People will marry robots

[PopHistorian]

_http://www.mondaymag.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=117&cat=23&id=1089510&more=0

This is one of those stories that the press can't help but approach with silliness and a light touch (like UFOs), at least in every version of it I've seen, but it's apparently true that Dr. David Levy received a doctorate from Maastricht University (Netherlands) in October for his thesis, Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners. Hardcore social commentators have been saying that this is yet another step toward breaking down the family and other bonds people have with each other, for the purpose of achieving greater control.

Robotics engineers predict that humans will be marrying robots and consummating those marriages within 50 years. In a thesis titled “Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners,” artificial intelligence researcher David Levy predicts 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 marry them. He goes on to predict that human-robot marriages will be legalized by the year 2050, probably in the state of Massachusetts, thanks to its liberal laws and high population of techies. At first the appeal of robot marriages will be limited to a small group of freaks, says Levy, “but once you have a story like ‘I had sex with a robot, and it was great!’ appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I’d expect many people to jump on the bandwagon.” Another AI researcher predicts sex with robots within five years, which Levy believes is a reasonable guess. In related news, last week the Japanese unveiled the a robot that gives you a facial massage, so we’re only about two feet away from the world’s first robotic happy ending. (LiveScience.com)

 

[mada85]

This gives me the creeps! And, if the scenario in the following article becomes widespread, it may become quite common.

Children bond with their robot playmates

* Alexandra Topping
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday November 6 2007

It may not be able to read an encyclopedia in seconds like Johnny 5 in Short Circuit, or have the emotional neuroses of C-3PO from Star Wars but a new robot may be able to teach children about social interaction, according to US scientists.

The childlike automatons could become a feature in nursery schools after researchers found that toddlers soon learn to regard them as human.

It is thought the robots could enrich the classroom environment by demonstrating social skills and good behaviour. Scientists studied how children aged between 10 months and two years played with the "social robot" when left in the same room.

The Japanese-built prototype robot, QRIO, can interact with humans thanks to an array of mechanical and computational skills which enable it to walk, sit, stand, move its arms, turn its head, dance and giggle.

Scientists found that children's social contact with the robot increased over time and they found the machine more interesting when it behaved in a "human" interactive way than when it was programmed to dance randomly. At first, the children touched the robot on its face and head, but after time they touched only its hand and arms, mimicking the behaviour of children with other humans.

Scientists conducted 45 study sessions with the robot over five months. By the end of the study the children were treating the robot like a friend rather than a toy.

Some children cried when the robot fell over and tried helping it to stand up, even when told by their teachers to leave it alone. Others covered it with a blanket and said "night-night" when it lay down to sleep, said the researchers in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The scientists, led by Dr Fumihide Tanaka, from the University of California, San Diego, wrote: "Based on the lessons learned with this project, we are now developing robots that interact autonomously with the children ... for weeks at a time." The robots were being designed to help in the classroom in consultation with teachers, parents and children, said the scientists.

I found an early example in the media of a robot playmate for children in an episode of 'The Munsters', from the mid-1960s, where Grandpa creates a robot playmate for Eddie. The episode was called 'Eddie's Brother'.

There's an article on The Australian website with similar information: Children 'bond with robots.

A few quotes from the article:

Children 'bond with robots'

PLAYTIME over, a toddler says nighty-night and spreads a blanket on the floor on top of his silver-coloured friend.

It is an everyday scene at one US nursery school, where robots are immersed among children to find out what it takes for machines and humans to develop long-term relationships.

The experiment jointly run by Sony is revealing that children, with their open minds, can welcome and even develop emotions toward the robots, leading to new commercial possibilities as machines become smarter and friendlier.
[...]

"They are adapting themselves to the robot and empathising with it, although nobody teaches them to do so," Mr Tanaka said.
[...]

The project involving the children could help researchers develop more sophisticated robots.

The project head Mr Movellan said human brains were "very good at handling uncertainty and timing in everyday life".

He said this was very difficult for the current generation of robots.

I asked two women, one age early 40s and the other 19, if they would marry a robot, and both found the idea quite distasteful, as it is for myself.

I don't know if this trend is good for humans or not. But most humans are robots marrying robots anyway, so there may not be much difference. It also raises a question as to whether this a part of some kind of evolution - the Cs said (I could not find the reference) that our computers are coming to the point where they will have some fragment of soul.

Adpop's original quote seems to have been a shortened version of this article: Forecast: Sex and Marriage with Robots by 2050

...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."

 

[Laura]

LOL! The poor guy doesn't even realize that this is already happening!!!

 

[Ominous]

This reminds me of the way Whitley Strieber describes some of his "Visitors" - I don't have a quote handy but I recall him saying that they seemed machine-like...they looked human but seemed robotic. And they told him that there were many of them around the earth, integrated into the population. If I find a quote, I will post it. !WAR!

 

[Rich]

_http://www.mondaymag.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=117&cat=23&id=1089510&more=0

This is one of those stories that the press can't help but approach with silliness and a light touch (like UFOs), at least in every version of it I've seen, but it's apparently true that Dr. David Levy received a doctorate from Maastricht University (Netherlands) in October for his thesis, Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners. Hardcore social commentators have been saying that this is yet another step toward breaking down the family and other bonds people have with each other, for the purpose of achieving greater control.

Robotics engineers predict that humans will be marrying robots and consummating those marriages within 50 years. In a thesis titled “Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners,” artificial intelligence researcher David Levy predicts 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 marry them. He goes on to predict that human-robot marriages will be legalized by the year 2050, probably in the state of Massachusetts, thanks to its liberal laws and high population of techies. At first the appeal of robot marriages will be limited to a small group of freaks, says Levy, “but once you have a story like ‘I had sex with a robot, and it was great!’ appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I’d expect many people to jump on the bandwagon.” Another AI researcher predicts sex with robots within five years, which Levy believes is a reasonable guess. In related news, last week the Japanese unveiled the a robot that gives you a facial massage, so we’re only about two feet away from the world’s first robotic happy ending. (LiveScience.com)

FWIW I blogged about the way the press glibly responded to this article and attempted to bring in some ideas on Psychopathy and fourthway teachings on http://cybervigilantes.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-reasons-ill-never-marry-robot.html -

10 Reasons I'd Never Marry a Robot
On her wired blog Regina Lynn posted the article 10 reasons I'd rather marry a robot. It is a rather glib presentation on what will present some serious ethical issues regarding the interaction of human beings with artificial intelligence and what it really means to BE a human BEing.



Artificial-intelligence expert David Levy's new book, Love + Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, makes a compelling case for the development of real human-robot partnerships -- by 2050.

Using Lynn's headings, here are 10 reasons I would NEVER consider a robo-marriage:

1.

Robots are more than sex machines.

Yes, they can dance, play drum and bass and move heavy furniture at your command. But if you take a moment out to look at what a miraculous sensing, living, breathing, feeling, moving structure that a human being is no amount of metal can compare to the ultimate perfection and combination of tissue, nerves, skeleton, muscle and tendons that we take for granted. The warm, friendly, loving touch of a caring hand can lift our spirits and make us feel alive. How can a synthetic counterpart every fill us with so much feeling of what it means to be ALIVE?
2.

Artificial intelligence is still intelligence.

It is intelligence but not empathy. It is empathy that separates humans from psychopaths. How can a robot ever understand what it really feels like to be human? In his fascinating book 'without concience' Robert Hare writes:

In many respects they [psycopaths] are like the emotionless androids dipicted in science fiction, unable to imagine what real humans experience. One rapist, high on the Psychopathy checklist, commented that he found it hard to empathize with his victims. "They are frightened, right? But, you see, I don't really understand it. I've been scared myself, and it wasn't unpleasant."

The biggest danger to society actually comes from the 'white collar' Psychopath: From The Mask of Sanity:

If you are born at the right time, with some access to family fortune, and you have a special talent for whipping up other people's hatred and sense of deprivation, you can arrange to kill large numbers of unsuspecting people. With enough money, you can accomplish this from far away, and you can sit back safely and watch in satisfaction. [...]

Crazy and frightening - and real, in about 4 percent of the population..

It is 'white collar' psychopaths that by their lack of conscience are able to rise to the top of government and corporations and make the rest us humans lives intolerable and cruel. To see how their pathological ideals of empire building wars and fascism filter down through all aspects of society you need to read: PONEROLOGY: A NEW SCIENCE:

Ponerology describes the genesis, existence, and spread of the macrosocial disease called evil. Its causes are traceable and can be repeatedly observed and analyzed. When humanity manages to incorporate this knowledge into its natural worldview, it will have defensive potential as yet unrealized

3.

Robots are sensitive and responsive.

But only in the same way a psychopath is.
4.

A robot will only create drama if I want it to.

It is the drama in human relationships that really makes them worthwhile. By making us realise what our own faults are we can change ourselves to become better people. By realising how our actions impact on others we can take more control our own lives instead of merely responding automatically to our own desires and emotional mechanisms. Most of the drama in our lives is caused by external forces created by pathologically deviant and evil World leaders.

5.

Robots have off switches.

But life doesn't have off switches. Life is a continual journey of discovery and learning, by having the option to turn off the things we are emotionally illequiped to deal with surely we will not make any personal development necessary to live a full and rewarding life.
6.

Accessories.

The robot could hoover the floor, granted. But with population sizes exploding, jobs becoming scarce do we actually need or desire inaminate lumps of metal to perform labour that can provide a living, food and shelter for real human beings with concience?
7.

Robots are available for sexual adventure without elaborate discussions, permissions or restrictions.

Communications is one of the most important skills a human being has and through discussing our fears, feelings and phobia's with someone who truly cares about you brings a great deal of satisfaction and fulfilment. A hedonistic approach to life may be fine and dandy for some but for me I know deep inside the short term chemical release of climax is insignificant to long term fulfilment of living a life based on making ones own decisions, not simply reacting to chemical impulses that only have short-term gains.
8.

The safest sex on the planet.

The safest sex is none at all or sex as a true expression of love between two individuals who know themselves and each other. Anything else is simply emotionally destructive, short-term, narcissistic, self-serving and ultimately unfulfiling.
9.

A robot can be a personal trainer for sex.

yes, it can mechanically condition, train you into a soulless existence, in very much the same way we are culturally deteriorating under a psychopathic leadership hell-bent on creating obedient, non-questioning human slaves
10.

A robot is forever -- at least until the warranty runs out.

A robot will last much longer than our own fragile human existence. Most Eastern religion's and philosophies revolve around the importance of accepting our own mortality as a basis for living each day to the full. Never forget today maybe your last. Are you going to spend it browsing through the latest gadget catalogue or spending time with your loved ones or networking with like-minded people who care about you and the true state of our world today?

Lynn concludes correctly:

It's the occasional wobbliness that provides the challenges that keep a relationship interesting and real.

We should become more in touch with our own humanness and do everything in our power to prevent us being robotic slaves ourselves. In the magnificent book, "in search of the miraculous" Gurdjieff writes:

"Contemporary culture requires automatons. And people are undoubtedly losing their acquired habits of independence and turning into automatons, into parts of machines. It is impossible to say where is the end of all this and where the way out— or whether there is an end and a way out. One thing alone is certain, that man's slavery grows and increases. Man is becoming a willing slave. He no longer needs chains. He begins to grow fond of his slavery, to be proud of it. And this is the most terrible thing that can happen to a man."

But this is what is happening. we have a society obsessed with materialism and consumerism. People are proud of their shiny new cars bought on credit and excited by a job title in a company that produces nothing or things no one really needs. Until we break free from the illusions that keep us trapped in a soulless society then we are contributing to the deaths and destruction of our fellow humans. Who will be left to marry the robots?

 

[Tigersoap]

 

[Ryan]