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Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships Paperback – Illustrated, November 4, 2008
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Love, marriage, and sex with robots? Not in a million years? Maybe a whole lot sooner!
A leading expert in artificial intelligence, David Levy argues that the entities we once deemed cold and mechanical will soon become the objects of real companionship and human desire. He shows how automata have evolved and how human interactions with technology have changed over the years. Levy explores many aspects of human relationships—the reasons we fall in love, why we form emotional attachments to animals and virtual pets, and why these same attachments could extend to love for robots. Levy also examines how society's ideas about what constitutes normal sex have changed—and will continue to change—as sexual technology becomes increasingly sophisticated.
Shocking, eye-opening, provocative, and utterly convincing, Love and Sex with Robots is compelling reading for anyone with an open mind.
About the Author
David Levy is an internationally recognized expert on artificial intelligence and the president of the International Computer Games Association. He is also the author of the industry primer Robots Unlimited. He lives in London.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 4, 2008
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.79 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100061359807
- ISBN-13978-0061359804
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Product details
- Publisher : Harper Perennial (November 4, 2008)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0061359807
- ISBN-13 : 978-0061359804
- Item Weight : 13.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.79 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #719,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #262 in Human-Computer Interaction (Books)
- #557 in Social Aspects of Technology
- #1,142 in Artificial Intelligence & Semantics
- Customer Reviews:
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Current technology has robots that can walk, talk, display a variety of expressions, and whose faces look convincingly human. Technology is being developed that will program robots to analyze the social cues of humans, and then to respond as the humans desire. The idea is that people will buy a robot, and that robot will become tailored to the individual over time, by analyzing social cues and learning to respond favorably. If the owner likes to come home from work to a hot meal, the robot will make that a habit. If the human likes to argue, the robot will argue. Etc. Eventually robots will be able to have complex conversations on any topic, and will need to be programed NOT to show knowledge of everything the human species has learned, so not to bruise egos. This knowledge includes sexual abilities, and Levy predicts robots will be incredible in the bedroom.
The book builds its premise-- that robots will be companions-- with support from psychological research into the way human beings experience love, and project their feelings onto the objects of their affection. People love their pets, and many pet-owners believe that their pets love them back. People who fall in love with someone else often don't know that other person well, and they project an idealized version of that person, someone they want that person to be based on their own needs. And yes, these two examples he offers involve living beings, but Levy doesn't stop there. He offers a history of evidence of people falling in love with inanimate objects. The more recent examples involve people responding to robots as if they were human (robots with realistic faces, and the ability to display expressions such as fear, sadness, and happiness are most convincing). He also writes about how men fall in love with Real Dolls, which are very realistic looking sex dolls. These men treat them as companions, even though they don't have the ability to speak, change expressions, or have a conversation. Imagine if they could. Levy writes also about women having robots as companions, although the Real Doll example was about men.
You can't tell me that it isn't believable that you can't picture yourself or someone you know choosing to be with a companion who shares your/their exact interests, always wants to do what you/they want to do, never turns off your sports or criticizes you for spending too much on clothes (unless that's what you want, of course), never complains about your family or friends...
Levy also offers a history of mechanical animals/people, which was informative and interesting.
The one thing I disagree with, which was by no means a cornerstone of the book and was only mentioned maybe three times, is the notion that is a robot APPEARS intelligent we should assume is IS intelligent. To paraphrase Aristotle, A = A... A does not = non A. While it is understandable that people will side with their emotions over their reason/rationale, that does not mean that it is correct. Perspective is not always reality.
This was an excellent book, and one you likely won't regret reading.
This of course is not the first book to elaborate on the possibility of love affairs or sex with robots. Science fiction has used this in its story lines for many decades now. And Hollywood has brought these stories to life on the big screen, along with others that give alternative, and very terrifying portrayals of human-machine interactions. The virtue of this book is not only its careful attention to history, but also its optimistic tone. The author is in no way intimidated by the possibility of love or sexual affairs with machines, and even embraces it as a desirable development. And of course it is, for it allows humans even more possibilities for exploration and future paths for the curious.
The book is also valuable solely for the history that it contains, and for the psychological insight on the nature of human love and sexual attraction. Its only minus is that the author does not give any hints on what it might take technologically to build machines that could not only respond to human emotions but also experience such emotions themselves. The author should have given a summary of the present status of machine intelligence and just what needs to be perfected or changed to bring about these kinds of machines.
The author makes it a point to inform the reader that he does not view such developments as far-fetched, and if one studies the growth of intelligent technology in the past two decades, ample support for his thesis can be readily obtained. Even more important is his notion that human sexual experiences or love affairs will be actually enhanced by machines. Or, even more interesting, is that the machines themselves will find such relationships with humans even more satisfying than those among themselves. Such a human/machine symbiosis seems not only possible but also desirable.
Very desirable.
I highly recommend it to all open minds out there.
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That being said, I would recommend this book as an example to anyone of how to NOT conduct academic work. In that aspect at least it is educational.
Levy does his best to promote a positive view of all this, maintaining that sex robots could challenge prostitutes for trade and bring an end to an activity that has always had a seamy side to it. Here he is spot on: this year prostitutes in Spain objected to robotic sex workers on precisely these grounds. There is no doubt that properly regulated, robot sex workers or intelligent sex devices could improve the quality of sex for many.
So far, so good. However, in my mind, Levy does not cover the possibly negative aspects of 'love and sex with robots'. If you don't think that there are no negative aspects, think again... even now, there is a misuse of technology with regard to illegal pornography. And who is to say that these intelligent sex robots could not be hacked and so carry an evil agenda?
The other objection I have is on philosophical grounds: Levy conflates electrical currents with consciousness without any proof and so assumes that artificial intelligence is the same as human consciousness. He cites the Copernican revolution in Science that has progressively stripped mankind of any special status ... i.e. our Earth is simply one planet out of many, we are products of evolution, rather than creation etc. However, what is really at issue are the assumptions that consciousness is the same as a bundle of electrical currents and mankind's present technology and understanding can create consciousness.
There are two ways of looking at sex: one is that it is of some importance to all (the correct view) and the other that it is all important to some (the evil view). Could robots, in addition to improving our sex lives, also awaken our sensations of beauty, of empathy to others and so on? The problem of concentrating on sex only ignores the fact that as we age, too much sex can deplete our vitality. The complete picture of mankind has not only a sexual part, but also heart and mental parts. Orgasm, or euphoria, can be achieved by music (every one has felt goose bumps on listening to stirring music), states of meditation or even by rapture at beauty. We are more than, or should be more than, rabbits mating at every conceivable opportunity.





