SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 30 2019, @07:58AM (1 child)
The general idea of more real sex dolls is good as a replacement, as in modern society ugly males are totally omitted not only from sex, but also from being close to someone at all.
However, the screeching about raping a tool is made because this would make these males not buy certain products for them and there is a whole industry focused only on such products.
If an ugly male is exploited, this is totally acceptable.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday October 01 2019, @06:59AM
I could not disagree more. It's not a good idea at all. A sex doll is not a replacement for human interaction. It's a fraud.
But it's not an initial fraud. It's a symptom of a problem already far progressed. And in that context, it's relatively benign. Better a sex doll than a viciously abusive relationship.
"However, the screeching about raping a tool is made because this would make these males not buy certain products for them and there is a whole industry focused only on such products."
Well, sure, that's part of it. Part of it is the modern so-called feminism, which is offended by the notion of anything that reduces female privilege for any reason or in any context. Fewer sexually deprived men is always a bad thing in their mind.
"If an ugly male is exploited, this is totally acceptable."
He doesn't even have to be ugly, though that helps.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?