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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday September 29 2019, @01:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the johnson-and-not-johnson dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

In recent years, sex dolls have become increasing sophisticated and realistic in their resemblance to human beings, including mechanized components, and are thus now referred to as humanoid sex robots. Some media outlets have gone as far as to suggest that sex robots and other social robots will eventually become almost indistinguishable from humans.

This has sparked a number of interesting ethical and philosophical debates related to the significance of these robots and the possibility that future machines will replicate the physical intimacy between two people. In a recent study featured in Springer's International Journal of Social Robotics, two researchers at the University of Virginia and the University of Bergamo in Italy have taken a closer look at some of the current arguments and predictions about sex robots, carrying out an ethics-based and critical discourse analysis.

"We started our joint research to debunk some myths and misunderstandings in the media regarding the future of artificial intelligence," Deborah Johnson and Mario Verdicchio, the two researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. "We were struck by how fundamentally flawed some of the ideas were and especially the assumption that the computational version of some aspects of reality are the same as the real thing."

In their paper, Johnson and Verdicchio essentially challenge the perception of humanoid sex robots as robotic substitutes of lovers and companions. They argue that although humanoid robots may look and act more and more like human beings in the future, the claim that they will eventually replace humans is far-fetched and far from a certainty.

"Our research is aimed at showing that humanoid sex robots could come to be understood in ways that keep their status as machines, albeit technologically very sophisticated machines." Johnson and Verdicchio said.

Deborah G. Johnson et al. Constructing the Meaning of Humanoid Sex Robots, International Journal of Social Robotics (2019). DOI: 10.1007/s12369-019-00586-z


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  • (Score: 2) by shortscreen on Sunday September 29 2019, @03:10PM (17 children)

    by shortscreen (2252) on Sunday September 29 2019, @03:10PM (#900327) Journal

    Yes, but you're neglecting the value of dressing up your doll and taking he/she/it out into public to observe the reactions of freaked-out onlookers. And think about how much muscle you could build in the process of lugging around your inanimate 80lb girlfriend. But why doesn't rabudoll.com ship to the US???

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @03:57PM (14 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @03:57PM (#900345)

    But why doesn't rabudoll.com ship to the US???

    I never heard of that site, so I went to it just to see.  (A dangerous risk, I know...)  I think what I found most disturbing about it was that the dolls' facial features all had this look of indifference (at best) or fear (at worse).  Only 1 of the 2 or 3 dozen pictures had a doll that was smiling, like "she" was enjoying the attention received by "her" owner.  Does this site cater to those with reluctant/non-consensual/rape fantasies?

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by shortscreen on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:10PM (5 children)

      by shortscreen (2252) on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:10PM (#900358) Journal

      Probably. Best not ponder why some of the dolls are only 4'6" too

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:49PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:49PM (#900392)

        You don't have to ponder very hard. Fuck's sake...

        https://www.rabudoll.com/small-boobs-cute-14901doll.html [rabudoll.com]

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by Nuke on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:44PM (2 children)

          by Nuke (3162) on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:44PM (#900461)

          That one is disturbingly similar to a GF I once had, Eurasian 19yo who looked 14 and was always being challenged about her age in pubs. Her personality and physical reaction levels would be very similar too; drop-dead pretty face though.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @05:17AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @05:17AM (#900695)

            That one is disturbing

            You could have stopped right there.

            • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @05:36AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @05:36AM (#900701)

              But he didn't stop. He fucked his 14yo looking Eurasian GF repeatedly, because he is a Chad and you are a dirty Incel.

      • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:48PM

        by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:48PM (#900463) Journal

        There are two reasons for this. The first is the obvious. The second is that 50-60 kilos is a lot of dead weight to move around. If you pick up a full size doll the wrong way you can rip the TPU skin off.

    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:59PM (4 children)

      by Bot (3902) on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:59PM (#900398) Journal

      IMHO it would look creepier if she smiled...

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      Account abandoned.
      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday September 29 2019, @05:05PM (3 children)

        by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Sunday September 29 2019, @05:05PM (#900404) Journal

        And that's why Sex Bot > Sex Doll. They can make any one of 16 stunning expressions.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @02:12PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @02:12PM (#900794)

          Which expression is your favorite?

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Nuke on Sunday September 29 2019, @05:55PM

      by Nuke (3162) on Sunday September 29 2019, @05:55PM (#900428)

      what I found most disturbing about it was that the dolls' facial features all had this look of indifference (at best) ...

      Realistic then.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:30PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:30PM (#900455)

      Maybe. More likely, it's hard to make realistic looking facial expressions. Indifference is easy, happiness isn't. Happy facial expressions are always dynamic, the muscles are in motion. Try to freeze one and it looks fake at best, the Joker at worst.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @09:44PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 29 2019, @09:44PM (#900545)

      Only 1 of the 2 or 3 dozen pictures had a doll that was smiling, like "she" was enjoying the attention received by "her" owner. Does this site cater to those with reluctant/non-consensual/rape fantasies?

      Feigned reluctance is common in porn created in Asia. I have no idea why, but it is so, based on personal extensive research. (ahem)

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:56PM

    by Bot (3902) on Sunday September 29 2019, @04:56PM (#900395) Journal

    They ship them but the sailors keep falling in love and marry them. Wait for the first divorces.

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    Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:55PM

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 29 2019, @06:55PM (#900467) Journal

    But why doesn't rabudoll.com ship to the US???

    As a data point Tennessee and Kentucky have bans on importation of child-like sex dolls. Florida has a law against possession. AFAIK these laws have not been tested in court yet.

    Source: 4chan /b anon, so take with a mountain-sized grain of salt.