Download How I love thee, robot: Could we fall in love and have sex with robots?

How I love thee, robot: Could we
fall in love and have sex with
robots?
That is what is asked by the movie “Her”, directed by Spike Jonze. The movie tells
of a lonely, soon-to-be-divorced man Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) who
finds himself increasingly attracted to his computer’s new operating system (OS),
Samantha (voice by Scarlett Johansson). As an artificial intelligent OS, Samantha
displays human-like personality, intelligence, and maturity that she uses to not
only help Theodore in his daily tasks but also to meet his emotional needs. As they
spend increasingly more time together, they soon fall in love and profoundly, even
have sex with each other.
“Her” the movie is a profound and
delightful watch because it asks the
question if people can love and have
sex with simulated humans.
So, can we Homo sapiens – biological beings – actually fall in love and even want
to have sex with computer-simulated beings or with robots in the same way we
would to other humans?
Why the hell not? I can imagine David Levy, book author of “Love+Sex Robots:
The evolution of human-robot relationships”, telling us.
“People love people and people love pets,” David Levy argues, “nowadays it is
relatively commonplace for people to develop strong emotional attachments to
their virtual pets, including robot pets. So why should anyone be surprised if and
when people form similarly strong attachments to virtual people, to robot
people?”
“Love+Sex with Robots:
The Evolution of Humanrobot relationships” by
David Levy
David Levy goes to great lengths in his book to show that there are ample of
evidence that we humans can have strong emotional attachment to non-humans
(such as animal pets) and even to computers – and the strength of these humannon human relationships can sometimes even exceed that of human-human
relationships.
In the late 1990s, a handheld computer device called Tamagotchi was sold first in
Japan and soon became a worldwide hit. Tamagotchi was conceived by a Japanese
mother for her children who could not keep real pets at home due to lack of
space. So, instead of real pets, Tamagotchi was developed to allow people to have
the next best thing: to keep virtual pets.
Tamagotchi game allows players to
keep virtual pets. It has been
reported that even children suffered
distress when they learn their virtual
pets had died when the pets were
neglected
(photo
from
www.pop2k.wordpress.com).
What is surprising is although Tamagothi’s virtual pet had barely any elements of
character or personality, yet the device became popular because Tamagotchi fed
into people’s (mostly women’s) desire to nurture and to have that reciprocated.
Tamagotchi’s phenomenon is not an exception. Robotic toys like Furby, My Real
Baby, PaPeRo, and Sony’s AIBO dog again show that strong attachments can
occur between humans and nonliving objects particularly if the object displays
human- or animal-like personalities. AIBO dog, for instance, can wag its tail and
simulate feelings of affection and unhappiness of a real dog.
PaPeRo robot toy. People find it
easier to form deeper attachments to
objects when the objects display
more animal- or human-like
behaviors
(photo
from
cdn.ubergizmo.com).
Sony’s AIBO robot dog can
simulate a real dog’s behavior of
affection and unhappiness (photo
from
cmst1a0765958.blogspot.com).
Certain computer games have caused players to have a strong attachment to the
game characters. The computer game “Artificial Life”, for instance, allow players
to have a virtual girlfriend named Vivienne, a slim and talking brunette, who likes
to be taken to movies and bars. She can even be given virtual flowers and
chocolates. For a fee (real money), we can even make a real phone call to interact
with her. Likewise, the Android game, My Virtual Girlfriend, allows players to
choose and customize thousands of virtual girlfriends. The objective is simple:
romance the girl until she falls in love with you. Romancing her would involve
activities such as taking her to bowling, mini golf, buying her dinner, or even
buying her a bikini or lingerie which she would wear for you.
Virtual girlfriend Vivienne from the
computer game “Artificial Life”
(photo from news.cnet.com).
Customize your girl and win her
affection through the Android game
app, My Virtual Girlfriend.
Perhaps the most popular female game character is Lara Croft from the Tomb
Raider game series. The Lara Croft character exemplifies that boys and men can
have feelings of affection, even of a sexual nature, to her even if they know Lara
Croft is one of simulation. Lara Croft is sexy, beautiful, and tough, and she
responds to gamers’ commands and decisions during the game play with
simulated human emotions, personality, and intelligence.
Lara Croft is perhaps the most
popular female game character who
has captivated many boys’ and men’s
fantasies of having a sexy, beautiful,
and tough girlfriend.
The more believable and lifelike the characters, the more people would feel
comfortable and strongly attached to these simulated characters. The more these
characters exhibit social cues: intelligence, individuality, sociability, variability,
coherence, and conversation ability, the more compelling these characters are to
people – and more so if the simulated characters can recognize people’s
emotional state and other social cues and provide an appropriate response.
But even with limited artificial intelligence can cause delusional thinking in even
normal people. In the 1960s, Joseph Weizenbaum invented a computer program
named ELIZA and found that even with a very limited artificial intelligence, ELIZA
can cause people to ascribe human characteristics to the computer program. Via
a keyboard and computer screen, human volunteers would interact with ELIZA,
and one example of such human-ELIZA interaction is recorded in David Levy’s
book:
User:
Men are all alike.
ELIZA:
In what way?
User: They’re always bugging us about something or other.
ELIZA:
Can you think of a specific example?
User:
Well, my boyfriend made me come here.
ELIZA:
Your boyfriend made you come here.
User:
He says I’m depressed much of the time.
ELIZA:
I’m sorry to hear you are depressed.
ELIZA’s questions and response are remarkably human-like and interacting with
her, especially in short periods, have no wonder caused some human volunteers
to believe that they were actually interacting with a real person.
ELIZA, a computer program with
limited artificial intelligence, have
caused even normal people to believe
they were interacting with a real
person
(photo
from
www.vintagecomputer.net).
In 2003, MORI (Marketing and Opinion Research Institute) surveyed children and
adults in Britain, and they found that 45% of children see computers as a trusted
friend and 60% children were extremely fond of computers. For adults, the
figures were lower but still significantly large at 33 and 28%, respectively.
Surprisingly, 16% adults and 13% children actually talk to their computers. To
some adults and children, this survey found, their computers were like their
“technological umbilical cord”.
How humans and computers interact have many similarities with each other. Both
communicate using words, and both are interactive: able to receive inputs and
produce the corresponding outputs based on received stimuli, feedback, or inputs.
Moreover, humans tend to relate to computers in the same way as they would to
other humans in social situations. For instance, people prefer interacting with
computers that have similar personalities or identities as their own.
People also carry over stereotypical views of human gender to their interaction
with computers, so a person may behave similarly when interacting with male
humans and with computers with a male voice. And in some cases, people
disclosed more of their intimate and private details of themselves to computers
compared to other people. Computers, as these people deemed, did not judge
them and were impartial as compared to other people.
So, if people can form emotional bonds with computers, David Ley argues, it
would not require a giant mental leap to accept that people can also have sex with
computer-simulated humans or with robots.
But why would people want to have sex with computers or with robots? For
several reasons: firstly, for the novelty of the experience; secondly, some people
would see robots as a willing lover available wherever needed; thirdly, robots can
be a replacement for a lost partner or mate; and fourthly, robots can be a medical
aid to psychological recovery process.
Many people, men in particular, can have many acquaintances but very few close
friends. Men rarely have a relationship as close or deep as do women to other
women. But this is not to say only men would attempt to have sex with robots.
Career-minded women, who seek undemanding, private, and safe relationships,
may find also find sex with robots appealing.
The possibility of having sex with robots is not shocking when we consider that
people have already been using various objects as sex aids. Even as early as the
17th century in Japan, artificial vulva, made from tortoise shell lined inside with
velvet, was used to relieve men’s sexual needs. And in the 19th century, sex dolls
became popular especially among sailors in Europe. Today sex aids such as
blowup and silicone dolls, vibrators, dildos, and Symbian sex machine (or stallion)
have been developed and used widely, albeit discreetly.
Sex dolls such as this can be bought
from Real Doll for a whooping
USD7000. These dolls appear and
are said to feel remarkably as
humans
(photo
from
www.realdoll.com).
Computers have even been used as sex aids such as those invented by Howard
Rheingold in 1991 and Dominic Choy in 2000. Teledildonics and haptic interface
technologies have allowed virtual touches or sex between two or more people to
occur over the internet. Sex devices, or so-called sex surrogates, can be
controlled via the internet, so that one partner can control the other partner’s sex
toy.
Sex websites such as Virtual Sex Machines allow their subscribers to have virtual
sex with porn actors using a suction device placed on the subscribers’ penises.
The recorded movements and touches of the porn actors are then transmitted
over the web into these suction devices that would then translate these inputs
into physical sucking sensations, simulating the desired sexual act. FriXion
Revolution likewise offers the necessary peripherals and internet setup that allow
their subscribers to experience the virtual sensations of holding hands, kissing,
and even full penetrative sex with one or more partners via a social web network.
FriXion offers virtual sex between
two or more partners over a social
network. Seen here is a dildo (left)
and a fleshlight (right). Moving the
fleshlight moves the dildo, allowing
sexual penetration over a distance
between two or more partners (photo
from www.FriXion.me).
New Zealand researchers, Yeoman and Mars, from Victoria University of
Wellington even proposed that sex with robots is desirable for the sex industry in
Amsterdam. By 2050, they predicted, sex with robots in Amsterdam would
mitigate a multitude of problems often associated there such as sexually
transmitted diseases and human trafficking.
The BBC America TV documentary “Love Me, Love My Doll” highlights several
men who see no problems with having sex with their sex dolls. These men say
these dolls have increased their quality of life because they each have difficulty
forming lasting and deep relationships with women.
One of these men is 40-year-old Davecat. He considers his sex doll, named Sidore,
of ten years to be his wife. He has even bought another sex doll, named Elena, to
accompany his wife while he is away at work. “…this [being alone and massaging
Sidore’s feet] is probably a good gauge when I am happy,” says Davecat in the
BBC America documentary, “…that’s the difference between being alone and
lonely. I don’t mind being alone at all. However, I cannot stand being
lonely…That’s why I have the dolls.”
Davecat and his wife, a sex doll he
names Sidore (photo from
poserorprophet.files.wordpress.com).
But the future isn’t just about having sex with computer-simulated humans and
with robots. As David Levy defends, these technologies do fill some important
human emotional needs to some people. They can provide a relationship to people
who have nowhere else to go or turn to, acting as an ideal partner who
understands and who is forgiving and does not withdraw if a mistake is done. In
short, these computer-simulated humans and robots can provide a safe haven
where people can go for comfort, assurance, and safety.
Nonetheless, building a robot that is almost indistinguishable from a human being
is a daunting task that requires advanced engineering, computer, and artificial
intelligence technologies.
Repliee Q1 (Q2 version has more
advanced or more realistic physical
features) is one of the most humanlike robot produced thus far. She has
flexible silicone as skin, rather than
hard plastic, and a number of
sensors and motors that allow her to
react more human-like. Repliee Q1
and Q2 are invented by Prof. Hiroshi
Ishiguro from Osaka University
(photo from www.vaasapages.com).
EveR-1, developed by researchers
from the Korea University of Science
and Technology, has the ability to
mimic human emotions of happiness,
sadness, anger, and surprise. Newer
and more sophisticated versions,
EveR-2 and EveR-3 have since been
developed
(photo
from
english.chosun.com
and
www.geekologie.com).
But I am reminded by what Kevin Kelly wrote in his book “What Technology
Wants”. Kelly argues that technology is like a living entity that evolves akin to
human evolution. We have seen that people are ready to form emotional bonds to
non-human beings and to objects. And we have seen that people have used and
are willing to use objects as sex aids. So, as robot technology incrementally
advances and matures – step-by-step, akin to evolution – it is inevitable that one
day human-like robots, both in physical appearance and behavior, would appear.
And when that happens, humans would be ready to, well, love them.
“What
technology
wants” by Kevin Kelly.