a great likelihood to what Levy to day proposes … (I quote) “In his thesis, “Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners,” [he] conjectures that robots will become so human-like in appearance, function and personality that many people will fall in love with them, have sex with them and even marry them…”It may sound a little weird, but it isn’t,” Levy said. “Love and sex with robots are inevitable.”
 

  To day, (I quote), “There are companies that already sell realistic sex dolls, “and it’s just a matter of adding some electronics to them to add some vibration,” he said, or endowing the robots with a few audio responses. “That’s fairly primitive in terms of robotics, but the technology is already there.”..

  An article from Reuters, “Japan’s lonely hearts turn to dolls for sex, company” provide further insight. (I quote).”Real love is hard to find for one Japanese man, who has transferred his affection and desires to dozens of plastic sex dolls.
When the 45-year-old, who uses a pseudonym of Ta-Bo, returns home, it’s not a wife or girlfriend who await him, but a row of dolls lined up neatly on his sofa.
  Each has a name. Ta-Bo often watches television with his toys before bathing them, powdering them so that their skin feels more human, dressing them in lingerie and then taking them to bed.
  “A human girl can cheat on you or betray you sometimes, but these dolls never do those thing. They belong to me 100 percent,” says the engineer who has spent more than 2 million yen ($16,000) over the past decade on the dolls
  “Sometimes it takes too much time before I can have sex with the person I meet. But with these dolls, it’s just a matter of a click of the mouse. With one click, they are delivered to you.”, see more here.

  Now Levy…” argues that psychologists have identified roughly a dozen basic reasons why people fall in love, “and almost all of them could apply to human-robot relationships. For instance, one thing that prompts people to fall in love are similarities in personality and knowledge, and all of this is programmable. Another reason people are more likely to fall in love is if they know the other person likes them, and that’s programmable too.”…

  This may be the remedy for lonely man and women by letting them ‘buy a women’ embodied in “dolls”, programed to their special affinities and in the future with new legislation to married them and live in a new family form.

(I quote)…”My forecast [says Levy] is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots,” …” “Massachusetts is more liberal than most other jurisdictions in the United States and has been at the forefront of same-sex marriage,” Levy said. “There’s also a lot of high-tech research there at places like MIT.”,
 

  And finally, possible pro and con of getting married to a robot are perhaps,
(I quote)…”In a marriage or other relationship, one partner could be jealous or consider it infidelity if the other used a robot,” Levy said. “But who knows, maybe some other relationships could welcome a robot. Instead of a woman saying, ‘Darling, not tonight, I have a headache,’ you could get ‘Darling, I have a headache, why not use your robot?’ “, see here.

The last three pictures are sculptures and  come from here.

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  jordan  at 19:10 on October 27th, 2007

good stuff:It would be really awkward to get the Blue Screen of Death during a robot wedding ceremony…

 korzac at 08:23 on October 28th, 2007

 … This may be the case because  “A Cobbler goes Barefoot”…Thanks for the flag.

  Barbara McPherson  at 12:25 on October 28th, 2007

This highlights how much we all need affection and closeness, even if it’s a “pretend” closeness.

 korzac  at 02:59 on October 29th, 2007

Barbara, we always look with admiration at the technology involved in making a robot, but you put your finger on the main point, human closeness or quasi-human-closeness (robots) is what we strive for.  

  Barry Artiste at 13:19 on October 28th, 2007

good stuff:korzac, Yet another Good stuff flag.

I watched an television show “Sin City” where all the rage in Japan are “Comfort houses” in Japan that cater to bashful Japanese gentlemen whose fantasies are to have sex with dolls similar to these, though not as robotic, but just as acrobatic.   These dolls, prices ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 dollars US are dressed in various outfits ranging from French Maid to Schoolgirl uniforms and the price for an hour with your Latex beauty? About $200.00 an hour and up depending on your taste and fetish. For that price it was stated to one customer sitting on the bed beside his latex horizontal schoolgirl that you could hire a real live prostitute next door, to which the sheepish twenty something customer responded in some unintelligable gibberish as he caressed his prostrate willing “Love Doll”, indicating to the Sin City interviewer that perhaps this interview was over. Apparently sanitization is not an issue as removable clothing, wigs, mouth pieces and various orfices are are removed/replaced or just flushed out and sterilized, leading many paying and willing Clients to believe ‘Sloppy Seconds” are a thing of the past. 

I tried to find the Sin City Show on Google without success. What I did find below is a MacLeans link for Japanese Love Dolls and the growing trend to Sex without Mutual Intimacy. What a warped world we live in today, and there are actually Live people willing to pay for all this! see here.

 korzac  at 04:29 on October 29th, 2007

 I thing that with all the rush around us in this effervescent society, some people want to find, if only for one hour, a quiet non-committed place where they don’t have to explain anything and where nobody ask them question, where they feel close only to themselves and to the silent doll…I would call it ‘Self Intimacy’…Barry thanks for the flag.BTW, there are more extreme stories. look at this link, this storie is not so far from the Futurama picture… it his here, to day!

  Barry Artiste  at 13:32 on October 28th, 2007

This story also coincides with Fox Television’s Futurama where Timetraveler Fry from the 1990’s is stuck a 1,000 years into the future and realises he can build his own Fembot, and being a Lucy Lui fan from the 1990’s enjoys his fantasy to the fullest.  Will it be long before these inventors start building robotic celebrity dolls for a emotionally challenged public?  They probably already have.

  jordan  at 13:55 on October 28th, 2007

  Barry Artiste  at 15:19 on October 28th, 2007

Makes one wonder what goes on in the minds of men.  Why go plastic when real women are fantastic.  Oh wait, latex boob jobs, silicone lip implants, plastic surgery, fake hair, extensions, coloured contact lenses,  liposuction, makeup with glue-on eyelashes and nails, teeth veneers for that hollywood fake smile to go with the fake tan. Aw Crap…Okay, fine I will reiterate then, “Real women” are “Quasi moto Fantastic”.

  mrjones  at 23:01 on November 3rd, 2007

 Nellioness  at 03:29 on December 27th, 2007

Great article, indeed. I think, sex dolls are, as the name suggests, dolls for sex and that’s it. Their existance is no doubt important for some men and… under some circumstances. Personally, as a woman, I have nothing against sex dolls rarely used, and for sex release, purely. However, men shouldn’t reject real women in favour of sex dolls, since sex dolls and robots have nothing to do with intimate relationships, love and marriage. Unfortunately, the demand of sex dolls grows each day, and it means that men want to avoid the reality. The behaviour of these men is somewhat unhealthy, at least in my opinion.

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 The Movie ‘Lars and the Real Girl’, presenting a funny and affectionate story… I quote…”Lars and the Real Girl is another really different film, especially different for up-and-comer Ryan Gosling… . Gosling plays the extremely troubled Lars, who is so lonely that he resorts to buying a sex doll online. After he introduces ‘Bianca’ to the family, he keeps adding on little details here and there about her life and everything, and the whole town just plays along. The premise and script are especially good, along with the fun little cast and a really funny ending. This is just such a cute and easy movie to like, and at times you even feel like the doll is alive. Lars and the Real Girl never disappoints—it’s one of the best and strangest films I’ve seen all year.”….see more here. 

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