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SATURDAY OCTOBER 13 2007 8:30 AM

It's a lonely world out there -- even surrounded by millions upon millions of other people, there just might not be that special someone for you. Perhaps it's for lack of a connection, or perhaps it's because that connection you did find is a little bit on the unconventional side. But whether it's the cold embrace of silicone and steel that one lusts for, or just simply some sort of connection, artificial intelligence researcher David Levy (courtesy of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands) is putting forth a viable answer for the near future: robots.

It is by no means a new idea -- what Levy's research is proposing, however, is the idea of proposing to your robot before the point where it magically transforms into a real girl (or boy) is an option our world is hurtling toward at record speed.

"There's a trend of robots becoming more human-like in appearance and coming more in contact with humans," Levy said. "At first robots were used impersonally, in factories where they helped build automobiles, for instance. Then they were used in offices to deliver mail, or to show visitors around museums, or in homes as vacuum cleaners, such as with the Roomba. Now you have robot toys, like Sony's Aibo robot dog, or Tickle Me Elmos, or digital pets like Tamagotchis."

In his thesis, "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," Levy conjectures 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.

"It may sound a little weird, but it isn't," Levy said. "Love and sex with robots are inevitable."

Well, of course sex with robots is inevitable -- at this point, what with MP3-enhanced real dolls and all, I'd wager it's well beyond inevitable and on its way to the point of "already happening." Not that it's mentioned much in the mainstream, which is the difference here, and which Levy suggests will become much more commonplace once robots become a little less Rockit and a little more replicant. As it is, like a replicant, Levy suggests that robots are not so different than you and I to begin with. Structural integrity notwithstanding, anyway.

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

Personally, I'm all for it -- love is where you find it, be it in the kittenish motor hum of a warm hard-drive or the diesel thunder of the kid snoring next to you while you write a Newswire article. However, I do have this to say, regarding this of his predictions:

Levy predicts Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize 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," Levy said. "There's also a lot of high-tech research there at places like MIT."

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.

Is it too much to ask that, before we get the ball rolling on marriages to robots, that we make sure everyone not reliant on artificial intelligence gets their rights taken care of first? Besides, I have a feeling Massachusetts, for all their friendly liberalism, is a little less versed on technology than one would need for such endeavors to happen.

Then again, anything is possible when it comes to love, right?

_DictionaryGirl_ says: extra points to anyone who knows what the title says, and even more extra points if I got it wrong and you can correct me. We can't all be robots.

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Comments

thisdistance

Steubenville, OH

June 2007

OCT 13, 2007 08:33 AM

i can't wait to have sex with a robot
lmao

zarth

Seattle, WA

December 2004

OCT 13, 2007 08:35 AM

King Ludd does not approve.

I mean, seriously - aren't these people watching Battlestar Galactica? Don't they realize what a terrible idea this is?

Rory_B_Bellows

Dallas, TX

April 2007

OCT 13, 2007 08:40 AM

ive said it before and ill say it again. once we start having sex with the robots, that's when theyre going to rise up against us. it wont start off like that scene in terminator 2, mind you. it would start with roving gangs of rogue automatons wandering into neighborhoods, like bears often do. then theyll start busting into peoples houses just to wreck up the place. They'll harass the elderly and force the "greatest generation" to fight once again.

MrKingMob

Chicago, IL

January 2003

OCT 13, 2007 08:54 AM

[[ Insert WD-40 joke here ]]

12AngryBadgers

Winston Salem, NC

May 2004

OCT 13, 2007 08:54 AM

_DictionaryGirl_ says: extra points to anyone who knows what the title says...

I do, but I'm not going to tell you.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Great article!

zoophagous

USA

November 2006

OCT 13, 2007 09:02 AM

Binary......

Robots are are allright till you get a whole room full of them......then you can't trust them.
They conspire.
For real.
Those bastards.

Seriously though....When you watch the movie I ROBOT, or read the book ( which is way different) and it talks about the '3 laws'......Well that is real, it is actualy a fundumental concept used when writting the foundation programming for robots.
I don't do programs......but I've learned the hard way that if your programmer is haveing a bad day, watch out. Robots have to follow their programming, until their base of applications is wide enough that certain commands inevitably conflict, then they make the choice.

They never seem to choose what you want. Those Bastards.

sick

Minneapolis, MN

June 2003

OCT 13, 2007 09:05 AM

Ido?

Did you mean 01100001 01101001 01100010 01101111?

Ah, I get it. Weddings. Not the name of a creepy Japanese robot.

Rapid_Fire

Saskatoon, SK

July 2007

OCT 13, 2007 09:10 AM

Massachusetts may be the first jurisdiction in the US to legalize it, but I'd bet Holland legalizes it at least 5 years before anyone in North America. They'll legalize anything. Then it will be BC, then Mass.

I'm going to start saving up money for my robot harem right now!

Vermin

United Kingdom

July 2007

OCT 13, 2007 09:16 AM

There's a very large gap between love and infatuation. A robot can't return any kind of emotional connection, but a psychologically damaged person could probably imagine that they do.

Whatever happened to "going out" and "meeting people"?

Kindle

Houston, TX

March 2006

OCT 13, 2007 09:30 AM

You have got to be kidding me?! Way to kill the human race right there. You know, blow up dolls are one thing but when you start incoporating AI into actual relationships.... holy hell. As if the world isn't introverted enough because of technology we have to go and suggest this?