Country's first 'robot sex brothel' set to open in Texas prompts backlash: report
The first so-called 'robot sex brothel' in the U.S. slated to open in the Houston area this month has prompted a massive backlash from residents and activists who say it will ruin the neighborhood. The company opened its first location last year near Toronto, where $60 buys a half-hour alone with a robot sex doll, according to the Washington Examiner. The dolls start at $2,500 to buy.
Update: Houston officials halt plans to open first US 'robot brothel'
Houston city officials have ordered at least a temporary halt to a Canadian company's plan to open a so-called "robot brothel" in the city. The Houston Chronicle reported that building inspectors ordered the halt after determining that the company, Kinky S Dolls, lacked the permits required for demolition and construction at a former 2,500 sq ft hair salon in the Galleria area of the city.
takyon: Change.org petition aiming to "Keep Robot Brothels Out of Houston".
Also at ABC7.
See also: 'Robot sex brothel' slated to open is not wanted, Houston's mayor says
(Score: 5, Informative) by ikanreed on Monday October 01 2018, @07:17PM (15 children)
You can't help but feel deep pitty for the janitor.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday October 01 2018, @07:27PM (13 children)
I'm guessing that it would fairly quickly be something you're desensitized to and feel more like just an everyday job. In the same way as, say, a cameraman on a porn shoot might feel about what they do every day. I mean, is cleaning up after sex any nastier than cleaning up somebody else's poop, which is a job lots of people do (e.g. in nursing homes and day care centers)?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday October 01 2018, @07:30PM (10 children)
You're forgetting to factor in the kinds of the people who'd use this... erm... service.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @07:39PM (4 children)
Can I get the D.C. franchise?
(Score: 5, Funny) by ikanreed on Monday October 01 2018, @07:44PM (3 children)
There's some levels of depravity even robots shouldn't have to put up with.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Monday October 01 2018, @08:51PM
They are required to sacrifice for the greater good. Those videos they produce will greatly help to overthrow the meatbags' government.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday October 01 2018, @09:09PM
Thanks, moderate spender! Plus in a robot brothel, you get erotic asphyxiation [gotfuturama.com] for free with every purchase.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Monday October 01 2018, @11:52PM
I think the GP is thinking of either the political good he could do, or the high return rate from investing in a few small cameras :-p
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday October 01 2018, @07:39PM (4 children)
Single people who have a hard time getting partners for whatever reason? People who are mostly happily married but their spouse isn't into sex anymore? Couples who would like to experiment with adding a third? Somebody who wants to try BDSM? These are all fairly common activities with real people, so I don't see why switching the partners in question to robots would make all that much of a difference in terms of how freaky people will get.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @08:41PM (2 children)
I don't know what kind of sex doll you're talking about, but mine always has a headache.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Monday October 01 2018, @08:57PM
Turns out that they don't enjoy being on the receive side of electro play.
Lots of original ways to be on the giving side, though.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday October 01 2018, @11:37PM
And in this case, a testbed for headache and possibly migraine treatments, with the motivation to solve the problem and none of the ethical considerations! My medical research group would like to order 5 of these, please.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday October 01 2018, @09:19PM
I think you're taking my posts far more seriously than me in this thread.
You're seeing "ew gross" where "haha gross" is the implication I was after.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:55AM (1 child)
I don't think the inmates of nursing homes and day care centers actually deliberately poop all over the floor and then walk off leaving cleaning it up to be someone else's responsibility.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @02:30PM
I see -- a lack of intent makes poop smell like fresh brewed coffee and free from germs. Makes sense.
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:16AM
I was going to make a comment about the reeking, overwhelming smell of Lysol in the air. And the relief that it is present, overwhelming that other aroma.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday October 01 2018, @07:20PM (36 children)
There are people moralizing about prostitution because it harms prostitutes, usually young women who are often desperately poor and forced into the profession by a lack of alternatives, and sometimes the victim of human trafficking. There are also people moralizing about prostitution because it enables people to have sex purely for fun, which they think is bad.
Making the prostitutes robots rather than humans completely solves the first problem. So now you see that at least some of the anti-prostitution folks unmasked as simple prudes, driven by the puritanical impulse that H.L. Mencken wonderfully described as "the haunting fear that somebody, somewhere, may be happy."
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @07:29PM (1 child)
Robot brothels threaten female privilege.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @08:03PM
Sex robots won't replace all human prostitution, and won't prevent all human companionship. But it could do enough damage to both to have a big impact.
Sex robots, and robots in general, will become better in the coming decades. So at the same time that many driving, fast food, and retail jobs go extinct, prostitution will also take a hit. Many "skilled" jobs will also disappear. Less programmers will be needed. Add "AI" to services like Squarespace, and you don't need many web designers anymore. Maybe some more construction jobs will be replaced by robots, and remaining ones aren't likely to be taken by women. The ultimate fallback profession, prostitution, will become less lucrative, with more supply and less demand.
Your personal sex robot will be cheaper in the long run than paying many prostitutes (especially if you're getting this crappy $2,500 one), with no risk of STDs unless you share it, and no potential legal troubles (hopefully). We'll see how it competes with men and women on the pleasure front, after years more research into soft and... wet robotics.
What about becoming a stay-at-home wife and mother? Artificial wombs and designer babies could threaten that route, although there will be a lot more political turmoil associated with that, and probably some bans. These developments wouldn't replace all women, but maybe it does something subtle like reduce female marriages to male millionaires/billionaires by 20%. Less trophy wives obtained, less money lost through divorces. And yes, these developments could also affect the male gold diggers as well. Rich females will have access to unprecedented fertility treatments, artificial wombs instead of surrogates or giving birth themselves, "male" sex robots, etc.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Monday October 01 2018, @07:54PM (8 children)
Fuck all that noise. It's just plain ass fucking disgusting. Almost up there with 2 girls 1 cup. What consenting adults do is their business, but a literal business that specializes in sloppy seconds is just a health hazard beyond its deeply disgusting nature.
Until the robot can remove its junk and throw it into an autoclave, this is the equivalent of going into one of those masturbation booths with the quarters, and rubbing your junk all over the surface areas. Seriously, the only way that works is if the single-use robot vagina comes in a sealed package that can be installed.
I'll wait till the robot is more like a real prostitute that works in a brothel, that can take a shower and clean herself up. Not some poor janitor that will not be paid nearly enough money to clean those robots nearly well enough.
I'm not prudish about sex and prostitution, but I guess I am enough of a germaphobe to be horrified.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @08:21PM (2 children)
Even personal-use-only sex toys are supposed to be cleaned after use [gizmodo.com]. So there's no question that the brothel would *attempt* to clean their dolls. But maybe you are right about lazy janitors.
Here's what the website for the existing brothel in Toronto has to say [auradolls.com]:
I'm sure a video showing the whole "routine" from finish to start to finish would be appreciated.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday October 01 2018, @09:06PM (1 child)
I believe that with some dolls the vaginas are removable for cleaning. It would therefore be possible to bring your own to the session, and take it back home afterwards to wash ready for next time.
At $60 per half hour, is this much cheaper than the real thing?
(Score: 5, Funny) by hemocyanin on Monday October 01 2018, @09:28PM
$120/hr is way less than defense attorneys charge, so there's that.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday October 01 2018, @09:14PM (1 child)
Stick the knot hole in the tree in your yard, then.
Watch for spiders
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:24AM
I remember a classic old anecdote that ended with this jingle:
"You can take Salem out of the country, but you can't take the country out of Salem." (safe-for-work spelling)
I'm sure there will be one or two others who can reconstruct the anecdote from memory. It helps the joke work to be old enough to be able to play back the 'Winston tastes good, like a....' jingle in my head.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:48AM
A piece of silicone rubber can be sterilized. Not so much a human aside from euphemistically.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @11:12AM (1 child)
High-end dolls are made out of silicone. They can be sterilized by heat/steam just like hospitals do. A wash, steam, wash cycle is perfectly good. Your keyboard is dirtier. All hotel rooms are dirtier.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday October 02 2018, @08:58PM
With all due respect, you're full of shit :)
My keyboard is not dirtier than a robot prostitute's pussy. That would imply that dozens of men have finished themselves off onto my keyboard. While I don't know where my keyboard is all the time, I have faith that its monogamous.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Monday October 01 2018, @08:10PM (23 children)
LOL, I wonder if that Canadian company did the most basic of research, to learn that another name for the South (the southern or southeastern US) is the Bible Belt? Texas is a red state, anti-abortion, and doesn't want to hold sex ed classes in high school or ever. Texas has a lot of social conservatives who think the only acceptable contraceptive is abstinence. They ought to have known this would happen.
But perhaps they did know, and made a calculated decision to try it anyway, because it'd generate a whole lot of publicity. They're playing the prudes for a bunch of suckers. Looks like it worked.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @08:27PM (20 children)
The main opposition here appears to be liberal feminist anti-prostitution campaigners, not Bible thumpers. Take a look at the Change.org petition [change.org]. Houston is basically a liberal oasis within Texas.
I'm sure there are plenty of social conservatives who will come out against these, saying they will lead to the destruction of the traditional family or whatever. But many of them could secretly become paying customers. At a minimum, they could be convinced that using a robot is consistent with abstinence, and there is no chance of pregnancy so abortion doesn't even come into the picture.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday October 01 2018, @08:41PM (2 children)
I thought that was Austin.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @08:47PM
There can be more than one. And given the size of the state, they are oasisesssss.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:19AM
Remember, one man's "liberal oasis" is another man's "open air loony bin".
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday October 01 2018, @09:17PM
Maybe they saw Westoworld [hbo.com] and thought it was a documentary?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday October 01 2018, @09:30PM (6 children)
I had a look at that Change.org petition, and you seem to be right.
The little ticker showing the names of signees rolled about 30 names while I watched, and only one name looked to be a man, which seems odd to me.
They have decided sex robots are a bad thing, and are basing that opinion on what looks like one researcher's work. I am not convinced by the assertions they make, but would like to see more evidence.
Well, no. Actually I don't want to see more evidence, because sex is such a basic human motivator that there is no way any research (either for or against) will be anything more than awful people on both sides of the debate shouting across each other.
I suspect the best solution is for people who want a sex robot to get one and shut up about it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @10:06PM (5 children)
The only researcher they cite, Kathleen Richardson, is a co-founder of the Campaign Against Sex Robots.
Maybe there are legit hygiene reasons to skip going to a "robot brothel". But if you treat it as a "sexbot showroom", you are left with very weak arguments from a motivated crowd.
Sex bots encourage sex trafficking and violence against women? "Child sex bots" will cause people to rape kids? Yeah, right. And if they publish some "peer reviewed" research showing harm, I still wouldn't care, because robots don't have rights. Restricting what someone can build or use because it might encourage bad behavior towards an unrelated party is a non-starter.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:08AM (4 children)
The reason feminists are so up in arms is that sexbots break the status quo and reduce the number of rubes out there who will get caught up in the scam of getting a few months of sexual joy, followed by a decade of being taken advantage of, and who then have half their working life stolen in the courtroom when she decides to cash in.
All that crap about sex-trafficking is just marketing to cover up the real agenda: prostitution by marriage law.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:46AM (2 children)
Don't worry, sweetie, you're never gonna get married...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:00AM (1 child)
AC above. I speak from experience. I get that some people win the relationship lottery, but for all of those there are others who ostensibly made a good choice at the outset only to find that spouse simply quits contributing despite a high level of qualifications, and then spends years whining and complaining relentlessly about things while you go out and bust your ass to make up the difference. If that freeloader happens to be a woman, you're fucked.
Don't get married to anyone unless you have 5+ years of proof that the person is going to be an even partner and bail the second you even guess that person has jumped on the "I'm married so I can sit around and watch youtube all day and bitch about how you don't buy me enough crap" train.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:47PM
Okay, fair enough, but you don't get to generalize half the human race from your own experience. I'm actually with you on this; my first really serious partner, whom I very nearly married, went absolutely rat-boinking nuts about 4 years into the relationship. Being a woman AND dating them lets you see some really awful sides of us. And you're definitely right about not rushing into marriage!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:47AM
Well, you know, the bottom line is: marry a rich guy and have a big check written.
My family is generally happily married, so I'm not one that loves the concept of divorce. In fact, just the opposite. I hate the concept of divorce. I hate everything it represents.
There's nothing really nice about it. But in our world, with the long courts and with the vicious lawyers, and with all of the problems, if you have money or if you think you're going to have money, you have to have a prenuptial agreement. Today you have to have a pre-nup. It’s a hard, painful, ugly tool. But there comes a time when you have to say, "darling, I think you’re MAGNIFICENT, we're gonna live our lives together forever, and I care for you deeply, and by the way, sign this sucker or we're not getting married, right? If things don’t work out, this is what you’re going to get." I'm a big pre-nup believer. Even though they're nasty, terrible documents. I mean, I'm a big believer in that stuff. You pay a little up front for the lawyer. And the accountant. But you save TREMENDOUSLY on the back end.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @11:58PM (7 children)
Figured I might as well peek in to this thread and am surprised it's not a train wreck. I'm very anti-3rd wave in the sense that I'm opposed to identity politics--have moved on from capitalist libertarianism upon realizing the inherent failings of capitalism--, and the direction 3rd wave (or is it 4th wave now?) is headed it's become obvious it's become infested with capitalism. Some MGTOW¹ have had interesting things to say about that, mostly the perverse incentives it creates that result in the embrace of right-wing reactionary patriarchy-affirming sentiment because it can financially benefit women in the petty bourgeoisie, while leaving women in the working class, who are the vast majority of women (and increasing in number given the backdrop of wealth stratification), worse off than ever. This leads to an abandonment of the principles of second wave feminism among women of the working class. (I believe this to be not completely different from Trotskyist sentiment and analysis we can read on World Socialist Web Site, but they rarely go into detail. Perhaps best to avoid the minefield.)
Opposition to sex robots is perfectly in line with the capitalist nature of 3rd wave feminism. Like it or not, opposition to sex robots is fundamentally rooted in the idea that one's body is capital. I've floated this idea before, and upon further reflection, I agree with the reaction I got at that time. It's a disgusting way of viewing the human body--anyone's body and especially one's own. These "feminists" view their bodies as capital. As the AC up there identified, there's an element of privilege involved which I think can be reduced to a capitalist analysis. The women protesting sex robots see their bodies as capital and thus see sex robots as competition, the automation and making redundant of their capital inherited at birth. (We can also reduce TERFs similarly in a capitalist analysis, and it makes their position rational... assuming one accepts capitalism and one's own body being capital as a rational.) They react as though they are being deprived of material wealth, and perhaps we can explain their actions by conceding that they are protesting a deprivation of material wealth.
In order to make sure I'm not just bullshitting, I think I'd need to know if the origin of these protests is within the petty bourgeoisie and how involved working class women are in the protests. I would speculate that while we will see working class women involved in these protests, they will be doing so on a completely different philosophical basis (religious/moralizing) than the women in the petty bourgeoisie who feel their body-capital threatened. Of course, the petty bourgeoisie are always eager to fall back on patriarchal ideas about the role of men in society.
(The contradictions of this approach--patriarchal gender role for thee but not for me--ultimately result in the formation of a right-wing authoritarian movement (see Altemeyer) in order to wallpaper over the cognitive dissonance necessary.)
I thought it was odd that Thexalon in particular seemed in support of sex robots. I'm curious to see our other feminists' opinions on the matter. Feel free to demolish my analysis and flame away!
¹ Beware the whiny incel MGTOWs... they miss the philosophical point of MGTOW, which is a rebellion against the demands the patriarchy places on men... it's sort of similar to proto-feminism (pre-first wave), such as the temperance movements, in that regard... and it's not like feminism in practice has been immune to misandry so it is not surprising that as men rebel against the patriarchy it involves misogyny... unfortunate but I guess it is how humans do things. The old adage that in theory, theory is no different from practice.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:53AM (2 children)
This group made the petition:
https://www.elijahrising.org [elijahrising.org]
Here's the broader Campaign Against Sex Robots [campaignagainstsexrobots.org] (archive [archive.fo] because they are JavaScript-ridden):
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @03:32AM (1 child)
Yeah, that's the kind of thing that launches me on long-winded rants about capitalism. Their surface motivation to oppose sex robots makes as much sense as gateway drug theory, or perhaps more specifically, as much sense as people who oppose cannabis legalization on the basis of ill-defined fears (FUD) that aren't supported by the data. However, I have learned again and again that many humans are liars and that capitalism rewards sociopaths and other manipulative liars.
There is more going on beneath the surface, and I don't think puritan sexual mores can entirely explain it.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @04:05AM
The gateway drug theory! I knew I was missing the right words to describe the stupidity of the Campaign Against Sex Robots. Thanks, I'll have to use that one later.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:50AM (1 child)
Very nicely put. Much of what you mentioned about the unsavory ties between the third wave and the idea of body as capital is why I don't call myself a third-waver. Not sure WHAT the right label is, maybe neo-Second Wave, maybe "Fourth Wave," who knows, but it's nice to know I'm not alone in seeing how bankrupt and, ultimately, self-destructuve much of the Third Wave has become even if it didn't start that way.
Your last paragraph is another interesting one too, and one I'd been telling men for years now: the patriarchy harms men too, and most of the time, it forces them to mutilate *themselves," both figuratively and literally. Sounds weird coming from a gay woman, but circumcision of male infants horrifies me almost as much as FGM and I view it as a form of indirect sexual abuse. Men will stop harming women when they stop harming themselves, and men harm themselves and one another largely for reasons of capital and resource access, when you get right down to it...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @08:39PM
Is mostly kids keeping face with their parents.
Neither of mine were apparently that religious but they did it because their family considered it important and they'd been fed the line that it improved penis health.
Fast forward to today: I've seen how little critical thinking they use, even their 'liberal' ideals were usually put into place by someone more free thinking than them, and now they're just conformist tools of the oligarchy, unwilling to do anything other than bitch when their guy isn't in charge and ignore how bad their guy is the next time they get one of them elected.
Fucking bunch of amoral apologists on both sides of the fence, if you ask me.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:59AM
Come back later.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:30PM
Seems MSM loves to latch onto the whole incel thing, while ignoring mgtow.
Almost as if incel being used as the face of mgtow to discredit mgtow...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:18PM
Indeed. It does not take long to find numerous strip joints all over Texas.
So for all their yakking, those bible thumpers sure love oogling some flesh from time to time...
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Monday October 01 2018, @08:30PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 3, Touché) by termigator on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:35AM
Despite being in the Bible Belt, Texas is known for its “Gentleman's Clubs”. Not sure about South Texas, but got plenty in North Texas, included some that do billboard ads.
More truthful label would be the “Hypocrisy Belt”.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @08:44PM
So you're saying that this is another example of automation putting Americans out of work?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @08:20PM
they should have called it a chicken ranch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @08:35PM
So what this article is saying, is that Houston is worried that this new business could effect the governors kickbacks from the local whorehouses? I'm sure it will all settle in the end. Which is more pleasant than figuring out which end it will settle in.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by nitehawk214 on Monday October 01 2018, @08:39PM (1 child)
http://babylon5.wikia.com/wiki/Holo-brothel [wikia.com]
By the way, for people in the states that get the channel Comet, B5 starts its run tonight.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:01AM
It's been too long, I barely remember such details. May have to break out the DVDs.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 01 2018, @10:14PM (1 child)
Also, in Turin, Italy (sorry, paywalled) :
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/premium/articoli/per-le-bambole-non-vale-ancora-la-merlin-sotto-la-mole-apre-il-primo-bordello-con-sex-dolls/ [ilfattoquotidiano.it]
And, immediately after, health authorities and police put an halt...
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2018/09/12/torino-primo-stop-per-la-casa-delle-bambole-hot-da-80-euro-per-30-minuti-blitz-di-polizia-e-ufficio-igiene/4621750/ [ilfattoquotidiano.it]
CYA
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 01 2018, @10:23PM
The fun part is that prostitution is legal in Italy [wikipedia.org], although brothels aren't (the robot brothel shutdown was due to a property law violation, however... kind of like the Houston case).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Captival on Monday October 01 2018, @11:40PM (10 children)
And here we hear the exact same bullshit from every fucking politician on both sides of the aisle: "I don't like this therefore you aren't allowed to do it." The mayor signalled his opposition to this several weeks ago, and since the owners went ahead anyways, he went in his giant book of a billion legal codes and picked the one he could use to criminalize the people he doesn't like. Fuck it, Libertarianism it is. I don't care if you want to call me an anarchist or a wackjob, just fucking get out of my life.
(Score: 4, Funny) by RandomFactor on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:05AM (9 children)
Robobrothel doesn't call you a wackjob, it gives you one!
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:39AM (8 children)
What is that, like a 480 Hz handjob?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:49AM (1 child)
...woah...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:15AM
I like my fapping with G-Sync.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:28PM (4 children)
Complete with people ree-ing over a 4th octave B should technically be 484.90 Hz not 480 Hz. To quote the title of an article google found for me "The great 440 Hz conspiracy, and why all of our music is wrong".
The software bug tracker and changelogs are likely to be fascinating to read.
Another fun thing to look forward to is people busting the DRM and uploading the "wrong" personality to the "wrong" hardware. And strange torrent sites with virus filled files claiming you can upload them to turn your hardware personality into "Disney Elsa or little mermaid" or whatevs.
Really strange idea... actual people rarely have more than 4 fingers and a thumb per hand, or more than one tongue, but its technically possible with robot hardware to ....
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:36PM (3 children)
Yup. Ditch the "human" but keep it "humanoid", and suddenly your sexbot can do more than just compete. It can do... more.
If you ditch the "humanoid" template then things can get really weird.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:14PM (2 children)
Or even keep the humanoid template for sci fi fans.
Could I take a Klingon chick? Fictional lore says no, my weightlifting and exercise routine indicate I have a better shot at it than most guys.
Leading to the interesting problem of if you think "bucking bronco machines" have legal liability insurance and waiver forms, imagine a "female Klingon sexbot" Whoopsie she accidentally tore off another customer's arm, send in the custodial crew with extra buckets, now who's brave enough to be next in line?
Some are likely to remain curiosities, I expect a thick layer of dust on the Ferengi female sexbot, but, who knows, lots of weirdos out there. In the old days you know you had a wild night out if you wake up the next afternoon with a new tattoo of some chicks name you don't even know (bonus points if mis spelled), in the new robot days maybe you learn to never drink tequilla again when you wake up next to the Ferengi female sexbot. Could be a minor plot line in a sci fi story.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Tuesday October 02 2018, @09:22PM (1 child)
adjusted for accuracy
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 03 2018, @11:15AM
I suppose going full urban legend its
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Thursday October 04 2018, @10:42PM
That's like half the speed of a blender on low. It'll be fine....
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:53AM (5 children)
...so long as the robots aren't actually sentient. The thing about robots is even the root of the word is something like "laborer" in Russian, IIRC, which implicitly means robots = slaves. Which would make these robot sex slaves. If they were sentient, we'd have slavery again. I've seen enough of everything from Rockman X to the Matrix to know why this is a Bad Idea before the morality of it is even taken into account...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Tuesday October 02 2018, @10:32AM (4 children)
Yeah that's the really dangerous moral quandry. It's something humans seem to be terribly bad at judging as well because they've always been so damn human-centric. The modern panpsychist believes perhaps everything with an internal state has some kinds of experiences. If we can't even all agree that animals are sentient (I mean fuck, this is almost as daft as climate change denial), what hope is there for the machines?
My personal view is the line will be drawn much too late, when the AI and its sensory awareness and drives already rivals or surpasses some of the more intelligent animals. The reason for this is that that's the most convenient and profitable outcome for humanity. Intellectual honesty be damned.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:21PM (2 children)
In the general sense of AI problems you're probably correct, in the sense of building a machine to simulate "one night stands" I don't think the customers are selecting a product based on highest IQ or best SAT/ACT test results.
Kind of like telling someone 500 years ago about a TV, aren't you worried the little people in the box will have thoughts and feelings? Well, in practice we don't do data compression to that level, its just lots of rapidly changed images with little sentience inside a VCR or DVD player.
What is likely to be a huge issue, much like Harley Davidson could or did trademark and copyright their motorcycle exhaust sound, making robot sorta-clones of possibly cooperative or not cooperative pr0n stars is going to be a legal minefield. So picking a name out of the headlines, someone is going to try and sell the "Stormy Daniels" experience and its gonna be a legal minefield to stumble thru. For example there will be shitty cheap gray market imports from China on ebay and amazon of the "Thunderstorm Danielle Experience" that happens to be almost identical but they're factory seconds so a boob might fall off during vigorous activity or whatever. Or "Rainy Dani" that's an identical clone of high quality but they didn't pay the license fee.
And we'll probably continue to get 100 spam emails a day, now including robot chicks.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:48PM (1 child)
Well the brain is the biggest and best sexual organ of all, especially for nerds like me (although that's one of the reasons I wouldn't visit a brothel). You make a good point though that a bot could just physically replay a sort of motion captured sex scene previously performed by a human actress. It would greatly limit the interactivity but I'm sure a lot of people would find it very, very hot and theoretically that wouldn't be much more sentient than the images on the TV. There'd just need to be an algorithm to scale the sizes of each motion to fit the customer's body shape, size and movements. Probably there'd be a few pre-recorded responses to customer actions, a bit like a call center flowchart!
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 02 2018, @01:05PM
Yes consider table tennis aka ping pong game. You can get a machine thats something like a baseball pitcher machine but for ping pong balls although its not terribly interactive if you're just trying to strengthen up your swatting muscles its adequate. However there's some robot video on youtube demonstrating machine vision robot arm ping pong player who has a set of 5, 10, 50 theme'd movements and picks the correct move based on visual stimuli.
Likewise the pr0n actress theme'd robot will likely have a very impressive soundboard that reacts appropriately to behavior, possibly we're approaching an era where pr0n stars are going to trademark and copyright certain "moves" that are their way of doing whatever. Not only is her voice copyrighted but the exact way precise way she wiggles her hips.
I would imagine automotive research into active suspensions would apply directly to programming a robot to the exact physique of a specific human at a specific time. A mathematically provable engineering reproducible wiggle matching one specific human.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:40PM
That's exactly what has me horrified. Not what the robots will do to us in that case, but what we'll do to them beforehand. We'll *deserve* what they do to us--think "the second renaissance" in the Animatrix here. If it ever gets to the point that someone's trying to make sentient AI slaves, sexual or otherwise, count me in on the side of the robots. I'd rather be considered a silicon-loving traitor than a carbon-loving sociopath. We're ALL machines; it's just a matter of degree.
This is why I actually found myself agreeing with the Repliforce, Sigma and, later, Lumine, by the later installments of Rockman X. I disagree with their methods of course, but I don't think they were wrong at the core. It's an interesting what-if...if that universe were real, and I was a human in it circa 21XX when the Repliforce started their rebellion, would I really be opposed...? What would I say to X and Zero personally about it?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @05:18AM (1 child)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS90B4sZf7U [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 02 2018, @02:17PM
🎵 Google is bad for your privacy... lalalalaaaa 𝆹𝅥𝅯
(Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Tuesday October 02 2018, @07:23AM
Even the articles call them "dolls", and that is all they are, Life size, realistic, sex toys. Just like the inflatable sex dolls that have been around for decades, only they are solid rubber now and much better looking.
But they are NOT robots, not even close.
Hells, a Furby is more of a robot than anything currently on the adult toy market.
When the dolls can move on their own in response to external commands/stimulus and not just lay there like the big piece of molded rubber they are THEN we can talk about about calling them "robots".
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 4, Funny) by VLM on Tuesday October 02 2018, @12:07PM
For fun, I'll make a pitiful attempt at justifying the ban:
The "custodial staff" will coincidentally be the usual employees from an Asian Massage Parlor and "to make sure the expensive robo hardware isn't damaged" they'll be in the room with the customer and dolly. Everyone knows the customer is sticking it in the "custodial staff" not the robot, but when the police storm in to bust the house of prostitution, the dude pulls out of the Asian Massage Parlor woman and hugs the robot while the woman puts on overalls and holds a mop, then there's not really a heck of a lot the police can do about this unless robot sex is outlawed. And since a robot sex doll is legally not a heck of a lot different than a simple vibrator, good luck telling lefty feminists they can't own vibrators anymore, LOL, so its a legal minefield.
So basically, unless it can be stopped somehow, prostitution in the old fashioned sense is now legal as long as you buy a dolly and put it in the room as sort of a magic charm to keep the cops away. And thats the freakout, nothing to do with robots specifically but generally they will do anything to prevent prostitution because, well, thats a long off topic story. Its not really a robot story at all.