Summary: Sexbots are the next wave of entertainment tech. Many fear that they will wreck both marriage and the economy. The former is likely, to some degree. But they will be a boost to the economy.
“{The arrival of sexbots} will blow up the world. It will make crack cocaine look like decaffeinated coffee.”
— Anonymous (source here).
She will be a big hit on Tinder. From her showing in The Sun.
The great and good tell us that sexbots are not coming. But if they do, nobody will want them. “Lifelike sex robots are unlikely to arrive anytime soon. Even if they did, most people wouldn’t be interested in them.”
“In the future …the question is going to arise: ‘Is it ok to have sex with a robot?’ To the average person the answer ‘No’ will seem as obvious to us now as our understanding that it is not acceptable to have sex with other species of animals.”
— “The Sex Trafficking of Robots.“
They also tell us that even if somebody wants sexbots, they will be bad for him. “Sex With Robots May Not Be Healthy” and “Sex-bots could CRUSH human limbs and spy on you for the government as fears grow over rogue robot lovers.” And if anyone does use them, even though they are harmful, the wise and wonderful clutch their pearls about the ethics of sexbots. Such as “Sex with robots: analyzing the gender and ethics approaches in design“, “Sex robots will be programmed to love us – and suffer for it” and “Sex robots are here, but laws aren’t keeping up with the ethical and privacy issues they raise.”
Of course, the wise know that sexbots must be very very regulated – like every other aspect of Americans’ intimate relations. For our own good, because cannot be trusted to make our own decisions.
The most common reason given for regulating sexbot concerns their ability to give “consent.” This is quite delusional. We might just as logically require regulation of women’s “vibrators” – to ensure that women obtain their consent before using them. Perhaps at some distant future time, sexbots will have some form of sentience. Today it is a silly reason for pearl-clutching.
Why they fear sexbots. Why they’re wrong.
Dirty books since Gutenberg. Porn on home video since 1977. Area code 900 sex chat lines after 1980. Internet porn since the 1990s. Now sexbots. Technological progress has brought us more effective and less expensive substitutes for sex with people. The shift of porn from XXX theaters downtown to viewing in the home on tapes-DVDs-streaming grew the market by orders of magnitude. The shift from prostitutes to sexbots will have the same effect.
A glimpse of the future: “People Are Having Sex With 3D Avatars of Their Exes and Celebrities.” Crude images now, but improving fast.
Each new tech in its time aroused fear that men would be distracted from joining the rat race – forsaking their obligation to marry, have children, and provide for them. They might have an effect similar to that of heroin and crack – safely used by many but destabilizing some people. This is already happening: significant numbers of men are going Galt – dropping out of the rat race and sometimes even not marrying.
With sexbots, this might happen on an even larger scale. The success of even low-end prostitutes shows that men have low minimum standards for sex substitutes. Even the primitive sexbots of the kind likely to be sold in the next decade or so might gain a large market among men. It might make marriage even less attractive to men, especially the low-status guys that women now “settle” for in their 30s. What will happen to the economy without the spur of marriage – men working to be an attractive provider – and the later and stronger need for men to support a family?
But sexbots might not have the awful effects so widely feared by some – and joyfully anticipated by others. Sexbots might replace marriage for a substantial fraction of men (even a small fraction might unbalance the male-female dynamics in America). But they might boost the economy.
How much will she cost? Cover of Galaxy, September 1954.
How much will sexbots cost? Low-end devices will be simple, but still expensive. But the sky is the limit for high-end machines. They will have well-designed features, warm skin, plus some capacity for interactive conversation and movements. All this will be expensive. Men will work hard to earn the money to buy or rent them.
Sexbots will quickly improve for many generations. As with cars during most of the 20th century, men will enviously look at the latest model – and work to get one. Just as automobile production was a driver of the 20thC economy, sexbots might become a driver of the 21st century economy.
The Left has conducted vast social engineering experiments on American society. Technology has further destabilized our society. We cannot begin to reliably guess what lies ahead. But it certainly will be different.
For More Information
Ideas! See my recommended books and films at Amazon. Also, see Chapter One of a story about our future: “Ultra Violence: Tales from Venus.”
See “The History of Sexbots in Movies.” I like Cherry 2000
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about the 3rd Industrial Revolution now underway, about romance, about women and gender, and especially about sexbots.
- Our scary future: sexbots are coming, powering the ‘sexodus’.
- A look at sexbots, prototypes of a radically different future for society.
- Technology will shape our society as porn and sexbots destroy 21st century marriage.
- Reluctant recognition that sexbots are coming.
- Sexbots are coming. Society will never be the same.
Books about the coming revolution
- Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships
- Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other
- My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves
- “What’s love got to do with it? Robots, sexuality, and the arts of being human.” In Marco Norskov (Ed.) Social Robots: Boundaries, Potential, Challenges
- Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications
