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Human-Robot Love and Marriage
An anonymous reader writes "MSNBC has an article on the impending robo-human coupling: 'My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots,' artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands told LiveScience."
The article dwells on marriage with robots, which I can't see happening anytime soon; but robots as a replacement for human prostitutes? Absolutely.
...really 'comes alive' as she moves and responds to your loving care! Touch or talk to your pony and her head moves! As you continue to interact with her, watch her ears wiggle and her eyes blink! Be sure to take extra-special care of your pony. Feed her the carrot and groom her with her brush. Watch her swish her tail back and forth! She even whinnies and snorts, and will sniff your hand! Sit on your pony for a pretend ride...!
The oldest profession is driven by one of humanity's most basic problems (there just aren't enough sexy people to go round) but has lots of downsides (disease, wasted lives, etc). Sex robots seem like a great solution -- provided they are realistic enough to keep the customer satisfied.
So, naturally, we need a X-prize for this problem: a competition for a sex robot that can pass a sexual Turing test. The original Turing Test was for a machine able to hold a conversation indistinguishable from human conversation. We clearly need a sexual Turing test, for a machine able to generate a sexual experience indistinguishable from sex with a human.
I suggest we need two categories:
1) one for "fully autonomous" sex robots, driven by their own AI
2) the other category for "puppet robots" controlled remotely by human operators who would move the robot's limbs, speak through its mouth, etc.
Obviously to start with, robots in the puppet category could be much more realistic than those in the autonomous category. The job of being an operator would be very similar to the job of working on a sex chat line.
But even robots in the autonomous category might be reasonably convincing, even using current technology as used in Aibo or toys such as the "Fur Real Friends Butterscotch Pony".http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000F475PY/reamonsit-21/
Butterscotch is a soft pony toy costing $299 which responds if you stroke it etc. It's not a huge leap from this sort of reaction to the sort of response one would need for a sex robot. Just read the blurb for Butterscotch and replace in your mind the word "pony" with "girl" or "boy"...
With realistic animation, movement and sounds, this incredibly lifelike pony is a very special, once-in-a-lifetime friend. This adorable pony
The sex robot is with us already; just currently disguised as a horse...
Didn't Data mention to Tasha that he is "fully functional" once?
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
As the workers were legal it brought up several interesting scenarios
1. They paid taxes, so they could claim compo when injured on the job. There was one case of a woman hurting her back in a spa bath and getting a big payout.
2. There was one brothel that sponsored a local football team.
3. The legal industry was always trying to get the cops to shut down the ilegal workers.
One sad thing was that when I did find a therpist who worked wonders I couldn't claim him on my insurance anyway. He was only a nurse practitioner and the insurance wouldn't pay out on that.
We have personhood for corporations, why couldn't a machine qualify for personhood? Why couldn't a machine own something? If for some reason someone built a machine with interests outside of a primary function why couldn't a machine persue those interests?
Medical power of attorney? If I was a lonely old person having a robot caretaker that understood my wishes and could express them to medical personnel would be valuable.
A stable environment for children? Why not? Many children are raised horribly by TV, I see no reason that a child raised by a suitably programed robot could not be very well adjusted. This would have to be intricately programed, along more emotional lines than logical lines, but it could provide more consistent results than many people.
As for legal contracts between Man and machine, isn't that the next step in the EULA?
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
Actually, you can reprogram just about any living thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning
In fact, most couples are constantly training each other. The problem is that in order to train someone, you need to decide what the desired behavior is, then decide on how to reward them, and finally to avoid being trained yourself. Random rewards work best.
I think that operant conditioning is why a lot of couples do not have sex. (NOT the only reason)
Each time they are rejected, it is a punishment. There has to be an optimum odds of approval (over 90% but below 100% I think.) Finally, the behavior extinguishes. It's odd because even 1 in 6 food pellets can keep a rat going but humans and sex seems to require higher reinforcement to keep a high rate going. Our "discouraged" rate seems to be once every three to five weeks.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.