Humans will marry robots by 2050, robotist says

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David Levy, the British holder of a Dutch PhD in robotics, as well as an international chess master, claims that robotics will advance so much by 2050 that robots will be human-like enough for humans to marry them. Err... Blade Runner, anyone? Anyway, here's a clip for you:

Robots will become so human-like -- having intelligent conversations, displaying emotions and responding to human emotions -- that they'll be very much like a new race of people, said David Levy, a British artificial intelligence researcher whose book, "Love and Sex with Robots," will be released on Nov. 6.

Gone, he says, will be the jerky movements and artificial-sounding voices generally associated with robots. These will be highly human-like machines that people fall in love with, becoming aides, friends and even spouses.

Read the whole thing at NetworkWorld.

So, what do you think? What's your opinion on the very idea that a human might "marry" a robot? Besides, how wouldl that happen? Would people have robots constructed for them, coming with sexy features and programmed for unconditional devotion to their masters, emulating some emotions and being soft enough in touch for err... you don't want to know? After all, robots won't be cheap and it's not like they'll roam the Earth and you won't know who's a human and who's a robot, nor will robots possess DNA in any genuine sense, leading to any normal form of reproduction. In fact, their human features will either have to be invented or taken from real humans (i.e. genetic material from a living person analysed and converted into a set of features for a robot), which in either option creates a lot of problems.

Anyway, you talk.

 

wel, as far as your err...personal interactions go, i saw one of these that a feature dancer had made to her likeness
http://www.realdoll.com/ **warning** their is nudity on this site BUT not of humans only the dolls

apperantly they sell for like $7,000 & are err...fully functional. apparently they have an internal armature that serves as a skeleton, that could probably be replaced by the robotic skeleton when they get to that point.
in fact this is one of the F.A.Q.s
"Question: Do you offer electronic or animatronic versions of REALDOLL?

Not at this time, but we hope to offer such dolls in the future"

ok thats just way to freaky!!

 

I can easily imagine people wanting to "marry" robots, though as you say, the idea is freaky.

I have to say, conversation programmes are a bit intriguing. In fact, once upon a time I've been toying with a similar code to what such programmes need - it was forming proper noun cases of names, but that was already tricky enough, hah. It's surely fun to do and I imagine coding dancers that hop around your desktop as you listen to the music (and hey, they don't need to be nude) is thrilling as well. Guess you can't extinguish a programmer's spark. Just hope, however, that a widespread personality disorder in humans won't come with such an advance of robotics.

 

Weren't they saying similar things 50 years ago? Maybe not marrying, but doing dishes, cleaning the house, making artwork, etc. Just look at things like I, Robot and The Jetsons. I seem to remember they were both set about nowish. Personally, I think we've got a long, long way to go before we get there.

Plus, its just freaky.

 

well nog, you & i may think it's freaky but i wonder what the reaction would be in say, japan? they have robots/android love dolls in all kinds of manga/anime over there, so i wonder if it would be more socially acceptable?

 

martaug,

I don't know enough about the impact of manga/anime on Japanese culture/society, but does it really have such a broad appeal to the Japanese people as a whole that it could influence/dictate what is socially acceptable? There are a lot of things that are depicted in media all across the world that I think will never be socially acceptable, no matter how many cartoons they are in.

 

thats what i was asking. are there any japanese posters on sp?