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Elderly people living in care homes could soon be enjoying the company of specifically designed sex robots, according to a leading organization in the field.
The freakishly realistic robots could be widely available within the next decade, used not just by fetishists but as a tool for sexual therapy and communication.
[...] Professor Sharkey, who was speaking on Wednesday at the launch of a new consultation report, said it is time for the government to step in and start regulating sex bots.
“They are being proposed for the elderly in care homes, which I think is controversial. If you have severe Alzheimer’s you can’t really tell the difference,” said the researcher.
Source: RT
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Sex Robots Could Provide Therapy and Treat Loneliness in Care Homes
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(1)
"They told me I was gullible ... and I believed them!"
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:03AM (3 children)
They're called vibrators and the technology has existed for 100 years by now.
See, this story is what happens when members of the patriarchy don't talk to women, ever.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 06 2017, @09:15AM (2 children)
Hands have existed even longer and don't cost anything.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by ewk on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:12PM (1 child)
Forget about Alzheimer (pun semi intended)...
Combine that hand with Parkinsons and we have a winner! :-)
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:00PM
He is the Mighty Buzz for a reason...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:11AM (1 child)
"My dick wilted down and can't get up!"
"Clap BJ on!, Clap BJ off!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:19AM
"God bless menopause!"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:25AM (1 child)
ewwww
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:45AM
We'll find you some humans near death so you can kill all humans.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:32AM (1 child)
I can imagine this only working in specific cases, most likely the Ethanol_fueled case, which would not be real, only by artificial appendage, but that is about the reality of it right now, and how long can he last, anyway? So, yes, Medicare should be extended to cover Ethanol_fueled's imaginary blow-jobs, because he has a Government Pension, and by God he deserves them. Or at least the facsimile of them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:43AM
Eth sued to get his government pension reinstated after he was court martialed for racist conduct unbecoming of a government drone?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:43AM (28 children)
This is it, folks. This is the Great Filter we've all been wondering about: intelligent (?) species invent Vocaloids and RealDolls and stop reproducing.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:47AM (27 children)
You there on the high horse, how much reproducing have you done?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:57AM (26 children)
Zilch. Lesbianism is 100% effective birth control, unless I get chosen to be the next Virgin Mary (or turned into a whiptail lizard).
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 06 2017, @09:13AM (23 children)
From a Darwin perspective, I find it interesting that homosexuality hasn't self-selected itself out of the gene pool yet. Must be an extremely common but recessive combination of genes for those who're born to it rather than choose it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by unauthorized on Thursday July 06 2017, @11:36AM (3 children)
Oh screw it, I'm going to burn some karma on this.
Homosexuality seems to be an "optional feature" that is at least partially triggered by environmental factors. One of the strongest predicting factors for homosexuality in males happens to be the number of older brothers the child has [scielo.cl], which makes a lot of sense when you think about it since the gay sibling does not represent sexual competition for it's brother but still helps propagate it's genes through family kinship and helping it's nephews/nieces survive.
When it comes to lesbians, the simple truth is that most of them aren't. Among females who are not heterosexual, only a minority have lifelong interest exclusively in other females, most are either bisexual or tend to have shifting attraction over their lifetime. It is entirely possible that female homosexuality is supposed to be "toggleable" and that sometimes it just gets stuck for some reason, through I don't know if that's really the reason.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday July 06 2017, @11:55AM
Stereotypical Euro middle ages nobility for a couple zillion middle ages generations shoved the extra brothers in the priesthood, and they had a lot of sex with villagers.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:20PM (1 child)
Well call me little miss outlier then. Never had any attraction to men. I can appreciate a well-built man but in the same way as a well-sculpted statue or nicely-engineered piece of machinery. I'm not FtM or even at all butch, either, waaaaay more Portia then Ellen. So there's a fly in that jar of bell-curve ointment...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:16PM
Assuming it's true in the first place (not established), it'll still be a curve or at least some kind of peaky distribution. You'd just not be in the middle or peak of it. No flies. :)
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday July 06 2017, @11:51AM (15 children)
There's a belief that some fraction of the spread is from abuse, not genetics or personal choice. Whenever its proposed "Sure there's a million anecdotal examples but that proves nothing because here is one opposing anecdotal example" which kind of misses the point of epidemic math. At least some significant fraction is spread via genetics. Its just most is spread from weird uncles, stranger in the park, priests, and so on. Its analogous to influenza, it should and does breed itself out of the population, but the mutation rate is high enough that there's enough nuclei of the next outbreak... Most people with the flu got it from someone else with the flu although obviously it evolved somewhere. AIDS/HIV is an even closer analogy.
There's also the slippery slope, in that in many cultures being a "pitcher" especially a bi- pitcher, didn't count, only being a catcher counted, and genetically speaking a dudes own hand vs once in awhile some other dudes mouth doesn't matter, although the slippery slope argument is occasional pitchers tend to become catchers or become exclusive, at which point reproduction becomes very unlikely. The Greco-Romans had a variety of opinion over the centuries but one opinion kind of looked at it like alcoholism, in that being predisposed to alcoholism never helped grow successful kids, but but as long as the women are getting knocked up (by someone, anyway...) and society staggers along with a survivable level of alcoholism, its not a big problem. Arguably that's a very modern gen-x libertarian outlook.
The two outlooks don't necessarily coexist, I'm more a fan of the first outlook although there are aspects of the second that are reasonable.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:24PM (14 children)
So why is my sister, who was violently raped at 14, still straight as an arrow? Why was I never anything but gay--my mother says she knew at *4* when I asked to marry *her* instead of my father like apparently a lot of girls do?--despite NOT being abused?
Or are we only talking about men here?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:48PM (13 children)
OK, two, whatever. The point being its far more than 0% and probably much less than 99%
Theres also a classic cause/effect problem. AIDS can be spread by blood transfusions but simultaneously virtually no blood transfusions spread AIDS. A SN car analogy would be virtually all car passenger deaths involve taking a trip in a car, but statistically almost zero car trips end in death, usually most people take many car trips and only die in a car accident once.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:47PM (12 children)
Thanks for conflating gays with AIDS. God, that's so completely fucking transparent...do you even know who gets most AIDS these days?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:37PM (1 child)
Not him, he doesn't sanction these back-door shenanigans. /sarc
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday July 07 2017, @12:57AM
You sure? He had to have had *some* kind of anal training to get his head that far up his ass. Good grief, the guy could probably eat his own dinner again if he wants to.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @10:08PM (9 children)
Homosexuals.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday July 07 2017, @12:55AM (8 children)
So predictable, and so wrong. Read: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/global-statistics [hiv.gov]
Granted, here in the US it's mostly gay and bisexual men getting it (we lesbians are the cleanest of ANY group across the board aside from, IIRC, one minor strain of chlamydia, and I will bet my Indigo Girls CD collection some bisexual girl brought that one in...). But worldwide? Children. Of HIV-infected mothers.
And even here in the US this is a disease more of poverty than anything. It's breaking down along racial lines, because race tends to be a good proxy for economic injustice here.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @01:26AM
I salute you for standing up to the trolls for as long as you did in this thread. *salute* It appears you can over-feed a troll.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @03:25AM (6 children)
Sooo... homosexuals.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday July 07 2017, @04:26AM (5 children)
You don't read so good, do ya boy? Linky. Clicky. Worldwide it's mostly newborns and presumably straight women. Here in the US it hits "MSM" harder, and stratifies by poverty and ethnicity.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @12:35PM (4 children)
Absent people who have zero control over what happens to them, and your presumption, what we're left with is... homosexuals.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday July 07 2017, @04:30PM (3 children)
So what's your point? "Haha, faggots, get what's coming to them?" And it's *male* homosexuals, and male bisexuals.
You seem to have a problem with these people just being what they are. Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class? Like, for example, a repressed desire to smoke more sausage than a German butcher shop? :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @09:14PM (2 children)
My point is made by letting you talk yourself into a corner after trying to hide a fact that you don't seem to like very much. Your weapons of projection, deflection, and ad hominem are powerless.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday July 08 2017, @03:36AM (1 child)
Er, what? No, no, see, in the grown-up world we use facts.
It is a fact, sourced above, that worldwide most new cases are babies and their presumably straight mothers. In the developed world, it's the "MSM" (male homo and bisexuals) who get most of it, but that population also stratifies by socioeconomic class and race).
So one of us has talked themselves into a corner and it's not me. Go back to ogling the weightlifters.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 08 2017, @06:21AM
*cough* [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday July 06 2017, @12:18PM
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13674-evolution-myths-natural-selection-cannot-explain-homosexuality/ [newscientist.com]
The kin selection hypothesis mentioned in that article can also be called the "gay uncle effect" [wikipedia.org] (.
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/scientists-discover-evolutionary-advantage-homosexual-sex/ [iflscience.com]
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26089486 [bbc.com]
Anything natural about the selection could have been rendered moot by civilization or even recent and soon-to-come developments. For example, it's now socially acceptable in most Western countries to no longer pretend to be straight (think the gay/lesbian taking a heterosexual partner in the 50s, having kids, etc.). Now a gay/lesbian couple can have kids using surrogacy schemes or donor fluids without much fuss. And in the coming decades (maybe sooner) we'll see the ability to create artificial fertilized eggs from the DNA of two men or two women which will definitely change the equation since the gay or lesbian couple will (likely) be selecting genes from the two of them with no involvement with the DNA of heterosexual people.
If the resulting kids are "weak" for some reason, that will hardly matter since there is very little selection pressure anymore (barring a nuclear apocalypse or global pandemic bringing us back to the Dark Ages). There's also the possibility of creating designer babies with genes that confer an unusual amount of latent athletic ability and intelligence.
Here's an idea: a 5-parent baby with a mix of genes artificially chosen from 5 polyamorous men and women. Everything under the sun is possible with a little genome sequencing and synthesis.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:06PM
Many reasons why this can be the case. The catalyst may not necessarily be genetic, it can be environmental. For example, the exposure to hormones at various levels in utero. There are reasons why this might be beneficial evolutionary, thus the pattern persisted.
Say it may be beneficial that in a line of male off-springs, each successive one has greater chance of being homosexual, thus providing the oldest with more potential mates due to reduced competition. An older male might be preferable to younger male as he has proven his genes are more fit for longer survival, even though in theoretical sense survival only matters to the point of procreation (and a bit after for purposes of providing for newborns). So an older brother may always be a better mate than the younger one, if he is available. But these are just hypotheses as I do not actual study this stuff.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @10:46PM
Because,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/why-are-there-gay-men_n_1590501.html [huffingtonpost.com]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:04PM (1 child)
How do we know you're not a shark [nationalgeographic.com]?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:49PM
Because I haven't got a frickin' laser beam on my head, duhhh :D
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:04AM
Exactly what's his connection to the consultation? This whole thing seems a little too on the nose [imdb.com]. Plus, isn't the whole idea contraindicated [youtube.com], anyway?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:08AM (3 children)
Since I will be uploaded to the singularity any year now I have no need for sex bots you can all waste your money while I live an existence of perfection forever for free, Bahhhahahahahaaaaaa!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:29AM (2 children)
Enjoy the laugh, it will be different when they raise the hosting fees.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:37AM (1 child)
No problem. I'll find free hosting on SN by uploading my mindstate into a series of uuencoded journal entries like cafebabe is doing.
(Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 06 2017, @09:14AM
ACs don't get a journal. Thus you see our fiendish plan to get everyone to register.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Snospar on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:56AM (2 children)
But can it combat loneliness in mom's basement?
Huge thanks to all the Soylent volunteers without whom this community (and this post) would not be possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @09:09AM (1 child)
Yes
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @02:30PM
It's okay! So long as these are pitched as "therapy for aging women", they will be seen as empowering and a social good.
Unlike sex bots for lonely young men, which are considered a scourge on society and should almost certainly be outlawed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:57AM (2 children)
What is the point in government meddling in this? People buy stuff with their own money and use it themselves without anyone else involved for their personal gratification.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @09:30AM (1 child)
Because for some of the population, being offended by anything and everything is integral to their identity. Often the response to this is "HAVE GOVERNMENT KILL IT DEAD!" That's probably what we're seeing here.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:10PM
"kill it dead" is incidentally also what happens when your Shenzen-made sexbot isn't wired correctly or watertight enough.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Thursday July 06 2017, @09:25AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_34_(novel) [wikipedia.org]
Àlso: "Kinky" vs "illegal". If it isn't *alive*, the consent isn't an issue, right?
See also, Westworld https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(TV_series) [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Thursday July 06 2017, @12:04PM (2 children)
I have an uncle-in-law at an assisted living facility (I've discovered there's a whole hierarchy and he's at the spot where he needs more than occasionally a nurse visits a regular apartment but far less than a hospital room; its kind of like a college dorm where the RA is a RN) Anyway apparently there's a bit of a hookup culture there and the nurses make sure no one is spreading any diseases and its not like a 75 year old woman is going to give birth so its pretty wild. And yes there's more than a little "other person" acts like nothing happened because they forgot. The nurses have a peculiar idea of medical privacy in that they don't talk about what the residents are doing like a pr0n story, but they do talk about residents "special friends" and there's plenty of isolated stories about thinking someone snuck out but they're found in someone elses bedroom or we couldn't give him his afternoon medication turns out he was in her room etc etc.
Anyway my point was if even a minimal set of body parts work, people will use them, and quite a bit from what I've heard. So whats the robot good for?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:10PM (1 child)
Less wrinkles, and boobs are where they are supposed to be. Both may act like a certain blue-pill (I cannot name it due to some BS filter that wont let me post it), no need for the pills.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @03:34PM
Do they have a "Suicide Option"?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday July 06 2017, @03:36PM
Alzheimer's overrides the uncanny valley? If you lose your memory you can't tell the difference between a human being and a sex cyborg? I am skeptical of this.
Oh, they always say this.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:22PM (1 child)
The article worries that it "it is time for the government to step in and regulate."
Like most issues that involve informed personal or consensual choice, this is a matter of choice that should only involve the individuals who are making that choice.
As soon as someone starts blathering about how they think they have some inside track on deciding this kind of thing for you, you should know to either ignore them or argue them down. They are the scum of the earth. Your informed, personal and consensual choices are just that. No one has any way to derive a right to tell you otherwise without playing power-mad dictator.
Until/unless robots themselves have consciousness, they're just sophisticated sex toys. Come that day, it'll be time to re-evaluate. Until then, though, it should be wholly up to those informed persons so inclined. No one else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @09:17PM
>The article worries that it "it is time for the government to step in and regulate."
Our media reached pravda levels.