Utopia, this one's for you

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22578724-29277,00.html

Sex with robots 'not far away'

October 13, 2007 11:43am

HUMANS will be marrying robots by 2050 and having sex with them not long after, an artificial intelligence researcher has claimed.

Netherlands university student David Levy, who recently completed his PhD on the subject of human-robot relationships, told LiveScience that robots will become so human-like in appearance, function and personality that many people will fall in love with them, have sex with them and even marry them.

"At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, but once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot and it was great!' appear in a magazine like Cosmo, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon," he said.

In his thesis "Intimate relationships with Artificial Partners", Mr Levy argued that psychologists have identified roughly a dozen basic reasons why people fall in love, and almost all of them could apply to human-robot relationships.

"For instance, one thing that prompts people to fall in love are similarities in personality and knowledge, and all of this is programmable," Mr Levy said.

"Another reason people are more likely to fall in love is if they know the other person likes them, and that's programmable too."

Mr Levy said Massachusetts would be the first jurisdiction to legalise human-robot marriage.

"Massachusetts is more liberal than most other jurisdictions in the United States and has been at the forefront of same-sex marriage," Mr Levy said.

"There's also a lot of high-tech research there."

Although roboticist Ronald Arkin at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta does not think human-robot marriages will be legal anywhere by 2050, "anything's possible. And just because it's not legal doesn't mean people won't try it," he told LiveScience.

"Humans are very unusual creatures," Mr Arkin said.

"If you ask me if every human will want to marry a robot, my answer is probably not. But will there be a subset of people? There are people ready right now to marry sex toys."

By pedro on Oct 12, 2007, 19:52 in Off Topic.

pedro says on Oct 12, 2007, 20:05:

A female robot companion for men... pretty easy to make.

As for a robot companion for women. Computer scientists are going to be struggling well beyond 2050 to develop a personality outline that can keep a woman completely happy.

The basic model in the meantime (for her): Doesn't talk, except to agree with everything she says. A generous manhood with vibrating feature. And a magnetic strip attachment on one arm that can be swiped through a credit card machine on demand.

que nota!

john_stark says on Oct 12, 2007, 22:39:

And they thought I was joking.

ozgringo says on Oct 13, 2007, 05:20:

I used to say to my g/f, if you want perfect go date a robot. Now she can...
That's it guys we are to be "downsized", and made redundant..

may a thousand mangy wombats shit in your billabong