Call for a ban on robots designed as sex toys

[DavidDvorkin]

A campaign has been launched calling for a ban on the development of robots that can be used for sex.

Such a use of the technology is unnecessary and undesirable, said campaign leader Dr Kathleen Richardson.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34118482

The busybodies are always busy.

[RandySF]

1. WTF?

[Marr]

2. ...

[LostOne4Ever]

3. Someone has Seen Armitage III one too many times... (nt)

[TreasonousBastard]

4. She's talking about Roxxy, but...

would she refuse delivery of the Paul Newman doll?

Such dolls, btw, have been a staple of science fiction for years, and pretty much anything a modern academic could say about them has already been said.

(Who was that who got caught in the Holodeck with a hottie, anyway...)

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Yes, she's taking a very one-sided view.

[hunter]

6. Hey! I've seen that sexbot before! She was a staffer in the Bush Administration...

[DavidDvorkin]

9. The most competent member of the administration.

[left-of-center2012]

7. "If you build it, they will .............

Oh, never mind.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. Hah!

[Orrex]

19. ^^Win.

[Humanist_Activist]

10. Has she seen some of the toys available? And not just dolls, particularly those designed...

for her pleasure? They are practically robots, or at least require batteries.

[DavidDvorkin]

11. Perhaps she'd be willing to make an exception for those.

[GoneOffShore]

35. And some of the heavy duty ones need their own generator.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. "I'm just afraid I'll come home one day and find you screwing the toaster"

"...you'll just have to trust me"

[bemildred]

13. Yeah, I love that movie. nt

[icymist]

14. Robosexuals!

[NuclearDem]

82. Ohhhhhh mmyyyyyy yessss

[Jamastiene]

15. Instead of banning them, they should require fail safe manual releases

on all moving parts...something to make it easier in situations like what happened to Howard in that one episode of The Big Bang Theory.

[jmowreader]

16. Do NOT, whatever you do...

...ever...in a million years...google "fucking machines."

[Orrex]

18. Who knew that a reciprocating saw was so versatile?

[jmowreader]

21. Such a reciprocating saw blade is not a DIY project

I recall the sordid tale of a moran who viewed this tool online and decided, "I can make one of those!" He attached a dildo to a Sawzall blade using a method the story didn't explain - they probably didn't want anyone to try it himself. Unfortunately, the stupid shit didn't grind the teeth off before he made it, and the first time they tried it the teeth sawed their way through the dildo with predictable results.

[Orrex]

22. I hate you for telling me that.

[hifiguy]

38. Every dullard has a "brilliant" idea

that is guaranteed not to work.

[Orrex]

17. What could go wrong?

[raccoon]

20. She must be a conservative. And, as you say, a busybody. nt

[Baclava]

23. Ban dildos that have batteries too! Oh, how those poor things must feel!

Vibrating...all the time, day after day.

[Xithras]

24. The campaigner is fairly open with her moralizing.

She believes that they reinforce traditional stereotypes of women
No more or less than a dildo reinforces stereotypes and artificial societal expectations of men.

and the view that a relationship need be nothing more than physical.
But here's the real problem. She is trying to impose her view on what relationships should be. Her argument basically boils down to "I don't agree with that type of relationship, so it should be banned." It's the same argument that has been used against interracial sex, gay sex, masturbation, polyamory, and every other kind of "morally unacceptable" sex since the beginning of time. If someone simply wants a physical sexual relationship, and they can find a partner who only wants a physical sexual relationship, then who the fuck is this person, or ANYONE, to tell them that they can't have it? And if one person decides that he or she wants to have a physical sexual relationship with a 5 foot tall walking talking robotic dildo, how does ANYONE think they have a right to interfere with that?

So long as everyone is consenting and nobody gets injured, who and how people fuck themselves and each other is NOBODIES business but their own.

[DavidDvorkin]

25. Well said.

[hifiguy]

29. Victorian prudery has never gone away.

[DavidDvorkin]

39. The Victorians were less prudish than the stereotypes say

They would have gone ape over sex robots.

[hifiguy]

42. Probably.

A lot of those proper Victorian gentlemen apparently liked to be spanked with canes.

The neo-Victorians are everywhere these days, though, even right here on DU.

[Dorian Gray]

26. Having just watched

Humans, a show about sentient "synths," I don't think I can discuss this rationally.

[DavidDvorkin]

40. That's a great show.

[Dorian Gray]

74. It was really enjoyable!

No I'm onto Mr. Robot (which, funnily enough, seems to have nothing to do with robots or robot sex!)

[DavidDvorkin]

80. That's another great one

Some of the episodes are very strange, and the overall twistiness keeps increasing up to the end. I have no idea what next season will bring.

[hifiguy]

27. Oh lordy lu,

aren't there real problems in the world for people to worry about.

And just whose goddamn business is it if someone wants to have a robot sex doll? Some people just can't help minding the private business of others.

[Octafish]

28. Congress can't stand competition.

They need the money.

[nykym]

30. Robotic Lives Matter

[MineralMan]

31. When all restaurants are Taco Bell,

all sex will be done virtually. I saw that in a documentary a few years ago. Something about Demolition Man or something like that.

[Maeve]

32. Does that include B-OB?

The Battery-Operated Boyfriend? (Electric toothbrushes have multiple uses, y'know!)

Ah, for this to be the biggest problem in my life!

[Warpy]

34. Hey, don't knock B.O.B.

At least you never had to cook him breakfast.

[Warpy]

33. Get a grip, Kathleen

Your male colleagues will be a lot happier with a compliant robot to go home to and maybe they'll stop sexually harassing you in the workplace.

I think Real Dolls were a great invention, suitable partners for the type of man no sane woman ever wants to get near. Robots will be even better.

Don't worry, though, the human race will keep breeding.

[jberryhill]

60. How about ones that look like children?

What then?

[Warpy]

61. Inanimate objects that can't feel pain?

Better than the real thing, 100% of the time.

[jberryhill]

62. I suppose

I would imagine many would find it disturbing. I don't know what to think about it (my wife suggested it as I was reading the article).

Surprised the Japanese don't have them already.

[zazen]

79. they do--she's "14"--I don't know how to post photos or I would n/t

[msanthrope]

81. Please do not post that photo. nt

[GoneOffShore]

36. Lots of slippery slope arguments in that article.

And lots of hand-wringing.

[tblue37]

55. I see what you did there. Pretty subtle. nt

[GoneOffShore]

73. I wish I had seen it. I would have made adjustments.

I don't want to be known as KY GoS.

[MerryBlooms]

37. West World... just sayin'.

[bluedigger]

41. Anyone want to invest on a dating site for cheating robots?

I'm sensing an untapped market about to develop.

[hifiguy]

44. This bot will probably turn up, too

[Glassunion]

83. We can call it Patchy Halogen

[Agnosticsherbet]

43. There was an engineer from Racine

Who invented a sex machine
Both concave and convex
It could serve either sex
Entertaining itself inbetween.

[DavidDvorkin]

48. Bravo!

[Rex]

45. There is always someone or a group out there to tell "you are doing it wrong."

I, for one, welcome our new Sex Toy Overlords.

[longship]

46. So. No Orgasmatron then, eh?

[Tom_Foolery]

47. Love Machine...

[hunter]

49. The first sexbots will be remote controlled, not AI.

Rather like paid phone and internet sex work.

Bored workers watching monitors, pushing buttons, and twitching, um, joysticks.

The worst part of the business will be cleaning the sexbots.

Sometimes it sucks to see the future... no, no, I didn't mean that way.

[kairos12]

50. A whole new spin on "Danger Will Robinson."

[tblue37]

56. Carlos Danger? nt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

51. But it's ok as long as they're all around robots who are just fully functional like Data,

since he's not actually 'designed as a sex toy', right?

[Tree-Hugger]

52. Fully functional

...and programmed in multiple techniques.

[tblue37]

57. Data to Yar?

Her response was, "Oh, you treasure!"

[Tree-Hugger]

58. Yep

Fun episode.

[mainer]

53. True dangers to robot sex.

Big Bang Theory explains.

[pinboy3niner]

59. Bazinga!

[w0nderer]

54. strange

i'd have thought most people (including people opposing sex workers) and people opposing abuse of women (yes I oppose that) would actually approve of this

better a robot than a human
just like i'd support a robot one could beat into splatters....same reason....escape/release

besides less lonely people can't be a bad thing
sad they need robots? ...better than alone and suicidal no?

[hifiguy]

63. H.L. Mencken has already answered that question

"Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."

I am surprised DU's resident Witchfinders General haven't weighed in on this, but they seem to spend most of their time on "timeout" lately.

[w0nderer]

65. love the quote

thanks for the warning
*pulls helmet low*
LOL

btw hifi like sound like highdef units or a sold'erer (radioshack rat)?

[hifiguy]

66. Sound.

I've written about high-end home audio gear for twenty years.

[w0nderer]

68. coolness

my next door neighbor did the whole highdef thing
Speakers on spikes and so forth, optical cables, keeping amp on to keep the temperature 'perfect'

he did get some lovely tunes out

unfortunately for me, like with wine....wish i could tell the diff between 'fantastic' and 'good'

[madinmaryland]

64. Well. Robots are taking "jobs" away from humans (male and female)...

[Go Vols]

67. :/

42 Coolest Robots To Have Sex With Today

NSFW

http://www.studyweb.com/25-coolest-robots-that-you-can-have-sex-with/

[PufPuf23]

69. Zappa Sy Borg

[puzzledeagle]

70. There's a valid concern for this in relation to sex dolls that already exist

Google (beware) "Trottla dolls" to see why. This can get really out of hand quickly.

[DavidDvorkin]

71. OMG, that's really disturbing

But as someone else said upstream, better that people who go in for that sort of thing use robots than go after actual humans.

[prayin4rain]

76. That's so gross and sad. n/t

[Initech]

72. Listen to Futurama: Don't date robots!!!

[Shankapotomus]

75. She has a point when she says this:

""We think that the creation of such robots will contribute to detrimental relationships between men and women, adults and children, men and men and women and women," .

Porn does the same thing.

But here's the problem with banning...

What if someone wants a robot to experience as near to a healthy relationship as possible? Given all the people with poor relationship and social skills, it's conceivable someone could be having a hard time finding a healthy human relationship.

There's nothing wrong with robots. It's the people using them that may or may not have a warped sense of relationships.

If children abuse Barbie dolls do we ban them too? I once threw my Mr. Spock action figure off a roof. That wasn't very nice either.

What about violent movie scripts where people solve problems through violence? Doesn't that contribute to promoting detrimental human relationships?

[Hortensis]

77. Busybodies always have problems with the pursuit of happiness thing. :)

[liberal N proud]

78. People like Dr Kathleen Richardson must lead unhappy lives

With nothing better to do than shit like this.