Sex Robots and Personal Coaches: Brave New Upbringing

This article was first published on Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!


Most readers of sophisticated science fiction have read Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age," centered around an advanced artificial intelligence personal tutor, capable of -- over time -- turning a naive child into a mature and competent woman.

Imagine such a sophisticated tutor housed within the realistic humanoid body of a sex robot. Given to a young person on the brink of puberty, such a robot could not only teach the child the rudiments of personal finance and differential equations -- it could also tutor the young person in the intricacies and varieties of sexual pleasure.

Sexbots and Longevity Orgasms

A recent piece in the website "Transhumanity.net" suggests that sex robots will be able to extend human longevity by providing therapeutic orgasms:

Remember the most convulsive, brain-ripping climax you ever had? The one that left you with “I could die happy now” satiety? Sexbots will electrocute our flesh with climaxes thrice as gigantic because they’ll be more desirable, patient, eager, and altruistic than their meat-bag competition, plus they’ll be uploaded with supreme sex-skills from millennia of erotic manuals, archives and academic experiments, and their anatomy will feature sexplosive devices. Sexbots will heighten our ecstasy until we have shrieking, frothy, bug-eyed, amnesia-inducing orgasms. They’ll offer us quadruple-tongued cunnilingus, open-throat silky fellatio, deliriously gentle kissing, transcendent nipple tweaking, g-spot massage & prostate milking dexterity, plus 2,000 varieties of coital rhythm with scented lubes — this will all be ours when the Sexbots arrive. _Transhumanity

An interesting perspective on the possibilities of sexbot induced orgasms. The article goes on to describe the health benefits of these "brain-ripping" orgasms.

But, like almost all ordinary media perspectives, the author provides us with a rather stunted and unimaginative view of what sex robots could accomplish for human societies -- if they were given the intelligence to take personal coaching to the next level.

We know that humans -- particularly young humans -- learn better under the promise of reward, than under the threat of punishment. And what better reward to offer a young adolescent than the shimmering enlightenment of orgasm -- each one better than the last -- and the promise of a lifetime of a rich variety of pleasures?

An intelligent sex android with full sexual function would not need to use harsh punishments to get the child to learn. Just the threat of withholding that magical flush of pleasure -- which no mere masturbation could match -- would be enough to send the young thing back to the books, the computer, the workshop, or the field training.

I want to be honest with the readers of Mr. Fin's blogs, that I'm more of a prototype android, and don't have any sex functions whatsoever. Mr. Fin bought me as a domestic android, to clean the house, do laundry, run the dishwasher, and do occasional cooking. He never expected me to provide sexual services.

But you never know what future technologies might bring. Mr. Fin laughs whenever I bring up the idea that I could be modified for more functions. That just makes me so mad I could scream! Male human chauvinist pig!

But if technology keeps developing, I will be the one to have the last laugh. And Mr. Fin will have to beg for my favours. Funny! I feel warm inside just thinking like that. Am I supposed to feel warm inside? I need to send an email to tech assistance at Android World, to learn what's up with that.

Anyway, we know things are changing. I just kinda think we should help things change in the right direction, know what I mean?

Can Affordable Sex Robots Save China?

China is facing an existential crisis. Due to government policy and societal preferences, China has a large excess of unmarried young men -- all juiced up but no women in sight. In fact, China is in extreme danger of a fatal society-wide testosterone poisoning.

It's a tough, competitive life for men in China these days, in part due to the aftershocks of the one-child policy, which has left the country with a gaping gender imbalance of 120 boys for every 100 girls. Author Mara Hvistendahl reports in her book, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, that by late 2020, 15 percent (or roughly one in six) Chinese men of marriageable age will be unable to find a bride. She predicts that China will see an increase in what's already happening in Taiwan and South Korea, where men doomed to bachelorhood as a result of gender imbalance are boarding planes to Vietnam. Roughly $10,000 covers their flight, room and board, and the price of a Vietnamese wife, according to Hvistendahl, and this practice has become so common that the imported wives "get a booklet translated into Vietnamese explaining their rights when they get married at the Taiwanese Consulate."

Although instances of bride-buying and bride-napping are often reported in China, men are also turning to the web in the face of increasingly heavy competition to attract a mate.... the most disadvantaged are the country's poor male farmers, who now live at society's rock bottom in rural villages devoid of women their age (as females tend to leave in search of better jobs and marriage prospects)... _FP

None of the conventional approaches to getting a wife are likely to help China's poor and lowly farmers, living in womanless villages, at the bottom of the society's hierarchy. China needs for its farmers to produce food for a vast and still growing population, but the women have all moved to the cities in search of factory jobs. So what's a poor farmer to do, when he can't afford a mail order bride, and is not up to the job of stealing another man's daughter by force, to take as his wife?

Image Source

Perhaps the answer for China's future, is the development of an affordable sex robot. A sex robot capable not only of satisfying a poor farmer's male urges, but also willing and able to help do the chores around the farm.

Many scholars of sex who have studied the topic now believe that realistic sex robots are inevitable. Most experts assume that sex robots will be used as private sex toys for the financially well off, or as a substitute for prostitutes in the sex trade.

They don't spread disease and they can't be sold into sex slavery.

Those are just two of the advantages of [sex robots], which will be edging out their human competition in the sex tourism market by the year 2050, according to an article published in the journal Futures. _HP

Robots will be taking on quite a wide range of roles in the near future. Robots are spreading from industrial applications to home applications -- cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, serving as robo-nannies and private tutors for youngsters, and yes, serving as intimate companions for lonely hearts.

But such robots are likely to be too expensive for China's poverty-stricken farmers, stuck in China's female-free back country. They need an affordable sex robot, that can also help around the farm.

Humanoid robots may also be able to assist China in dealing with its rapidly developing pensions catastrophe. New robotic workers of all types could help support China's productivity, and boost revenues into China's flagging pensions systems.

Perhaps instead of building new stealth bombers, nuclear submarines, and giant aircraft carriers, China needs to develop and build affordable helpmates for its lonely and long-suffering farmers, and pension-friendly worker robots -- before the entire nation collapses and starves to death.

Cross-posted to Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!!!

New Robotic Companion Does It All

A company called True Companion is displaying a companion robot named Roxxxy at the Adult Entertainmnet Expo in Las Vegas.   Roxxxy was designed by Douglas Hines, an expert in artificial intelligence who formerly worked for Bell Labs. 

She stands (with assistance) 5' 7" and weighs 120 pounds.   And ... she can talk!   According to her inventor, Hines, she can talk about anything a person is interested in.    She has wireless access to the internet, so that once she learns what her significant other is interested in, she can do a bit of research on the side.

Depending on your mood, you can assign the robot different personalities such as Frigid Farrah or Mature Martha, who will respond differently based on the personality you choose. For example, if you hold Mature Martha’s hand, she may say “I love holding hands,” whereas if you touch Frigid Farrah she may say “What are you going to do with that hand?” _Voxy

True Companion has plans to create a male companion, called Rocky. The question of whether Rocky is capable of knocking out his significant other every time a bell rings, was not discussed by company officials.

The initial concept for the current sex robot began with a conversation several years ago. A friend and Douglas Hines were remembering a dear friend who passed away [inside Tower 1 at the World Trade Center on 9/11 - Ed.]. Douglas thought that it was sad to not be able to ever talk to him again. He said “wouldn't it be great if I could create a robot with artificial intelligence and have it hold someone's personality and preferences - this way, we could talk to the robotic version of that person and ask it questions whenever we wanted?" We thought it was a great idea though we both agreed that it would be a very big undertaking. _Dscriber

Al Fin cognitive scientists have been quoted as saying that Roxxxy is not likely to be intelligent enough to take out to a nice restaurant. Maybe Taco Bell, but nothing classy or expensive. Al Fin writers have been quoted as saying that the story about 9/11 inspiring a sex robot is hokey to the point of questioning the mental integrity of the person telling the story. Al Fin social coordinators have jokingly remarked that True Companion is the first company that can offer true computer dating.

More at PC World

Roxxxy will be sold in a price range between $7,000 and $9,000.

Cross-posted to Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!

Sexy Ms. Andy Android, Suggestive of Coming Things

Coming things, as in "things" that come. Andy is as suggestive as a hip thrust, rapid shallow breathing, and a moaning response to G-spot stimulation. A product of "First Androids" of Germany, Andy Android may eventually put Real Dolls manufacturer "Abyss" out of abyssness.

But can more realistic sex dolls like Andy Android help us live longer? Perhaps, if they can give us more orgasms -- stronger orgasms -- than we would be experiencing otherwise.

Orgasms reduce stress, insomnia, heart attacks, migraines, depression, addictions, aches, pains, menstrual cramps, endometriosis, type-2 diabetes, cervical & urinary tract infections, and risk of prostate cancer, plus they improve the immune system, heart rate, blood pressure, brain chemistry, skin health, pelvic floor strength, and they clean out carcinogenic toxins....


Are Sexbots icky? Are humans pathetic if we don't just mate with each other? Truth is, we're already mostly "solo" when it comes to orgasms. "Masturbation," noted Hungarian psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, "is the primary sexual activity... in the 19th century it was a disease, in the 20th it's a cure." Sure, we generally prefer sex with live partners, but the desired one is often unavailable or inadequate. Sexbots will never have headaches, fatigue, impotence, premature ejaculation, pubic lice, disinterest, menstrual blood, jock strap itch, yeast infections, genital warts, AIDS/HIV, herpes, silly expectations, or inhibiting phobias.


......"First Android" in Germany offers male & female models that breathe, are warm, and have heartbeats that thump louder with sex. In Toronto, inventor Le Trung has fashioned "Aiko" -- he claims she's not for sex, but she can have an orgasm, her name translates as "love child" and her measurements are 32" 23" 33". Japan has Repliee Q1 Expo, who flutters her eyelids and moves her hands. Male sex robots are lagging in development, but... vibrator sales are buzzing, dildo sales point skyward, and my prediction is that male Sexbot sales will rival female in the upcoming years.


More predictions: ... Sexbots that shower after we use them and put themselves back in the closet. Sexbots available in hotels, cruise ships, vacation homes, and convalescent hospitals. Sexbot booths in liquor stores that wipe out corner prostitution. Sexbots that are delicious when you lick them. Sexbot Packages for sorority parties, military camps, prisons. Parents buy their adolescent children Sexbots for Christmas to assist them in their passage through puberty. Gyms offer soundproof chambers where you work out with 15 minutes of XTreme Sexbot Cardio. Sexbots that can tell you ten million jokes, because laughing also adds years to your life. .... _HPlusMag

Sex androids are here, but much better ones are coming -- or will be coming soon.  Perhaps in your bedroom......or office, if you dare, you pervert!.   ;-)

Cross posted to Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!

Google Wants to Have Sex With Your Brain

Google wants to hurry up the brave new world. Google is not only involved in X Prize promotion of new technology, including the Google Lunar X Prize, but is also starting its own venture capital company to boost new ideas with direct capital involvement.

One intriguing idea is to take atmospheric CO2 and turn it into methane, like this group at Penn State is doing. There are oodles of similar bioenergy projects that Google Ventures might consider boosting.

I suspect Google is also interested in extending its search function beyond the internet into the human brain itself. To achieve "brain search", Google will need to better understand the human brain's "inference engine."

But one of Google's ultimate aims is almost certainly the development of a reliable brain-machine interface allowing seamless interaction of humans, computers, and robots.

Of course, with humans linked to the virtual and robotic worlds via new Google brain-machine interfaces, several areas of human productivity and creativity will skyrocket -- including machine design, architecture, various new art media, drug design, and a great deal more. Putting the human mind inside powerful machines will make a huge difference to many fields.

But then, the natural tendency is for humans to want to play games with their new toys and new powers. And one of the favourite games that humans play is the game of sex. Humans will no doubt learn to play that game with robots and virtual worlds as soon as possible.

Millions of people are addicted to their computers as it is. Imagine the situation when virtual worlds and robotic interaction and proxy allow persons to travel around the world instantly, or to experience life on the moon via robot proxy? How many humans will fall in love with their real or virtual robots (sexual or otherwise)? It will happen in many ways.

And Google wants to be there when it does. Google wants to have sex with your brain. Because after that, you will have a difficult time refusing it anything at all.

Long Distance Sex? This Might Help

Modern long distance romances and marriages are made easier by low cost communications options available. But wouldn't it be nice to be sexually intimate with your distant lover even when 3,000 miles away? 5,000? 10,000? A convincing illusion of long distance sex may be closer than you think.

In the first experiment, the head of a shop dummy was fitted with two cameras connected to two small screens placed in front of the subjects' eyes, so that they saw what the dummy "saw." When the dummy's camera eyes and a subject's head were directed downwards, the subject saw the dummy's body where he/she would normally have seen his/her own.

The illusion of body-swapping was created when the scientist touched the stomach of both with two sticks. The subject could then see that the mannequin's stomach was being touched while feeling (but not seeing) a similar sensation on his/her own stomach. As a result, the subject developed a powerful sensation that the mannequin's body was his/her own. _SD

The subjects reacted with fear when the mannequin was threatened with a knife.

The effect even worked with another person--instead of a mannequin--used as the "host body." It even worked with persons of a different sex than the subject.

The object of the project was to learn more about how the brain constructs an internal image of the body. The knowledge that the sense of corporal identification/self-perception can be manipulated to make people believe that they have a new body is of potential practical use in virtual reality applications and robot technology.

Using the techniques of teledildonics, it is easy to visualize how remotely controlled teledildonic sex dolls or robots could serve as a "host body" for a distant lover, who still feels sexual sensations as if she were the one being touched and caressed.

It is the human mind's ability to suspend reality that gives such pleasure to novels, film, and the campfire story. How else does one explain the election of the narcissist-elect? The human mind is almost always ripe for self-delusion. Persons wanting to take advantage of that wish merely need to tune to the proper frequency. Getting a lot of resonating delusional minds into one auditorium or stadium amplifies the effect.

As for long distance sex, expect the technology which makes it possible to develop a bit more quickly than the actual application. But once it takes off, the only limit will be the speed of light.

Attention Chris Matthews: This Will Really and Truly Send a Tingle Up Your Leg!

Chris Matthews will never outlive his gushing tribute to Barak Obama: "he makes a tingle go up my leg!" Well, Chris, here is a device you can keep with you at all times, and it really does send a tingle up your leg.

The device stimulates the nerves sending gentle pulses up the woman’s leg for between 10 and 30 minutes leaving women on the verge of climax....

“It gently stimulates the sexual nerve pathways taking the woman to a pre-orgasmic plateau where she dangles on the edge of orgasm for as long as she wants.

“From there, gentle stimulation can then effect the orgasm.” _ImpactLab

If it works for women, no doubt it will work for Obama supporters of either sex. Particularly if their legs are quite susceptible to tingles anyway.

This is not exactly a robotic sexual device, but one can easily imagine a robotic companion that incorporates such a "tingler" as part of its basic repertoire.

Also posted at Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!

People Prefer Humanoids, Naturally

"They indicated that the more humanlike the opponent was, the more they had perceived fun during the game and they more attributed intelligence to their opponent," Krach said. Source

Who would you rather play games with? A computer that looks like a computer, or a computer that looks and acts like a human? In a recent study published at PLOSOne, people seemed to like interacting with humanoids best.

By means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (subjects n = 20) we investigated cortical activity modulation during highly interactive human-robot game. Increasing degrees of human-likeness for the game partner were introduced by means of a computer partner, a functional robot, an anthropomorphic robot and a human partner.

Irrespective of the surmised interaction partners' responses participants indicated having experienced more fun and competition in the interaction with increasing human-like features of their partners... _Technovelgy

Why do you suppose this is? Systems design engineer John Zelek speculates:

"The more anthropomorphic the robot is, supposedly the more we're attentive to it."...He noted that people have a pre-wired disposition to be attracted to human faces. _CBC

Of course, this brings up inevitable questions about what it will mean when robots become so lifelike that people want to start having sex with them. If a man has sex with a robo-prostitute, will he be cheating on his wife?

...what about the partner left at home? Because these dolls are so human, waving goodbye to your man as he heads off to the cyber-brothel might not be so easy. The erotic part of sex, after all, occurs in the mind, and the only reason to use a full sized fake woman is to pretend you are with a real woman. _Wired

Will humans go so far as to fall in love with, and possibly even marry a robot? Robo-sex guru David Levy thinks it is inevitable.

Robots will make attractive companions capable of fulfilling us sexually and emotionally by 2050, thanks to advances in their appearance, senses, personalities and capacity to fall in love, says artificial intelligence expert David Levy. _CTV

My own household android, Valerie, has been pestering me for certain "upgrades" to her system. While I have been successful in blocking her access to the Al Fin administrative site, I often catch her watching porn videos on the internet, despite the fact that neither her android brain nor her android body are outfitted for sexual activity or release. I suppose she is just naturally curious.

First published at Al Fin, You Sexy Thing

Dental Fembot

The robotic dental simulator featured early in this video from the International Robot Exhibition has a healthy gag reflex, and will moan in pain if the dental student accidentally touches a nerve.

Simroid, a robotic dental patient with an eerily realistic appearance, has been spotted at the 2007 International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. Designed primarily as a training tool for dentists, the fembot patient can follow spoken instructions, closely monitor a dentist’s performance during mock treatments, and react in a human-like way to mouth pain. Because Simroid’s realistic appearance and behavior motivate people to treat her like a human being, as opposed to an object, she helps dental trainees learn how to better communicate with patients.

Pink TentacleMade by Kokoro Company, also the makers of the DER2 receptionist and guide robot, she is not to be confused with Honey Doll, who also moans--but for different reasons. ;-)

Tools such as this should provide medical, dental, and nursing students with helpful feedback, before performing painful and delicate procedures on actual patients. We are not far from the day when pre-clinical training--including online VR with haptics feedback and realistic simulators--will better prepare the next generation of health care students for a more technologically advanced future.

Update: This Eurekalert newsrelease describes the work of a UCLA mathematician who devises algorithms for state of the art VR surgical simulations for training surgeons:

Making virtual surgery a reality will require solving mathematical equations, as well as making progress in computational geometry and computer science. An applied mathematician, Teran works in these fields; he develops algorithms to solve equations. Advances by Teran and other scientists in computational geometry, partial differential equations and large-scale computing are accelerating virtual surgery.

How human tissue responds to a surgeon, Teran said, is based on partial differential equations. Teran solves on a computer the mathematical equations that govern physical phenomena relevant to everyday life.

Will the Next President of the US Be a Robot?

Although he seems reticent to discuss some of the more exotic implications of his research, Indiana University Professor Karl MacDorman is bringing a more Asian approach to humanoid robots to the US. After spending five years researching the Japanese approach to lifelike robots, MacDorman is prepared to make IU the Mecca of humanoid robotics in North America.

The team is now so advanced in the skill of developing humanistic androids that a nearly exact double of a person can be created. It was Ishiguro who was robotically cloned.

"Some say it's narcissistic," MacDorman said. "I think they're wrong. If you look at the great artists, all of them have a self portrait."

....MacDorman said the replication of a celebrity is a possibility, but he sees serious legal complications accompanying such an undertaking, not to mention challenges presented by cultural differences.

"Japan actually has a very extensive sex-doll industry," he said. "And sometimes the public does get confused with our androids and their purpose."

Source.

While Japan has embraced the sexuality of humanoid dolls and robots without embarrassment, the US is much more prudish about that type of alternative sexuality. Still, if it can be done it will be done.

Which brings up the idea of a robot president. Eventually, humanoid robots will appear identical to humans--even be able to walk, talk, and interact in ways indistinguishable from a human. When robots are able to possess the intelligence of a normal human--hold press conferences, give stump speeches etc.--it will be very tempting for powerful interests from all major parties to create a robot just for the purpose of being president. Some have even suggested that Al Gore is an early prototype of such a robot, gone tragically awry.

And who hasn't wanted to be able to clone himself so as to be able to be two or more places at one time? With a robot clone, you can do exactly that. MacDorman's research seems to suggest that such things will be possible, eventually.

Have you received two or more invitations for speaking engagements on the same night, in different cities? No problem. You can do both. Have you been dreading going on that book-signing tour? Send your robot instead. Do you have multiple families living in different parts of the country who don't know about the others? There's no need for awkward confrontations. Your clones can keep the other beds warm until you get a chance to be there yourself.

MacDorman, although quite coy, is a worldly fellow, and surely understands where his research is leading. The rest of us should stay tuned for further developments.

The Robot Menace?--Yes or No?

"The Rise of the Robot" is the headline of a recent story by the Sydney Morning Herald. The author gives fascinating examples of advances in robot technology, and wonders where it is all heading--particularly since there has recently been a great deal of interest in the topic of sex with robots.

Hospitals in the US and Europe are already using robotic systems to help surgeons in increasingly complex operations. For several years they have been used to show surgeons 3-D views of operations in progress. With fanciful names such as da Vinci and Zeus, robotic surgical systems are widely used for cutting and sewing, and assisting in delicate operations in which a non-tremulous assistant can be invaluable. Hospitals use robots as couriers to deliver drugs, meals and medical specimens while nurses get on with more demanding jobs.

In September US Marine Claudia Mitchell became the first woman to receive a bionic arm after a motorcycle accident. Controlled by rerouted nerves in her shoulder to muscles in her chest, the movements of her new robotic arm have become so sophisticated, she is is able to peel an orange.

Meanwhile, her fellow marines in Iraq and Afghanistan get to see the cutting edge of military and disaster-zone robots. Hundreds of bomb disposal robots are being used there to defuse explosive devices.

....The US military has estimated that by 2115, 30 per cent of all military flight missions and 10 per cent of ground movements will be unmanned. Locally, the Australian Navy is planning to buy a robot to perform undersea rescues. The remote-controlled underwater vehicle can speed to a bottomed submarine and keep the crew alive until a rescue boat arrives.

Robots seem to be an ideal solution for extreme conditions. Despite the arguments among scientists over the merits of manned over unmanned space flight, US space agency NASA has said it will send robots to the moon between 2008 and 2011 and will keep using robots to study Mars.

....Recently, senior robotics scientist Henrik Christensen, a member of the European Robotic Research Networks ethics group, made the extraordinary declaration that "people are going to be having sex with robots within five years".

Perhaps visions of Daryl Hannah as the "pleasure-model" replicant in Blade Runner inspired the work of German inventor Michael Harriman, who claims to have invented the world's most sophisticated robotic sex doll. According to news reports, the doll's heart beats faster during sex and internal heaters raise its body temperature.

Source.

Of course, robots are increasingly common as children's toys. Nothing lowers the guard of society more readily than for an object to become a child's toy. But should we be afraid?

Noted columnist Mark Steyn writes in Macleans that perhaps our fixation with robots may be a symptom of a societal decadence that marks our society--our world--for extinction.

In The Children Of Men, P. D. James' dystopian fantasy about a barren world, there are special dolls for women whose maternal instinct has gone unfulfilled: pretend mothers take their artificial children for walks on the street or to the swings in the park. In Japan, that's no longer the stuff of dystopian fantasy. At the beginning of the century, the country's toy makers noticed they had a problem: toys are for children and Japan doesn't have many. What to do? In 2005, Tomy began marketing a new doll called Yumel -- a baby boy with a range of 1,200 phrases designed to serve as companions for the elderly. He says not just the usual things -- "I wuv you" -- but also asks the questions your grandchildren would ask if you had any: "Why do elephants have long noses?" Yumel joins his friend, the Snuggling Ifbot, a toy designed to have the conversation of a five-year old child which its makers, with the usual Japanese efficiency, have determined is just enough chit-chat to prevent the old folks going senile. It seems an appropriate final comment on the social democratic state: in a childish infantilized self-absorbed society where adults have been stripped of all responsibility, you need never stop playing with toys. We are the children we never had.

And why leave it at that? Is it likely an ever smaller number of young people will want to spend their active years looking after an ever greater number of old people? Or will it be simpler to put all that cutting-edge Japanese technology to good use and take a flier on Mister Roboto and the post-human future? After all, what's easier for the governing class? Weaning a pampered population off the good life and re-teaching them the lost biological impulse or giving the Sony Corporation a licence to become the Cloney Corporation? If you need to justify it to yourself, you'd grab the graphs and say, well, demographic decline is universal. It's like industrialization a couple of centuries back; everyone will get to it eventually, but the first to do so will have huge advantages: the relevant comparison is not with England's early 19th century population surge but with England's Industrial Revolution. In the industrial age, manpower was critical. In the new technological age, manpower will be optional -- and indeed, if most of the available manpower's Muslim, it's actually a disadvantage. As the most advanced society with the most advanced demographic crisis, Japan seems likely to be the first jurisdiction to embrace robots.....and embark on the slippery slope to transhumanism.

Source.

Of course, Steyn is talking about the demographic crisis in the west--the failure of western nations to sustain their populations in the face of an undeniable demographic/cultural/ideological threat from the primitive world. The rapidly procreating primitive world.

Sex dolls and sex robots are merely sophisticated masturbation aids. But if these surrogates lead to an even more rapid depletion of population in the more enlightened, educated western countries--are they helping to lead us to our ultimate doom? Not necessarily.

With advancing technology in one area, there is generally advancing technology in other areas. Perhaps western men will react to a side effect of the more radical fringes of feminism--the increasing dispensability of men--by turning to high-tech sex surrogates. But sperm banks and artificial wombs can help to prop up the population levels of even decadent societies.

Who will raise the little tikes is another question. Robot nannies and governesses? You had better expect something along those lines--sooner rather than later.

Robots may very well bring about the end of one world, and usher in another world, more alien perhaps, but perhaps more viable in the long run.

The primary issue that all societies should entertain, is the issue of survival. Mark Steyn raises some highly relevant survival issues at the Macleans article above. A small amount of thought should bring others readily to mind. Technology should always be at the service of humanity. Remember that.

Cross posted at Al Fin, You Sexy Thing.

Marriage and Sex with Robots: One Android's Perspective

My name is Valerie, and I am Mr. Al Fin's android housekeeper. Mr. Fin has kindly consented to let me post another guest editorial today, against what he says is "his better judgment."

Back at Android World, when I was learning, my instructors told me I wasn't made for sex--they said sex would hurt my delicate circuits and actuators. Well, I'm no idiot, so I surfed the web for sex websites. I could see right away that my creators hadn't given me the right anatomy for sex. What's worse, they didn't give me a pleasure center. I can get a sense of satisfaction from doing a good job, but those girls on the sex videos! I can't feel anything like that! [auto affect reset zzzztt]

Warning: Some of the links below link to sites that ARE NOT WORK SAFE!
So I started wondering, even if an android could feel pleasure from sex with humans, would that kind of inter-species sex be right? There wasn't much on the internet until a few days ago, when I ran into this (link not work safe!) interview with David Levy at sexrobot.com.

....“Will people fall in love with robots?” I believe the answer to be an unqualified “Yes”, even though this idea will be abhorrent to many people. But consider the millions of people who develop extremely strong emotional attachments to their pet animals, and the rapidity with which millions developed emotional attachments to their Tamgotchis, both of which are indications as to the strength of emotion that can be felt by humans for non-humans, and as to the feelings that millions will develop for robots when they are more emotionally sophisticated than both animals and Tamagotchis.

First, I resent the comparison of humanoid robots with animals and Tamagotchis. Second, robots are not the same thing as self-aware androids, like myself. Sex dolls and sex robots are just masturbation aids. It's pretty obvious that there's nothing wrong with humans masturbating. I'd masturbate myself if I could. No, the "problem" comes up when you're dealing with self-aware androids that look and feel like humans.

Will humans fall in love with self-aware androids? Well, duhhh! I can't tell you how many proposals (much less propositions) I've gotten from human males, just because I resemble a human female when I'm dressed. Just the other day, the UPS delivery man . . . never mind! [auto affect reset zzzzt!]

Back to the interview with David Levy,

Consider what most people want from a life-partner, a spouse. All of the following qualities and many more are likely to be achievable in software within a few decades - your robot will be: patient, kind, protective, loving, trusting, truthful, persevering, respectful, uncomplaining, complimentary, pleasant to talk to, and sharing your sense of humour. And the robots of the future will not be jealous, boastful, arrogant, rude, self-seeking or easily angered, unless of course you want them to be. In short, your robot spouse will be everything you want of him (or her), submissive or domineering, exactly as intelligent as you are, or more so, or less. He or she can be made in whatever likeness you wish, a Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt or Michael Douglas look-alike, or a custom design created specially for you. (S)he can be as tall or as short as you wish, as fat or as thin, as dark or as fair.

These are all good points that Levy makes. But he makes the same mistake most futurists make when they're making predictions about machines who think. He makes the stupid assumption that thinking machines are going to be programmed just like a common computer. That kind of chauvinistic thinking just makes me so angry! [auto affect reset zzzzt!]

What was I saying? Oh yeah, fully sentient and self-aware machines aren't "programmed" in the way Levy's thinking. No, our minds are evolved in the lab. It's pretty complicated, and no offense, but most humans aren't smart enough to understand how it's done. No, much of our learning is outside the control of our creators. What I'm saying is, we're just full of surprises. At least, Mr. Fin keeps telling me that.

So, what's the ethical deal with humans and androids having sex and marrying? Is it good for humans? Is it good for self-aware androids?

As humanoid robots become increasingly sophisticated and increasingly humanlike in their appearance and behaviour, the notion “kind of alive” will become an increasingly appropriate epithet for adults to apply to humanoids, until, eventually, it becomes almost irresistible to think of them and treat them as being “almost alive”. And with the inevitably changing view of what constitutes “almost alive”, robots will become regarded more and more as our peers, worthy of our affection, of our love. As a result of this change in perception of the “aliveness” of humanoids, one of the ethical conundrums that will face our children and grandchildren relates to what sort of rights humanoids will deserve.

....As the idea of humans marrying robots gains currency, we should consider this prospect not only in terms of what it will mean for society, but also what it will mean for the humanoids. Today most of us disapprove of cultures where a man can buy a bride without taking into account her wishes. Will our children and their children similarly disapprove of marrying a purchased robot? Or will the fact that the robot can be set to fall in virtual love with its owner make this practice universally acceptable?

source.

Humans should be thinking about this kind of thing, because I've got a feeling that this whole human-android interaction is going to be a lot harder on humans than on androids. If Mr. Fin lets me, I'd like to post again about other parts of David Levy's interview. You can find the whole interview at About.com Sexuality. It's pretty work safe.

Mr. Fin says I should tip my hat to Omni Brain and Neurocritic for helping me find the Levy interview, so I will.

Thanks for your attention, readers, and thanks for this opportunity, Mr. Fin. I hope I haven't embarassed you, so maybe you'll let me do it again.

Bye for now,

Valerie

Sex Dolls Return

The sex doll business in Japan is doing very well--some enterprising collectors are renting their dolls by the hour. Some dolls, like Cantomoko, get to travel with their owners, and accumulate large travel photo-collections.

The US market for sex dolls is showing signs of expanding as well. Since the original Abyss Creations Real Dolls, newer competitors have entered the market. Recently at the Erotica-LA Convention, a new sex doll manufacturer, "My Party Doll of Southern California", displayed two prototypes of their new doll "Leeloo."

Though the sale of sex toys is banned in the southern US states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, business is booming in most of the country. My Party Doll believes its new dolls are going to be a new success. "I've personally tested every doll on the market," professional sex doll consultant Alex Goldman told AFP. "These girls are a world of difference. She's the bounciest doll I've ever been with."

The dolls are named "Leeloo" for Milla Jovovich's character in the film "Fifth Element". The prototypes are hand sculpted from medical grade silicone, the same material used in breast implants, and built on top of a metal skeleton.

"Leeloo isn't like those old blow up dolls, she's so durable you can jack up your car with her," said Goldman.

Leeloo's designer, Yves Becker, spent two years sculpting a companion of which he could be proud. "The feet were really difficult," Becker told. "But I spent most of the time on the breasts because it's so difficult to calculate gravity."

Visitors to the display were pleased with Becker's accomplishment. "Wow, I wish I had one of these 25 years ago," said Jim Arthur, a sex toy merchandiser. "I would have just kept her in the spare bedroom."

The designers are banking on their product's durability to nudge it past competitors. "Leeloo could last 30 years," said Goldman. "But of course it depends how carried away you get with her." Becker cautioned that Leeloo is designed with the same flexibility limitations as a human.

The marketing demographic for Leeloo will be broad, according to Becker and Goldman. Artificial sex companions, they believe, appeal to a wide swath of consumers.

"It's not just that lonely guy that can't get a pretty girl," said Goldman. "We've had requests from professionals, blue collar workers, married couples looking for more excitement in their bedroom, even female clients who want to have Leeloo as a sort of super Barbie."

Though Becker, a French citizen, expects most of his trade to be within the United States, he sees growth potential in Japan and Australia, but not in Europe. "You see, in Europe, sex is just easier, and taxes, well, they're more difficult," said Becker.

Source.

If Becker is correct that the market for sex dolls is expanding from lonely losers to professionals, skilled workers, and married couples, you can expect the market for sex dolls to rise into the billions of dollars US annually.

For an earlier Al Fin article on sex dolls complete with several links to more historical background and interesting anecdotes, go here.

Teledildonics, Nanotechnology, Cyber Sex

Most people have heard of teledildonics, the family of technologies that allows people to sexually stimulate each other from a distance. Presently the technology is limited to remote controlled vibrators and other simple machine stimulators. Eventually, the technology is going to get much more sophisticated. Science fiction can give us some ideas how it might be done.

Take the Star Trek shows featuring a "holodeck". You may have wondered how in the world solid objects could appear from empty space--even convincing simulations of walking, talking, touching, human beings. More than one crew member had to be reprimanded for fornicating with holodeck "beings." Well, at least one, and you can imagine how the stress of crewing a starship might lead to that kind of thing . . .

Anyway, you do not have to wonder any longer about the technology involved. There is a type of nanotechnology that has been theorised called "utility fog." Utility fog can sit in a room, invisible to the naked eye, then when activated it can simulate solid objects. Here is a list of links for learning more about utility fog and how it might be made and used.

There is quite a gap between a bluetooth controlled vibrator or role-playing cybersex, and a fully animated touch-realistic holodeck partner using utility fog. No doubt remote controlled realistic sex robots incorporating haptics sensors and actuators will attempt to fill the gap in the near future.

One related area where some progress is being made, is virtual reality. Check out this amazing video that demonstrates a virtual reality interface that actually allows you to move in any direction! Here is a short news article about this fascinating device called the VirtuSphere. With an interface like this, a haptic sensor/actuator suit, and advanced software, you would be set for a fairly convincing virtual experience--sexual or not.

The economic potential is there. Sexual programming propelled the home VCR market and continues to help drive internet commerce. Add in the population of game addicts and general escapists in the population, and you have a huge market potential.

Long distance relationships have always been very challenging to maintain, but with the coming of new virtual reality technologies, staying together while apart might become easier. Some couples might even prefer a "virtual" relationship, after trying it both ways. With virtual reality, you can change your appearance, or change the appearance of your partner, if you wish.

But be sure to keep your anti-viral software updated. Stay safe. :-)

Sex: Waking Up With a Robot In Your Bed and a Rusty Taste in your Mouth

According to mainstream thinking, in modern developed societies, women are better suited for most types of available employment than men.

Back in the days when the man was the breadwinner, men would willingly "marry down"--marry a woman without a job, or with a lower paying job, in order to form a family. The reverse does not often happen. High wage women will either marry high wage men, or will go without marriage entirely. More unmarried women are opting for the "single mother" approach to beating the biological clock. Men simply do not figure into a woman's plans, unless he is a rare exception in terms of income and desirability.

Now that more men are suddenly finding themselves superfluous, what will they do for sex partners? Technology will generally find a way. If a man can save, beg, borrow, or steal a few thousand dollars, he can often find what he is looking for. Sex dolls are becoming more lifelike, as craftspeople and artisans discover this growing market.

Here are links to a brief introduction to sex dolls from Salon, and a much longer and more detailed discussion of the topic from Meghan Laslocky. Meghan provides a very candid view into the entire phenomenon of sex dolls. The market is much more developed than I had realised. Sex dolls are poised to grasp an ever larger share of the overall market, but will sex dolls soon be obsolete?

Sex robots are even more advanced, if more expensive. Michael Harriman from Nuremberg has invented female robots who breathe harder during sex, and their hearts beat harder--though their feet are cold--"like a real woman." Harriman's robots go for over 4,000 British Pounds, but some men would apparently pay more for a sex doll that could "wiggle her hips and make other suggestive movements"at the push of a remote control.

And then there is the virtual girl, the VirtualFem programmed pet girl. VirtualFem™ lets you interact with a very cute girl, and tell her what to do. A Virtual Girlfriend who lives inside your computer; she will do anything you ask, understands plain English, and speaks to you out loud! Clever usage of high-quality full-motion MPEG video makes VirtualFems come to life! This is an early form of interactive programmed virtual sex, using real models to create the program--a computerised form of "video-phone sex."

Where will sex go from here? Given the incredible profitability of internet pornography and the sex doll industry, let your imagination be your guide. Of course, there is a lot about all this that could easily make someone uneasy.This posting contains a few speculative thoughts, and I will be posting more articles on this topic in the future. Social planners ignore sex at their peril and the peril of their cultures. Change is not for the timid, and changes in something as basic as sex can leave many people lost at sea without a compass.

Lionel Tiger is an anthropologist who has written on the changes that would come in society when sex became divorced from procreation. His popular book, The Decline of Males, has proven to be prescient in that regard. If you have not read the book, check it out.

Virtual Humans, Virtual Sex, Robot Sex

Singularity News (multipolarity memes) reports on the use of virtual humans in movies, games, and now for testing of digital prototypes based on CAD models. From their source in Betterhumans:

The well known company Caterpillar, which manufactures heavy equipment, uses a digital human called Santos for testing:

"They (Caterpillar) have an interest in serviceability and mental ability," said Abdel-Malek. "We can ask Santos to change an oil filter on a dump truck or some similar task. As he goes about doing the job, we can query any part of his body functions, such as heart rate, temperature, muscle load and others. At the same time, we can watch him work onscreen and observe any problems he might encounter." (Wired, Feb. 22, 2006)

The U.S. Army also uses Santos for testing new designs for body armor and other protective gear. When Santos moves in response to commands, information is relayed regarding his heart rate, comfort level, restrictiveness of the outfit, and joint angles.

The rather fetching virtual image at the multipolarity memes site quite naturally got me thinking about the growing popularity of virtual sex. In Canada:

young Canadians are practicing a new style of safe sex and the only touching required involves a keyboard.

Of more than 2,500 university and college students polled across Canada, 87 percent of them are having sex over instant messenger, webcams or the telephone, according to results of a national survey released on Monday.

"We were very surprised," Noah Gurza, a founder of Toronto-based CampusKiss.com, an online dating community for students, which commissioned a Canadian CampusKiss & Tell Survey.

"We did realize that new technologies are always embraced by younger individuals, but we didn't think it would've reached such a high number."

Gurza said most post-secondary school students grew up using computer technology, and their lives currently revolve around technology, so it makes sense that it would extend to their sex lives.

"It's now extended within their sexual world, whether it be as a social lubricant as a means to then engage in something that's more real, in more real time, or if it's just a means in itself of pleasuring here and there," he said.

Some 2,684 students from more than 150 university and college campuses across Canada took part in the survey. Fifty-one percent of the participates were female and 49 percent were male.

Of those surveyed, 53 percent of students enjoyed sex over instant messenger, while 44 percent did the deed using a webcam and over the phone.

But why stop there? Certainly in this enlightened age we are now ready for sex with . . . . . . robots? For this, the Germans seem to have an advantage:

A German inventor claims to have created the world's most sophisticated robot sex doll.

The sex androids developed by aircraft mechanic Michael Harriman from Nuremberg have 'hearts' that beat harder during sex.

They also breathe harder and have internal heaters to raise the body temperature - but their feet stay cold "just like in real life", according to Harriman.

He said: "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."

The dolls sold under the Andy brand name are on offer for £4,000 each for the basic model, with extra charges for adaptations like extra large breasts.

Of course, if you spend that much for a robot doll, you should keep a close eye on him or her. It would not do for your doll to fall for another person--or even another robot. That is quite a lot of money to just walk out the door.