Android Sex Slaves

[23skidoo]

The only thing that I don't like is that some folks seem to WANT their android sex slaves to not necessarily look human. They're quite happy, it seems, if it looks like a box, or that dancing robot they unveiled a few months back. That just disturbs me.

Now, if they improve upon, say, the humanlike robot seen during the montage at the end of the last BSG episode, or combine the technology with already-existing esthetics available with the "Real Doll", then it might work. But they need to do something about the "uncanny valley" and ramp up the AI so it's not just a super-expensive version of those inflatable things you find at the adult video store.

And if I had to predict the least likely topic I'd be discussing this week, this is probably it!

Alex

 

[Nick Ryder]

^ No kiddin'

I guess this is part of the question too... if there was say, a viable "android slave" available on the market. One that had some thought programming, could perform certain acts unaided and even could talk to you... somehow. Would it still even be affordable? Sure you can probably have one commissioned now for like a million bucks or something, but wouldn't it be cheaper to just flash the million bucks to someone and say "I'm horny, I'm rich and I think you're hot." chances are you'd have one of a few responses.

"Eww get away from me!"

"Okay, your place or mine."

"Ewww... but you're rich, so... 'kay."

Same applies for men AND women. How many guys would kill for a chance to be some attractive and rich woman's "kept man?" Is it any different? Course some would say its akin to prostitution...

But there are enough people who want the "fun"without the relationship. Or just a relationship that isn't tied down. If they no longer have fun with them, no worries... just move on. Granted I'm not one of those people, I frankly would rather HAVE the relationship, have the commitment... why invest in something (or someone) and not have a commitment of some sort. People have longer relationships with their cell phones than they do with people.

Course maybe those cell phones should start to rise up... after all they're our slaves. We talk to them, we play on them and then what... we shove in them in our dirty pockets. I've even seen guys scratch their ass with their phone... eww... and yet we're paying money for them. We're locked into a commitment with them. Unless you're a freebird and you like no-contract service

So... getting back to the topic... if they were available... I am sure some people would buy them... but they'd be uber rich and probably socially inept. Some of those rich Jap guys kinda fit that mold sadly. So yeah they'd probably really enjoy a fake android girl to come back to their spacious hole in the wall apartment, one that they can fold up and stick in a box... after all, there's no room for another human to just lie about on gasp... another bed. Or chair. Or floor. y'know. Even their pets have to be teeny tiny. So why not a bride you can fold up, stick in a case in the closet?

 

[RobertScorpio]

^ No kiddin'

I guess this is part of the question too... if there was say, a viable "android slave" available on the market. One that had some thought programming, could perform certain acts unaided and even could talk to you... somehow. Would it still even be affordable? Sure you can probably have one commissioned now for like a million bucks or something, but wouldn't it be cheaper to just flash the million bucks to someone and say "I'm horny, I'm rich and I think you're hot." chances are you'd have one of a few responses.

"Eww get away from me!"

"Okay, your place or mine."

"Ewww... but you're rich, so... 'kay."

Same applies for men AND women. How many guys would kill for a chance to be some attractive and rich woman's "kept man?" Is it any different? Course some would say its akin to prostitution...

But there are enough people who want the "fun"without the relationship. Or just a relationship that isn't tied down. If they no longer have fun with them, no worries... just move on. Granted I'm not one of those people, I frankly would rather HAVE the relationship, have the commitment... why invest in something (or someone) and not have a commitment of some sort. People have longer relationships with their cell phones than they do with people.

Course maybe those cell phones should start to rise up... after all they're our slaves. We talk to them, we play on them and then what... we shove in them in our dirty pockets. I've even seen guys scratch their ass with their phone... eww... and yet we're paying money for them. We're locked into a commitment with them. Unless you're a freebird and you like no-contract service

So... getting back to the topic... if they were available... I am sure some people would buy them... but they'd be uber rich and probably socially inept. Some of those rich Jap guys kinda fit that mold sadly. So yeah they'd probably really enjoy a fake android girl to come back to their spacious hole in the wall apartment, one that they can fold up and stick in a box... after all, there's no room for another human to just lie about on gasp... another bed. Or chair. Or floor. y'know. Even their pets have to be teeny tiny. So why not a bride you can fold up, stick in a case in the closet?

Scifi fans, I think, can see things pretty much as they are. Its something, i think, we all share. But I think you under estimate how popular something like this (android sex slaves) would be to the rest of our society. I think they would sell big time, if afordable. Porn movies, porn on the internet, sell big time. And not a person on this wouldn't love to make it with a Angelia Jolie hologram (or Dom Deluise depending on your tastes)...and what about sentient holograms?

Android slaves, if they ever become reality, will be, I think, aimed directly at the sex trade; and they will sell big. Someone was mentioning dildos earlier. Dildos make BOO KOO bucks. I have money invested in one of the companies that makes them and I have seen my shares split twice.

Rob

 

[Holdfast]

While I could see the appeal, I wouldn't want to have to clean it.

They'll be self-cleaning, like that halogen oven thing they advertise on infomercials. You know the one, you just squeeze in some washing-up liquid, press on and the magic swirling thing happens and voila, all clean and ready for next use.....

 

[Hermiod]

Android slaves, if they ever become reality, will be, I think, aimed directly at the sex trade; and they will sell big. Someone was mentioning dildos earlier. Dildos make BOO KOO bucks. I have money invested in one of the companies that makes them and I have seen my shares split twice.

That's because you've got women's magazines telling every woman in the world that they should have one because there aren't enough men in the world who can do the same job as often and for as long. Pesky biology being what it is.

On the other hand, things that have the same effect for men, as I've said, are treated with contempt. It's funny, but I don't recall GQ ever publishing an article that said "Buy Porn, It's Better than Women!"

 

[RobertScorpio]

While I could see the appeal, I wouldn't want to have to clean it.

They'll be self-cleaning, like that halogen oven thing they advertise on infomercials. You know the one, you just squeeze in some washing-up liquid, press on and the magic swirling thing happens and voila, all clean and ready for next use.....

Could you imagine all the products you could by for it? Oh....yeah...the plaid catholic schoolgirl skirt...ssssssssizzlin!!

Rob

 

[Nick Ryder]

I'm sure they'll be popular if they're affordable. Course if they are mildly intelligent, maybe not being able think more than their programming - I think some people, even sci-fi fans fear things like Data, the Doctor and Vic Fontaine (the horror!) happening if we attempt to give anything mechanical a smarter AI. They still need to be programmed by humans with a set of variables, sure they may be able to adapt, but even my "smart" browser or the "TIVO AI" can be downright dumb. SHould I fear the TIVO boxes talking to us? I don't think so.

But it does bring up a sort of moral issue... if people start relying on their mechanical sex doll to give them what they can't get with flesh and blood... would we start seeing theft and "kidnapping" of someone's sex doll? Would we be having android "pimps" setting up shop in neighborhoods trading android sex for money?

Although its still a highly technical blow up doll. But if given the choice of some pimp selling latex flesh or human flesh... I guess I'd rather them selling the android. But what if a husband buys the sex android so he's got something to play with when the wife isn't around, or just not in the mood. I mean there are plenty of relationships that are broken because of one partner's or the others is addicted to porn? Now they've got porn and an android servicing them? Would it be considered cheating? Or just expensive masturbation?

 

[Holdfast]

While I could see the appeal, I wouldn't want to have to clean it.

They'll be self-cleaning, like that halogen oven thing they advertise on infomercials. You know the one, you just squeeze in some washing-up liquid, press on and the magic swirling thing happens and voila, all clean and ready for next use.....

Could you imagine all the products you could by for it? Oh....yeah...the plaid catholic schoolgirl skirt...ssssssssizzlin!!

Rob

The base model will be cheap, but the accessories will be really expensive. Just like razors. That'll be how they stiff you (quite literally...)

 

[Lt. Trull]

I'll wait for the $49.95 ronco version.

 

[Admiral2]

I keep reading about the Japanese and their new robots, here and there. And you have to know, that real soon, they are going to have sexy robot/android creations that are, well, fully functional. We all know that PORN drives the internet, and decided the fate of VHS vs Beta...I think SEX will drive the advancement of robots/androids.

Now..if they pair one of these androids that looks like a Japanese anime, with an AI brain, would you buy one? You know you would...even if you say you wouldn't. Would I? Sure....would I want it to have rights? hell no. Would size matter to it? Ummm..they can be reprogrammed right?

Rob

That looks like an anime? No.

That looks like Megan Fox? I'd trade a limb for it!

 

[SiorX]

My problem's with the kind of cognitive/empathy disconnect that seems to me to be necessary to treat something that looks so human as a tool. A dildo, a vibrator, your standard sex toys hell, even old fashioned blow up dolls are just about getting your rocks off. No harm.

But that's the thing, there are literally thousands of designs of sex toy that look just like a human penis.

One could argue that buy buying one of those you are both reducing men's usefulness down to a single body part and, given how big they usually are as well, you're sending all sorts of messages.

Fair enough. I'd be more than willing to give an ear to those arguments. There is a sort of sitcom joke culture about the reduction of men to dildos who can open jars. So yeah, I'd absolutely be willing to think about whether there are kinds of sex toys that play into that, and whether that has a wider cultural impact.

If you can do it with your hand, why does prostitution exist ?

With respect, I don't think it's a good idea for us to get into a debate on prostitution here. This isn't the forum for it, and frankly I can see it spiralling into a huge time- and energy-devouring debate. This is also why I haven't responded to your points about prostitution or porn below.

I suggest the difference is that despite a lot of people trying to make it otherwise, it's still socially acceptable to want to have sex with a woman.

I'm now curious as to who on earth wants to make sex socially unacceptable. Is it a splinter group of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement?

My point was really about turning the focus from the theoretical rights of an android to the theoretical person who uses one. As you say, people would find it socially unacceptable because of what it represents - because the inference is that a person who would use one is using it to live out a fantasy of 'sex' with a child.

I say I'm squicked by the idea of a sex robot, because it seems to me to represent fantasy sex which removes consent from the equation. Enthusiastic consent is such an important aspect of what sex is to me that its absense - which appears to me to be not only an unavoidable feature, but actually a selling point of the sexbot fantasy - is something I find incredibly unsettling.

When it comes down to it, people directly affected have always objected when an easier and more convenient competition comes along. Men want sex and time was they'd have to jump through whatever hoops the local mating rituals dictate to get it...
This would just be the next stage of that, easier and more convenient for men and competition for women.

I would have to severely disagree with your logic here.

[Heterosexual] Sex isn't a commodity to which women unfairly
monopolise and withold from men. It's two or more people mutually consenting to [insert activity of choice here].

If one partner can get exactly what they want from a non-sentient doll then I'd put it to you that those dolls are not in direct competition with real people at all.

Since I'm the one whose been most vocal in my dislike of the idea of sexbots in this thread, and I'm not currently aware of any group campaigning against them, can I infer that you think my objection may be predicated on jealousy. Let me reiterate firmly that knowing a man or woman thought of sex as a commodity for which I was unfairly making them pay through tedious fulfillment of tasks they didn't want to perform would be a surer sign of our incompatibility than their thinking Nemesis was the best Trek movie.

 

[Ptrope]

I have no doubt that we'll see something like this - trying to make robots appear more human really points to this concept exactly; why would we need to have humanoid robots to do tasks that don't require intimate human interaction? Would we really need them as teachers or miners or pilots? No, we'd need that in sex dolls.

I wouldn't call them slaves, though, for most of the reasons discussed here - they wouldn't need to be self-aware, and they would be programmed to be sexual partners, not to be gardeners that some doofus is going to see bent over amongst the petunias and suddenly jump on top of with his pants down. There would be no rape in the owner/robot relationship - she (more likely than "he") would simply be programmed with her owner's particular likes, fetishes, etc. and would respond enthusiastically to those. Sure, there might be a possibility of theft and abuse, or, depending upon the social and legal climate, blackmail. Prostitution is also a distinct possibility, and as mentioned, there could be a protest from the humans whose profession would be endangered by mechanical surrogates who wouldn't run the risk of transmitting diseases, and whose upkeep wouldn't require food and lodging.

"Minors" would also be a potential market, as mentioned, though it would probably be a black market; even if the law couldn't proscribe non-human machines that resemble human children, the social stigma would probably still stand - that alone would probably also have the counterintuitive result of even more accuracy in making them indistinguishable from human beings, even on close-up inspection, so that the owner didn't have to worry about being seen (though he would probably have to move to a new area in order to take delivery, rather than to answer questions about where his 'niece' came from ).

What you really need to worry about is: once functional, practical sex 'droids become available, how long will it be before the same technology comes wrapped up in a German Shepherd body?

 

[melancholymecha]

wouldnt humanoid robots be useful as just companions? maybe for the elderly, mentally disabled or socially anxious people? or for babysitting?

 

[CaptJimboJones]

Good lord that site is disturbing.

 

[barnaclelapse]

When the time arrives I'll stick to old-fashioned, morally and spiritually bankrupt hookers, thank-you very much,

 

[Ptrope]

^^

Sure, and if you bought a sex toy, you'd also be wise to have her/him/it programmed as a maid, companion, etc. - just to really see your money's worth out of it, and to also limit questions; why hire a real maid, who couldn't be counted on to keep her mouth shut about your 'hobbies,' when your robo-pet could do the work without complaining, take care of your physical needs, and be programmed never to tell a soul?

I don't think I'd want a robo-sitter or caretaker, though - too many variables in the possible crises, that a human could respond far better to. Not to mention troublesome children who might feel no compunctions against sabotaging Robo-Nanny.

These devices would undoubtedly be incredibly expensive - it's never going to be like the movie I, Robot where they show up with truckloads of these for every Tom, Dick and Harriet - it would require a ton of money, and that sort of cash is already probably used to a certain expectation of privacy and/or isolation. Or insulation - highly-successful types who either can't or don't want to deal with human intimacy, and a robo-Pet would give them control over their privacy while also allowing them to indulge themselves without publicity.

 

[RobertScorpio]

^^

Sure, and if you bought a sex toy, you'd also be wise to have her/him/it programmed as a maid, companion, etc. - just to really see your money's worth out of it, and to also limit questions; why hire a real maid, who couldn't be counted on to keep her mouth shut about your 'hobbies,' when your robo-pet could do the work without complaining, take care of your physical needs, and be programmed never to tell a soul?

I don't think I'd want a robo-sitter or caretaker, though - too many variables in the possible crises, that a human could respond far better to. Not to mention troublesome children who might feel no compunctions against sabotaging Robo-Nanny.

These devices would undoubtedly be incredibly expensive - it's never going to be like the movie I, Robot where they show up with truckloads of these for every Tom, Dick and Harriet - it would require a ton of money, and that sort of cash is already probably used to a certain expectation of privacy and/or isolation. Or insulation - highly-successful types who either can't or don't want to deal with human intimacy, and a robo-Pet would give them control over their privacy while also allowing them to indulge themselves without publicity.

couldn't disagree more...I predict there will sex androids in the future, and they will sell very well. You should thank all those men who had orgasms while surfing for porn for making the cost of computers come down in price, in terms of relative price...the computer you are typing on right now was built on the backbone of sperm...I can put it no more clearly than that..

rob

 

[Supreme Admiral]

Why are we discussing this such creeping thread?

 

[Ptrope]

Regardless of how good the tech becomes to enable this, the technology needed to make a useful sex-droid that is significantly more capable than a Real Doll is not going to come down to a 'commodity' price point - not only because the hardware and software would be much, much more sophisticated, but simply because the use of such a device would place a premium on its existence. People would be paying for the convenience, the secrecy, in addition to the sheer technology. It's nothing like a PC, where you can walk into any one of thousands of appliance stores and there is a ton of competition that brings the price down to less than $1000 or even less than $250; something like this would be more like a Rolls-Royce or Bugatti, where there aren't nearly as many of them, and you pay for both the tech and the exclusivity. I doubt highly that, even if they become reality, there will ever be more than about 100 sex-bots in existence at any one time, and each one of them likely a custom order. They won't have an "Intel Inside/Mattel Outside" stamp on their asses .

Why are we discussing this such creeping thread?

Because it's actually a good topic to discuss? Although it would probably make more sense in the "Science & Technology" forum ...

 

[P0sitr0nic]

I can see all sorts of uses for humanoid AI androids. Sex workers, as has been repeatedly mentioned, companions for the disabled, even children for those who cannot have any themselves.

There is no limit to the uses, or perversions, they can be put to.