Will Sex Robots of the Future Actually Be Able to Improve Our Sex Lives? Sofia Luu - Connections.Mic
go to original November 30, 2015

Uncanny Lover: Meet Matt McMullen's Sexy New Robot (The New York Times)

If you've ever seen Her or Ex Machina, you're probably at least somewhat familiar with the concept of sex robots. Essentially, they're high-tech robots with the ability to partake in sexual activities like regular, able-bodied humans. But how close is this future of high-tech sex, really? And would the rise of sexbots be good or bad for the rest of us?

As it turns out, the consensus on this issue is evenly split. Earlier this year, for instance, ethicist Kathleen Richardson and informatics lecturer Erik Brilling took a firmly anti-sex robot stance by launching the Campaign Against Sex Robots, a movement to ban any future artificial intelligence used for sexual purposes. In their manifesto, Richardson and Brilling warned that the development of sexbots will be bad for humanity, on the grounds that they will "further sexually objectify women and children."

On the flipside of the sexbot debate, Dr. David Levy, author of Love and Sex with Robots, imagines a future where sexbots will play a beneficial role in our community. In his book, Levy suggests that the rising popularity of sexbots might have primarily social implications, such as a "reduction in teenage pregnancy, abortions, sexually transmitted infections and pedophilia."

Sex educator Sonya JF Barnett has a fascination with the development and use of sexbots. Barnett recently gave a lecture at Playground, a conference for sex and sexuality, called The Future of Technosexuality. While some envision a future where sexbots become our primary companions, implicitly replacing humans, Barnett believes that sexbots aren't a threat to human companionship. Rather, she argues, sexbots could potentially help us become more sex-positive and help us improve our sex lives.

Read the rest at Connections.Mic

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