I thee wed, my dear robot…

While reading Live Science a couple of days ago, I came across this article where a recent Ph.D. graduate forecasted that sex and marriage with robots will be possible by 2050.

(And what an unusual topic of research for a thesis – “Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners”.)

I tried to keep an open mind and reading through the article, I understand the arguments raised by David Levy with regards to human-robot relationships. In fact, Levy believes that love and sex with robots are inevitable.

He is right you know. There are a lot of people out there with weird fascinations and fetishes, so why not extend it to include artificial partners? There are people who loves their artificial pets (think Aibo and Tamagotchi, as pointed out by Levy) so it is not that far fetched to imagine one fixated with tender feeling for a human-like robot.

Nonetheless, I do find this whole idea rather disturbing. Equally as much as how I find certain people’s adoration of their sex toys (think Real Dolls) disturbing.

Have this modern world move at such a speed that people are being left behind with such an emotional void that they are turning to inanimated objects as substitutions for affection, undivided attention and gratification? Is the society so engrossed in wealth accumulation that those left behind have no way to catch up but stay behind the inclusion line and seek a life in solitude with “significant object” instead of a “significant other”?

It’s a strange strange world out there.