Robots are rapidly making their way into our sex lives but experts are split over whether they offer a new tool to fight aberrant sexual behaviour or the exact opposite, a dangerous incitement to rape and paedophilia.
The issue sparked fierce debate last year after the Sky Atlantic series Westworld depicted humans raping human-like robots but a British non-profit organization Responsible Robotics says there is no agreement or firm evidence on whether sex robots will be a force for good or evil.
Noel Sharkey, a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, has coordinated a research paper “Our Sexual Future With Robots” for the group and says it is difficult to predict the effect of people being able to use robots to simulate rape or sex with children. Automated robotics technology has already led to the creation of highly developed “love dolls” capable of autonomously performing 50 sex positions, and critics fear they could for instance be programmed to resist sex in a way that a real or potential rapist might find stimulating.
Coming to London
Sex robots ranging in price from $5,000 (£3,870) to three times that amount can already be bought or leased for parties in the US and may soon have their debut in the UK, with plans for a cafe staffed by “erotic cyborgs” in Paddington, London already taking shape.
Supporters say the devices can provide a valuable service for the disabled or for people who find intercourse traumatic but the report warned that they would also carry ethical risks. Researchers asked academics, members of the public and the sex industry for their views on whether, for example, sex robots might help to reduce sexual crimes.
“When we look at the question of whether or not sex robots could help to prevent sex crimes, there is major disagreement,” the report said. “On one side there are those who believe that expressing disordered or criminal sexual desires with a sex robot would satiate them to the point where they would not have the desire to harm fellow humans. Many others believe that this would be an indulgence that could encourage and reinforce illicit sexual practices. This may work for a few but it is a very dangerous path to tread. It may be that allowing people to live out their darkest fantasies with sex robots could have a pernicious effect on society and societal norms and create more danger for the vulnerable. “
Child sex dolls are already being produced in Japan and exported by mail order by a company owned by a self-confessed paedophile, who claims they prevent him and other paedophiles abusing real children. Sharkey is sceptical of that argument and suggested such behaviour is more likely to “encourage paedophilia and make it acceptable to assault children” than to prevent it. In July 2017 British authorities revealed that they had intercepted 123 child sex dolls being imported in the previous 15 months and used that information to identify paedophiles. Seven people were charged with importing them, including one man who was jailed, and six of the seven also faced child porn allegations.
Westworld
Kate Darling, a tech researcher at MIT, said the rape scenes in Westworld did not leave her worrying about the robots but about what might happen to the behaviour of the human characters depicted in the show. “Either sex robots would continue to serve as a healthy outlet for our unhealthy urges or they would whet people’s appetites for unsavoury sexual fare. Both options have their own troubling implications, but the latter is more immediately problematic,” she said.
Others were concerned that sex robots would fuel the objectification of women because while both male and female robots are available the female versions are generally based on representations garnered from pornography. “They could also affect human interactions in other ways”, suggests Aimee van Wynsberghe, co-writer of the study.
Reflecting fears in many other industries about robots taking human jobs, the study analysed the consequences of sex robots for prostitution. The first robotic sex brothel in Barcelona, Spain – called Lumidolls – faced fierce opposition from local sex workers and was forced to move in February. There is no tangible evidence that robot brothels will become widespread.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you agree with Sharkey’s study or do you see things differently? Let us know in the comments.
by Alessandro Mascellino
The post Sex Robots: A Force for Good or Evil? appeared first on Felix Magazine.
No comments:
Post a Comment