For anyone who has become hooked on Westworld – the HBO science fiction western thriller series which sees rich vacationers visit a futuristic park where robotic ‘hosts’ are slaves to their violent and sexual fantasies – you might want to look away now, as the nightmare is about to become a reality, according to technology experts.
Speaking yesterday at the International Congress of Love and Sex with Robotics at the Goldsmiths campus of the University of London, Dr Trudy Barber – a leading expert in the impact of technology on sexual intercourse – announced that artificial intelligence (AI) machines in sex will be ‘socially normal’ within 25 years.
Comparing the use of robots in the bedroom to increased popularity of the ebook, Barber explained that people’s growing obsession with technology meant that it wasn’t going to take long before it became a common factor in the bedroom and that the science would enable people to better appreciate ‘the real thing’.
That being intimacy, love and sexual attraction with a real-life human being, we presume.
Barber said: ‘It could be that we are so busy with our lives, we are so embedded in our technological narrative that the idea of engaging in long-distance sex and robot sex is actually a natural process in our evolutionary cycle.
‘I THINK WHAT WILL HAPPEN IS THAT THEY WILL MAKE REAL-TIME RELATIONSHIPS MORE VALUABLE AND EXCITING.’
Yeah, tell that to the partner who walks in to find their other half straddling a human-like remote control and see how ‘exciting’ that makes their sex life.
To make matters worse, Love and Sex with Robots author David Levy has suggested sex robot manufacturers might soon be able to create made-to-order identical models of celebrities that mimick real-life behavior and personality traits.
And, while it might sound a preposterous theory, already this year one robotics enthusiast spent £34,000 to create a doll made in the likeness to Scarlett Johansson, which apparently smiles and giggles like the Lost in Translation star.
But, while you might be looking at every technological item around you right now and questioning whether one day you could find your boyfriend or girlfriend making love to a pimped up version of the iPhone 5, there are many AI experts who challenge the belief that sex robots will become mainstream in the future, despite surveys showing that around 10 per cent of people would like to use them.
Yesterday, Professor Noel Sharkey – a scientist and former advisor to the UN who, in June, called on governments to stop robotics being influenced by the sex industry – said of sex bots: ‘They are more likely to be viewed as tools for masturbation although having a humanoid body may make a difference to the fantasy.’
He also explained that similar to prostitution, which still remains a taboo issue despite it being a thousands of years old practice – robots for sex won’t be viewed as the norm any day soon.
‘With sex robots and prostitution, you are having a one way relationship with an object or a person that does not return your love except by pretence,’ he revealed.
However, despite expert protestation of the technology, Dr Barber assures society that robots will become an ‘extra human’ race.
‘The question is not ‘when will it become acceptable’ but ‘when will we integrate’,’ she said.
Anyone else now scared of their electric toothbrush or is it just me?
By: ELLE UK
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