It's time for humanity to embrace SEX ROBOTS. For, uh, science, of course

The other is that it could act as a gateway or normalisation which could lead to more abuse.

Has there ever been any studies or actual evidence for anything being a "gateway" to aggravate any impulse? It always seems very hand-wavy and witch-hunty to me. Cannabis being a gateway to heroin, video games being a gateway to criminality, D&D being a gateway to Satan worship, etc.

Humankind is still considering whether we could create sex robots

I thought they have been around for ages, though expensive and they can't walk. However, do they need to do more than lie down or sit up?

AI is a different story, but really that would be a disadvantage, even if it was possible. Simulated responses and actions are enough.

Dr Kate Devlin

Devlin sounds like she has some sort of agenda?

Prostitution doesn't damage society. Society puts these men and women in danger by forcing them to work on the streets, alone, and without any sort of protection. People want sex, people need money and are willing to provide that service. That hasn't, and will not, change. Yet we still remove protections for these workers because we don't agree with their line of work? Already my feelings towards this "professor" are already poor.

The fact remains, however, that the human imagination will always come up with ruder and cruder methods to get ones rocks off. Take the McChicken-lovin' man, I can bet you any money there are men - regardless of age - who have considered what it felt like or have went out and bought one to have a go with. What are we meant to do now? Ban McChicken burgers from being sold because someone used one for a wank?

Bruce Springsteen, in "Johnny 99", got it absolutely right:

"Well your honor I do believe I'd be better off dead

So if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head"

The human imagination, the thoughts, the wants etc, will always exceed the boundaries that can ever be thought of by another human.

Sex robots will be illegal in the UK under the law that prohibits necrophilia.

They'll classify it as "sex with something that doesn't have a pulse," and try very fucking hard to sweep it under that law.

Just watch...

Also...

>[...] but are not illegal in countries such as Japan where manga can often feature cartoon drawings of sexualised children, which the nation’s domestic industry continues to defend despite international condemnation.

Probably because they're not real. Any sane person (our country, for that matter) can tell the difference between fiction and reality.

Something the UK, or most Western countries, no longer seems cable of doing.

Also, this image came to mind: http://i.imgur.com/sN0hNYC.png

Agenda?

While not for me, I have no issue with consenting adults enjoying a bedroom weither there is money involved or not. Why shouldn't a man or woman be able to buy or sell sex of they choose to do so?

Exploitation is a different topic entirely than prostituton and trying to say otherwise is just ridiculous, how is a woman earning $12,000 an hour being exploited? Is a male prostitue any different at all, weither gay or straight? How is anyone doing anything by choice and being financially rewarded exploitation at all?

Why are all the questions in the survey so loaded? I was unable to complete it because choosing the closest answer to the way i felt was loaded with extra statements I totally disagreed with.

Why are motorised Male sex toys so clearly linked with child abuse when a woman can buy a child's penis sized vibrator without even a second though (Bullet vibrators)? As the proud owner of a penis and a former Child myself I can guarantee that apart from the colour my manhood was once that size and shape.

Why can't there just be a view point of, "the child sex toys seem downright degenerate but I have no problem with a man/woman having sex with any object" ?

I'm reminded of that 80s song...

How did it go?

The members of the Argentine, built themselves a wanking machine.

On the fifteenth stroke, the damn thing broke,

And turned their balls to whipped margarine.

I for one welcome my new SexBot overlords!

I'll go buy stock in mechanical & sexual lubrication companies so I can get rich!

I've just imagined R2D2 with fake jubblies on it's head for some odd reason.

<Sigh>

People have sex; innovations allow more people to have more sex more ways; people complain about people having/thinking/talking about sex.

Now there's your perpetual motion machine.

When will the Fail get hold of this?

We can then be treated to a spectacular explosion of righteous rage.

Wouldn't the sex robot Jude Law plays in the Spielberg film 'AI Artificial Intelligence' 2001 have been a better choice as he did and she didn't?

So, sexbots and child versions in the cards ?

As much as child pornography disgusts me, if it can keep a percentage of pedophiles from harming actual children, I say go for it.

As for the stuffed up repressed puritans who would like, once again, to banish all thought of fun, I have one thing to say : good luck with that.

Asexual awareness raising

"intercourse is no longer necessary for procreation, and yet sex persists because of humanity’s mental processes, our focus on sex is a fundamental part of the human condition, and it’s unlikely that any AI could reproduce human processes unless it too was capable of sexual interest."

This statement seems to inextricably link sex with being human, which is both cringeworthy and wrong. Someone should point these researchers in the direction of AVEN, the Asexual Visibility and Education Network.

Sex is not "a fundamental part of the human condition". It can be a part, and most often is, but fundamental? I think not.

I think it is entirely possible to have non-sexy AI, and quite possibly preferable. Sex - or the desire for it - can often have adverse consequences.

As to sexy robotic sex aids, as long as they are self-aware and can give consent, I have no issues with what they look like - I won't be using any of them. Unless there is a dragon one. Or maybe an alien tentacle one. Or maybe...

Why should I have a say in your sex life?

I still cannot understand why so many people think I should have a say in their sex life, that I should be able to tell them masturbation is bad, that I should be concerned about what consenting adults are doing in their own homes and bedrooms.

Those calling for bans or controls on sex activities think I should, must, be concerned and knowledgeable about what others are doing.

Does anyone really think their demands for controlling peoples lives stop at sex and sexual thoughts?

Is that so?

Why sex with underage people is prohibited?

As I see, one of the reasons is because traumatize them. They aren't psychologically fit to understand what they're doing and to deal with the consequences of it. I think this is common sense.

Another point is, the development of human body: below certain age, the body isn't ready for sex yet and the chances are high that things gonna end on the hospital plus the trauma. I think this is common sense too.

Technically speaking, I see none of the above cases being applied to the robots, so technically there's absolutely no problem in sexualized underage-looking robots.

The problem as I see is moral, or the eternal debate between "escape valve" / "incentive". The japanese obviously choose the "escape valve" approach, and the moralty of the western world have a great deal of difficulty accepting this idea, even with Japan showing much lower numbers in cases of sex abuse than the west.

And moral varies A LOT between culture and countries. Such idea of sex robots would be welcome in some cultures, but will be not welcome on others. On creating these kind of robots, I think one must consider the entire world, not one specific country - and wait to see if it sells or not.

We already have a production of life-size realistic quality sex dolls in many places around the world, the only thing this robots would change would be autonomous movement and calling you "oh my love".

A distinction could be made

It would be instructive to make a distinction between sex and biological hydraulics, no?

Rather than waffle on about ethics and legality, isn't this a clear case of "if it could be fun it must be wrong so ban it."

So what happens when the Sexbots decide they prefer each other, and tell us to keep our nasty slimy bits to ourselves? Will there be Robotistas haranguing each other about miscegenation with a "biological"...?

If the good doctor is worried about men who treat women like 'things'

Wouldn't she rather have those men treating things like things instead?

Prudery or just plain Ludditism?

At first impression it looks as if the fundamental problem is the same with workers all over the world -- automation / mechanization is stealing our jobs. If this follows what's been going on in industry then the robots are not only cheaper and easier to use but they do a better job than humans.

I suspect that the prudery angle -- the concern about 'objectifying' women -- comes from a feeling that once males have sexual outlets that are outside the control of females then females lose a lot of their power. (...and no, they're not powerless, weak, oppressed and so on. Talk to any married man.)

Lots of Anonymous Cowards posting here today, aren't there?

Since we're "going there"...

How about sexbots for children? Lots of people under 18 (or even 16) want to have sex, but society has decided there is too great a chance they'll be exploited and thus forbidden it. So what if they could have a nice robot lover instead? It wouldn't ever exploit anyone, because it would be programed not to. It wouldn't even do anything kinky unless the the user suggested it. And there could be parental controls, like no anal, no bondage, and no playing until your chores are done.

Better Come With Headphones

As long as those bots come with headphones, otherwise the noise will get way out of hand, as sickos turn to torturing their bots for kicks, you just know it will happen and keep the sexbot repair business busy.

For a lot of men of course the sexiest, sex bot is one that cooks, cleans and never speaks unless spoken to, I'd bet most women would appreciate those exact same features.

So would many people make love to their bot or would orgasm just be a part of an overall therapeutic massage and a nice toasted sandwich.

Hmmm, interesting wording

I am a warm-blooded human and I want a warm-blooded man when I'm keen to canoodle.

No. I really don't. Why? Because I am a man. I'd like a warm blooded female.

Other men might prefer a man, fair enough. However the wording of this question harks right back to one of the underlying points so easily glossed over. As has already been mentioned, there are many types of vibrator (fancy being boned by a dinosaur?) and this doesn't seem to cause much fuss. Maybe even elicit some sympathy as, well, if your (male) partner was any good...

...but a sex aid for a male? Clearly that would make you a fucking pervert. I mean look how quickly the discussion went to the idea of child sex bots.

Some equality.

With regards to child sex robots or animal sex robots, I'm generally curious as to what humanity will do when they get to a point of holodeck simulation.

Will they be more open to the possibility of people using it as some kind of escape method (with the exception of the ban loving UK, as per usual) or will they complain that the idea of people using it for that purpose "makes them feel icky" and try to restrict it based on that premise?

"Female sex toys such as rabbits come in a wide variety of colours, shapes and sizes and do not appear like phalluses and there is a rising interest in “dragon dildos” too."

FWIIW, that's quite often due to a legal background. There are countries where a dildo shaped like a human penis would be illegal to produce/sell, but something shaped like, say, a dolphin is okay.

"Dr Richardson told us that she believed the introduction of sex robots would increase what she described to us as the damage to society caused by prostitution ."

It's called "the oldest profession" for a reason. Prostitution has been a factor in all societies since there were any societies. Like it or not, prostitution hasn't so much damaged our (and any other) society as shaped it.

Obvious downside to sexbots: tech savvy people become extinct within two generations. And then what?

sexbot drawbacks

The whole world will crumble into dust because people only fix/improve/discover stuff to impress the opposite sex.

Or was that a Futurama episode?

If adolescent girls and boys had sex robots, wouldn't that make them less likely to be abused by a pedophilic clergy? That would certainly cramp their style however. Maybe pedophiles could get satisfaction with a child or adolescent sex robot.

Perhaps clergy that take vows of celibacy should apply that to humans only; but not to other sex devices such as sex robots. That might go a long way in solving those problems.

Question 4 - how about an option for "Human prostitution isn't 'an issue' and the busybodies who vilify sex workers and their clients are a bunch of morons who ought to be excluded from the gene pool. Oh yeah, and sexbots are even less 'an issue'."?

Woman are not humans anyways (I mean that they are like aliens to me)

Women are not humans anyways (well they are... but I find them weird, alien like, especially the women I do not know and never have spoken to. The ones I do know I have no problem with (and mostly no sexual desire to))

And for that sole reason a robotic companion would help me in living in this godforsaken world.

Instead of feeling miserable with myself all the time, not depression, I moved beyond that stage (positively)

I would be free of womanly distractions when I have a sexdroid at home.

Could focus on work and after that focus on myself (going to the gym, keep my house clean, having fun with friends in the weekend, etc)

I do not need or ask for much, just something to release tension to.

And, of course, it would help me fall asleep at a normal time at night, masturbation and thoughts that keep me awake at night till pas 1:00 AM are just preventing me to have a normal "sober" life.

That is my view on the matter anyways (will probably disagree with myself if I finally find that one girl that is just the right connection on both emotional as in a spiritual level)

So I pretty much know where I wish to go with my life, but being realistic I know I will probably be (too) old for the whole sexdroid concept, like my grandparents are oblivious to the computerization that is happening to their lives.

And think about this, I would not become some unstable madmen in the future that will destroy, murder, rape or something like that.

I would be an healthy adult, with a sexdroid.

If that rustles your jimmies then just walk away.

Maybe I'm dense, or just not as deep a thinker as Dr. Richardson, but doesn't it seem like the availability of sex robots would _decrease_ the demand for prostitutes?