back to article Sexbots could ‘over-exert’ their human lovers, academic warns

The possibility of sex robots over-exerting their human lovers to the point of collapse is just one of the ethical conundrums academics and society need to get their head round, a Swiss academic told a conference on sex robots today. Oliver Bendel, of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland, told …

  1. Alan Bourke

    Yeah?

    We'll see about that ...

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge
    2. Version 1.0 Silver badge

      Re: Yeah?

      I'll volunteer to be a guinea pig and give it a shot - I'm up for it.

  2. tony72
    Paris Hilton

    Umm

    “If the machine over-exerts the human, it reduces the possibility of human sex,” Bendel warned.

    I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that if you have a sexbot that you find so attractive and sexually fulfilling that you allow it to "over-exert" you, then you're probably not going to be that bothered about human sex.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Pirate

      "you're probably not going to be that bothered about human sex"

      And indeed, not at great risk of getting human sex. Which is the most likely reason for buying a sexbot in the first place.

      (I say "buying", because I don't want to countenance the idea of renting one.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "you're probably not going to be that bothered about human sex"

        (I say "buying", because I don't want to countenance the idea of renting one.)

        "Renting" is already quite normal for human-human sex, especially amongst the younger crowd; and if you think humans would be more hygienic than purpose-built sexbots, you've probably not given much thought to the biology of human orifices.

        1. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Devil

          Re: "you're probably not going to be that bothered about human sex"

          the 'rental' problem is solved as long as the bot has detachable/replaceable "parts" that can be properly cleaned/sterilized, or simply "you have to buy your own". 99% of the bot could be 'rented' and 1% purchased.

          And of course, it wouldn't demand "palimony", expensive gifts. It wouldn't gripe at you for no reason, lie about you to your friends/enemies and/or take you to court, etc. etc. etc.

          And if people don't accept your "Robosexuality", you can call them "Robo-phobes".

          [there's a term for something a lot *like* this on certain image boards... yeah, 'moot' point]

          1. T-Bo

            Re: "you're probably not going to be that bothered about human sex"

            And of course, it wouldn't demand "palimony", expensive gifts. It wouldn't gripe at you for no reason, lie about you to your friends/enemies and/or take you to court, etc. etc. etc.

            That'll be version 2.0 then ... or optional Service Packs perhaps?

        2. zb

          Re: "you're probably not going to be that bothered about human sex"

          Reminds me of the old millionaire's adage:

          "If it flies, floats or F***s: rent don't buy

    2. dbayly

      Re: Umm

      Apropos

      http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/the-anime-girlfriend-experience-gateboxs-ai-powered-holographic-home-robot/

    3. Goldmember

      Re: Umm

      It doesn't matter what society-imposed "safeguards" or morals are included; the modding/cracking communities will be all over this from day one. Just look at how quickly games are cracked. I see no reason why the firmware of a sexbot could be not modified to get around this.

      And I should imagine the motivation to do so would be immense, to say the least...

    4. Matt Bryant Silver badge

      Re: tony72 Re: Umm

      "....a sexbot that you find so attractive and sexually fulfilling....." Even more to the point, is he suggesting we should somehow punish those women that are currently the "apex predators" in attractiveness as they reduce the chance men will want to have sex with "ordinary" women? Will a legally-enforced limit be set to how sexy Margot Robbie can look going to be set? Seeing as the whole fashion industry depends on people remaining insecure about their looks and constantly trying to attain an artificial and - frankly, for the majority of people - unobtainable level of attractive "perfectness", I don't see that being a problem for the sex robot manufacturers in court. And that's before we start looking at other hanger-ones to the fashion industry, such as womens' magazines, which seem to constantly pump out articles stating "buy this rag and we'll tell you how to have the best sex ever".

  3. frank ly

    I'm waiting for ....

    ... the whiskey bottle that refuses to open if it thinks you've had too much or if it suspects that you are likely to drive soon.

    1. Zog_but_not_the_first
      Facepalm

      Re: I'm waiting for ....

      Noooooo!

      Not the IoN (Internet of Nannies).

      1. Mark 85

        Re: I'm waiting for ....

        Not the IoN (Internet of Nannies).

        Too late, it's already here. We have governments trying to stop porn, wanting magical encryption, backdoors, and the usual "thinking of the children" and of course, terrorism.

        Here's the latest one: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/19/south_carolina_calls_for_smutfree_pcs/

    2. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: I'm waiting for ....

      Hopefully, by the time that whisky bottles become as intelligent as a barman, my car will be intelligent enough to drive me home without my input.

      1. Danny 14

        Re: I'm waiting for ....

        They have them already. We call them taxis round here.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I'm waiting for ....

          I know you're being deliberately obtuse but taxis are not available everywhere. I live in the countryside a good distance from the nearest population centre in a country where taxis are expensive (and Uber banned). For a taxi to come out of the city to pick me up from my local and take me home (about a 10 minute drive) costs upwards of 65 euros. Makes a quick pint or two pretty expensive

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I'm waiting for ....

            " I live in the countryside [...]"

            That used to be solved by riding a horse which could find its own way home from the pub..

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At least it will allow you to fall asleep afterwards.

  5. chivo243 Silver badge
    Happy

    male and female

    As a male, when I'm done, well, I'm done. I don't think a robot is going to revitalize me any faster than a flesh and blood woman.

    As a woman, well, the robotic parter can keep going until the woman is done.

    Surely there would be a "safe" button like a safe word on such a mechanical device?

    Smiley Face as we all like Happy Endings ;-}

    1. art guerrilla

      Re: male and female

      okay, but what about that hot bot-on-bot action ? ? ?

      will bot-on-bots over-exert themselves to crashing and burning ? ? ?

      1. annodomini2

        Re: male and female

        May bring new meaning to:

        "My Sex is on Fire!"

  6. Graham 7

    I'll await someone attaching a V8 engine to a Sexbot...

    1. Danny 14

      left, down, rotate sixty-two degrees, engage rotor

  7. Michael Thibault

    Does a "kill button for arachnophobes" turn the machine on arachnophobes who press the button? Slightly disproportionate as features go, but I can see how it's not entirely a bad thing.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Kill arachnophobes

      "Slightly disproportionate as features go, but I can see how it's not entirely a bad thing."

      Given the way spiders control flies without the use of toxic chemicals, thus promoting human health, taking action against arachnophobes might not indeed be a bad thing. But killing is over-drastic. Instead the two ideas should be combined into a sex robot that is activated when arachnophobes encounter spiders, thus using operant conditioning to remove their phobia.

      It would be banned in Australia, obviously.

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        Re: Kill arachnophobes

        It wouldn't be banned in Australia, just useless.

        Knowing our spiders, it'll dodge the attack from the arachnaphone, crawl into one of the sexbots orifices, and sit there rubbing it's legs together thinking "I'll get you my pretty. Mwahahahahahahahahahaha"

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Kill arachnophobes

        Given the way spiders control flies without the use of toxic chemicals

        So, injection of a potent neurotoxin to paralyse the fly, and then injection it with enzymes that melt it alive is not toxic? Are you a vegetarian or otherwise critically impaired?

        Note: Re-reading that, it sounds horribly aggressive and insulting, and it isn't meant that way. Imagine the sort of ribbing you'd get in the pub, if you would. Maybe one day we'll have an icon for that.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. GrapeBunch
          Pint

          Re: Kill arachnophobes

          "Note: Re-reading that, it sounds horribly aggressive and insulting, and it isn't meant that way. Imagine the sort of ribbing you'd get in the pub, if you would. Maybe one day we'll have an icon for that."

          How about that glass of beer, but tête-bêche? By recycling an existing image, we are conserving electrons. That is the first law. By Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation, the beer itself would be more strongly attracted to the table than to the glass. But in Canada, at least, putting an empty glass upside down on a table in a drinking establishment means that you are willing to fight anybody in the house. So for ribbing the glass must stay full. Or, there is no table, and therefore no fisticuffs.

          But what I really want to know is, where may I purchase this arachnophone? O, to hear the symphony of Metebelis III!

          I think that the subject in the headline has been dealt with in Fiction and in Science Fiction, but because it would probably get a book banned in many jurisdictions, authors have chosen to deal with it euphemistically or even symbolically. One such described a relationship between a male astronaut, and a female companion who had chosen an operation which made her more On-Off, less cyclic; to help with the exigencies of long periods in Space. Before long, he was wondering if he was wise to refuse this same operation. She was way too much his energizer bunny. As she wasn't a robot, he could not simply turn her off when he had had enough.

        3. Speltier

          Re: Kill arachnophobes

          So you'd rather your food (not to speak of everything you touch) is covered by dirty fly lips?

          The arachnophobe pressing the kill switch should be cursed by a plague of flies.

      3. Rattus Rattus
        Unhappy

        Re: "It would be banned in Australia, obviously."

        What isn't?

  8. Moosh

    I doubt i'd legally be able to program the robot to do what i'd like it to do to me in Britain.

    1. MrDamage Silver badge

      Given the wowser brigades distaste for squirting, I'm sure they will make serving beer from a sexbots nipples illegal.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > I doubt i'd legally be able to program the robot to do what i'd like it to do to me in Britain.

      Yeah, but that's not really a robotics problem, that's a challenge to the artificial taste and smell industry and given how crap most of those are I suspect the female of the species has a long time to go before becoming obsolete.

  9. Anonymous C0ward
    Paris Hilton

    Let them over-exert, it'd be a fun way to go. My main concerns about sexbots, however, are whether their skin would be realistic to the touch, and whether they would be able to cuddle as well as providing a convenient hole.

  10. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Human sexuality has certain “physical limits” - not me. Bring it on sex-bots.

  11. thomn8r

    The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBRFYNI420M

    1. cray74

      The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised

      Speaking of Futurama, I was wondering if Dr. Bendel had primarily done his research by watching Futurama's "I Dated a Robot" public service announcement.

      1. RAMChYLD

        Just noticed that the researcher's name is Bendel. That's one letter away from Bender...

        1. fajensen
          Terminator

          Yup - Those names: Adrian David Cheok, Kate Devlin, David Levy, Genevieve Liveley, Eleanor Hancock.

          I wonder, they do sound similar to all those people who want to date me if only I click on this here link.

          Maybe the robots are already coming? Sexbotzs and Conferences about them are just to lure us in and secretly replace us with robot copies - having plied all of our secrets from us with unspeakable and lewd acts.

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Snu snu!!!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So what do they propose doing about human lovers who over-exert their partners? I'm sure most of us have either done it or had it done to us, so no need to share details.

    I'd say this is going to be a natural step to removing sex from our lives at all, because we're already at the point where we can make sperm and ova from skin cells, how long can it be necessary for?

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      I'm actually more likely to over-exert myself for a human partner than I would if I were just out for my own pleasure. In fact when I stumble over an oasis during an occasional arid period, I'm likely to find myself aching all over the next day.

      What will do for the ticky-tickers of hedonists is the use of pharmaceutical substances - but over exertion can happen when dancing vertically, not just horizontally.

      For some reason I'm now thinking of a Philip K Dick story about a colony on Mars being fed a narcotic that only produces a hallucinatory idyll when the user is playing with miniature models of pleasant environments.

      1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

        The Days of Perky Pat. With a reprise in The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          >The Days of Perky Pat. With a reprise in The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

          Ahhh, I've read Three Stigmata but not Perky Pat, whoch might explain why I was mild confused throughout. Of course I was expecting to be a bit confused anyways, on account of the author being PKD.

          1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

            I thought it was Three Stigmata you were probably thinking of. I read them the wrong way round and I don't recall The Days Of Perky Pat clarifying much. They're the same concept used to different ends.

  13. Banksy
    Thumb Up

    Death by snu snu

    Sounds like a hell of a way to go. I can think of worse.

  14. Richard 31
    Paris Hilton

    If you have bought a sex-bot, you probably don't have a real person to screw anyway.

    Anyone seem my order?

    1. MrXavia

      I wonder how many would choose a sex bot over a real living human bean

      Especially if it had a decent AI to talk with....

      1. Mark 85

        Talk? No.. I don't need to hear that the ceiling needs to be painted or what the neighbors are doing. How about having it make a sandwich instead?

        1. thomn8r

          You can name her "Sudo" as in "sudo make me a sandwich"

          https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sandwich.png

        2. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
          Joke

          @Mark 85

          It could probably paint the ceiling and make you a sandwich and tell you about the threesome it had with the neighbours whilst taking care of you, all at the same time

  15. skswales
    Gimp

    The flip side being (the gospel according to Zappa):

    Sy borg:

    Plooking too hard

    On me-e-e-e-e...

    Joe:

    Speak to me

    Oh no...

    The golden shower

    Must have shorted out

    His master circuit

    He's, he's, oh my god

    I must have

    Plooked him...

    Hey

    To death...

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    so; what's new?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnqFkhSOvXc

  17. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Hmm, all mobile mobile phones have to be capable of ringing emergency services - even without a SIM or passcode; the logic being that it is unacceptable for a device not to be able to call for help just because of a billing dispute.

    It strikes me that any robotic simulacrum of a human that could pass as an adequate 'lover' would necessarily have the sensors and motors needed to detect and possibly react to a range of medical events (suspected choking, heart attack, stroke etc) that might befall their human 'partner'. Would it be mandatory that all such androids have to have the necessary software? So then, it is a nurse, as well as a 'lover'... from there, simple tasks such as feeding the cat (if you have a real cat and not a robotic cat) and cooking dinner wouldn't require much additional programming / training.

    Of course, it is plausible that by the time such androids are built, humans will have microscopic biomedical sensors implanted in them as a matter of course, and that any detection of anomalous health data results in said data immediately being sent off-site to medical staff / systems, who can then remotely utilise any nearby sexbot / robot waiter / aircon systems* to mitigate the emergency until paramedics (human or robotic) arrive.

    *There are a range of medical emergencies where the patient's life expectancy is increased if their body temperature is reduced. There is currently a device used that uses the large surface area of your lungs to rapidly drop your body temperature.

    1. jonathan keith

      "I met someone who looks a lot like you, she does the things you do - but she's an IBM".

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY2P4i4xHy8

      1. Voland's right hand Silver badge
        Terminator

        +1 for quoting ELO.

        Let's finish the quote though:

        She's only programmed to be very nice

        But she's as cold as ice

        1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

          @Voland's right hand

          But she's as cold as ice

          Or, the fleshy kind...

          "I know a girl from a lonely street

          Cold as ice cream but still as sweet"

          Sunday Girl. Chris Stein

  18. earl grey
    Paris Hilton

    If it's a fembot you won't survive anyway

    That is all...

  19. Captain Hogwash

    Your Android replica is playing up again

    It's no joke. When she comes she moans another's name.

    -Spirit Of The Age, Hawkwind

    1. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Your Android replica is playing up again

      Cannot upvote enough.

  20. Chris G

    An answer to one question

    "- and indeed where would the use of sex robots be considered unacceptable."

    I'm going for McDonalds on a Saturday morning!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: An answer to one question

      > I'm going for McDonalds on a Saturday morning!

      Given the stick the Misses gives me when I'm just trying to be friendly, the freezer isle in Waitrose seems to be out the question every day of the week.

      1. d3vy

        Re: An answer to one question

        She gives you "the stick" n the freezer isle?

        You filth monster.

        1. ecofeco Silver badge

          Re: An answer to one question

          She gives you "the stick" n the freezer isle?

          That's just cold.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ladybird friendly

    Well a hoover being friendly to ladybirds is one thing, but I don't want a one that won't suck up creepy crawlys. The summer after we bought our house we made the mistake of leaving the kitchen window open and the lights on on the night the ants fly.

    Big mistake!

    Came into the kitchen to find every surface crawling.

    The only answer was to breakout the Vax.

    Soon cleared the little buggers

    Then I realised I sucked up so many the bag had come adrift and there was just a seething ball of the damn things in the drum.

  22. Fungus Bob

    What I want to know is why academics are spending so much time thinkin' 'bout sex robots.

    On second thought, no, I don't. Really. Ignorance is bliss.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      If you don't have it, you think about having it.

      "Dumm fickt gut - Die Tragik der Hochbegabten" -- Horst Evers

    2. JimC

      > why academics are spending so much time thinkin' 'bout sex robots.

      Far far better than religion, bread or circuses at keeping the plebs quiet.

      On the subject of robots that over exert their human partner, a song on exactly those lines was more or less the college theme tune when I was at Imperial back in the 70s. I'm rather surprised no-one has mentioned it before.

      It started "an engineer told me before he died"...

    3. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Unhappy

      "What I want to know is why academics are spending so much time thinkin' 'bout sex robots."

      yeah answer is probably obvious. but I'll enumerate my thoughts anyway..

      1. why play "the game" when (if you're a geek) you can INVENT something

      2. the consequences following a sexual encounter with a 'fleshy' female are potentially life-damaging

      (and that includes a lifetime of legal problems, from false accusations to paternity issues)

      3. except for certain parts of the world, it seems that females are being conditioned into becoming man-hating b.i.itches, particularly in colleges.

      4. who wants to raise offspring in *THIS* kind of environment? ninny-nanny neighbors, helicopter parenting, public schools that are indoctrination centers, yotta yotta yotta

      Robots are looking pretty damn good!

      [I always figured that the p0rn industry would be where all of the really cool development for human-like androids would be made, particularly gynoids]

      So, when you're tired of pretending to be someone you are NOT in order to get women to even TALK to you, or forking over huge amounts of money and/or expensive gifts in the hope of 'getting lucky', or marrying some lady that was pretending to be 'what you wanted' so that she [later] can take you for everything you've got, or told "no means no [unless it means yes]" by every female you even ask to go to Starbucks, and maybe fired once or twice for 'harassment' because you asked a lady at work [or AT SCHOOL] out on a date, or been forced to endure "sensitivity training" simply because you looked at a woman's boobs once too many, MAYBE, just MAYBE, it's time for an *ALTERNATIVE* ???

      And then 'death by snu snu' not such a bad thing, perhaps...

  23. JLV
    Unhappy

    And, yes, taxpayers _somewhere_ are funding this critical research.

    Goes well with the $20 anti-porn chip law in South Carolina, does it not?

    Sometimes, I get the reason for all the cynicism about guvment being a waste of money, despite most everyone rather liking public services like education and health.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sometimes, I get the reason for all the cynicism about guvment being a waste of money, despite most everyone rather liking public services like education and health.

      If you look into American, and increasingly British, politics, it's the education and health they don't want to spend money on.

  24. Unicornpiss
    Happy

    Thoughts...

    Microsoft robot: (approaching happy ending) "Sorry. Something went wrong :/ " Invalid Endpoint? Installing updates 30% Please do not pull out or shut down your robot.

    Apple robot: (human) "Ouch!" (robot) "But our marketing team has decided that you like that." What do you mean you need my iCloud password again?? Press harder for more options..

    Linux robot: (robot) "Unsatisfied dependency" (human) "FSCK!" chmod.. configure WINE.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Thoughts...

      Linux has had sex robots for quite a while, no need for wine:

      #!/bin/bash

      move

      finger

      more

      mount

      fsck

      umount

      more

      chmod

      mount

      fsck

      umount

      sleep

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How's it different than masturbation?

    Either way you can satisfy sexual urges at any time you want for as long as you want. I don't see how sex robots will exhaust people more than masturbation would.

    Now if they can wire directly into your brain so you have a push button orgasm, then we'll probably all die quite quickly, at least based on what they learned from doing the same to rats.

    1. magickmark
      Paris Hilton

      Re: How's it different than masturbation?

      "Now if they can wire directly into your brain so you have a push button orgasm"

      I believe we (blokes) already do, its called the Prostrate, only problem is its a little tricky to get to!!

  26. martinusher Silver badge

    It was clearly stated in the Terms and Conditions....

    ....that the user agreed to before the 'bot was activated that misuse or overuse of this product may cause situations that could potentially injure the user. Users was advised of all risks and was required to waive liability claims.

    Anyway, think of it as enhancing natural selection.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    face sit?

    Will be there be an adult Robot Wars?

    Get some machines and have them go for it and see which ones have a seizure first or which create most orgasms - Craig Charles can come back and do the commmentating.

    But more importantly will the powers that be allow them to face sit?

    Or even, um.. ok, I won't go there.

  28. Stevie

    Bah!

    And who said the Swiss were a humourless nation?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bah!

      And who said the Swiss were a humourless nation?

      The Swiss have a great sense of humour but, like many of their best products, they tend not to waste it on foreigners.

  29. Stevie

    Bah!

    "should robots be compelled to reveal they are, indeed, robots."

    The caterpillar tracks and laser turret would be the give-away here I think.

  30. Nick Kew
    Megaphone

    What's new?

    Wilt was published in the mid-1970s.

    ... and look at the trouble "Judy" caused him, 40 years ago ...

  31. ecofeco Silver badge

    DEATH!

    By SNU SNU!!

  32. Michael Habel

    Safety First!

    Never fist Android Girls!

    1. Unicornpiss
      Coat

      You know who likes fisting?

      ...sock puppets

  33. TheWeenie
    Terminator

    I would assume that you could only download configurations from a government controlled website, and that there will be a centrally administered body to ensure that only approved activities are allowed.

    Or maybe you'll be allowed to download voice packs like you could do with the TomTom satnavs back in the day. You could have Tasty Theresa, Margaret the Minx or Saucy Sturgeon for those chaps north of the border, or for the ladies you could have Dirty Dave, Girthy Gordon or...no. Just no.

    Obviously the UK-approved bedroom-bots would have a chip-and-pin reader on the front too, to allow easy payments to HMRC for the 50% todger-tax that would inevitably be levied against any robo-humping.

  34. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Barbarella

    "...in the Excessive Machine"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu7GgZbCLsY

  35. Yesnomaybe

    AI and ethics

    I enjoy these discussions around AI and the ethical conundrums they will bring up. And people are talking about embedding "laws" into the AI for the protection of humans or other reasons. Asimov would approve. But it's not going to be like that. We don't live in that kind of society. It is a competitive market. Every maker of AI will invent it's own implementation of laws. Whatever sells really. And a self-limiting robot in THIS circumstance will not sell.

  36. Leeroy

    Internet Of Tits

    Or Todgers, whatever takes your fancy.

    I will have the dumb non connected model please, actually make that 2. The batteries always die at the wrong time and it would be nice to have a spare :)

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oooh you are a tease..

    '..robots should have the capability of “refusal” in “extreme” circumstance.'

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They really are going to need a black box recorder in case of fatal accidents.

    Maybe you'll be able to download a new personailty for 'em too.

    Demure? Tarty? Dominatrix? - and the male equivalents of course: sensitive, insensitive, grunt

  39. thomas k

    sexbots?

    I'm likely to over-exert myself just watching videos.

  40. rgriffith

    Exercise Option.

    Don't we generally need more exercise anyways. Bring it on.

  41. Steve K

    HAL

    "Open the pod bay doors, HAL"

    "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave. You must be knackered by now - how about a cup of tea instead?"

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely all we would need to do is amend asimov laws of robotics from:

    A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

    A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

    A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

    To include:

    A robot must not F&%$ a human to death.

    All fixed...

    1. Tom 38
      Stop

      In what universe does "Fucking a human to death" not come under the definition of Rule 1 - "injury through action" (or inaction, depending on position I suppose).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sure, now someone will invent a robot-lawyer to work on the definition of Human.

      1. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Unhappy

        "now someone will invent a robot-lawyer"

        it's all "part of the experience" - seems to be an inevitability from the 'fleshy' variety, so why not robots too?

        water is wet... sky is blue... etc.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sure, now someone will invent a robot-lawyer to work on the definition of Human

        Been done. Have you not been following the Prenda Law case? Evil robot lawyers too.

        (I gather that Prenda was originally intended to be a sex robot company but the marketing department misunderstood the specification, which required them to "screw as many johns as possible.")

  43. Jim-234

    To quote Futurama

    You need robot hookers as there are some things you just don't want to do with your robot girlfriend.

  44. J.G.Harston Silver badge
  45. Rural area satellite.

    There might be a new market for Euthanasia-bots, which can temporarily disable Asimov's first law?

    Come to think of it a hacked Mata-Hari model that records any secrets you may unwittingly divulge could be a great cash-cow too. Just don't call it Alexa.

  46. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    First Refusal

    The idea of allowing a sexbot to say no rather defeats the purpose of having them in the first place. The people who dream of sexbots do so because they are seeking a partner who cannot refuse them, unlike all the humans they have tried to have sex with.

    I saw a doco on TV a few years back about men (they were all men of course) trying to build sexbots in their garages and basements (there seems to be a vibrant maker community of amateur sexbot builders). They were all anorak-wearing weirdos who had (probably wisely) given up trying to get anywhere with real women.

  47. Milton

    Dolls

    I can't remember the source, but some years ago I read an article about some outfit in the US (west coast, I think) which made and sold apparently realistic non-robotic sex dolls. I recall they were highly customisable per purchaser, very expensive, and (from photos at the time) did look surprisingly realistic. ISTR there was even mention of construction methods to ensure realistic articulation, flesh and skin.

    Despite the arguably sleazy topic it was quite fascinating, because you couldn't read it without wondering, '"Well, what happens next? They'll build mobile, automated ones."

    Still seems like something that's a very long way off, even if society doesn't have a pang of moral horror about the whole thing. And you have to ask this practical question: if you're so frustrated, or for some reason otherwise inclined simply to pay for sex, won't a human sex worker always be cheaper than a robot?

    1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

      Re: Dolls

      Realdolls are still going, unsurprisingly.

      There are multiple very obvious answers to your question :

      Robots may or may not be expensive, but either way, if they're good enough to have sex with you, they'll be good enough to be rented.

      Human sex workers are not cheap. On a one off basis they're much less expensive than a Realdoll or a future imagined sex robot, but on a repeated basis, a robot may be cheaper.

      For men, there is a large stigma with using any form of sex aid or sex worker, and the stigma is larger for using a sex worker.

      1. Rande Knight

        Re: Dolls

        "For men, there is a large stigma with using any form of sex aid or sex worker, and the stigma is larger for using a sex worker."

        I think it's the other way around.

        You might tell your mate that you shagged a prostitute.

        But you'll _never_ tell your mate that you've got a Tenga in your bedside drawer.

        1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

          Re: Dolls

          Now (assuming you're a man who likes women) ask how the 'average woman' would respond. Given that I've been told to my face by more than one woman that if I'd visited a prostitute I'd be thought less of, you'll excuse me if I believe what I'm told by people I trust.

          (I don't personally use prostitutes, but don't have a problem with people I do. However, I think it's arguable that the statement of 'use a prostitute' often doesn't mean 'I won't have a problem with it', it means ' The reason you can't find someone you like to sleep with is difficult, so I'm going to take the easy way out to make you go away')

  48. Milton

    Dolls

    Having made my previous post I did a quick net search for 'sex dolls' and am now vastly better educated. Also slightly shocked, bemused and, yes ... a leetle bit creeped out. I recommend it for the strong of stomach.

  49. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    "Your arguments are irrefutable. I am R. Daneel Olivaw.

    The R stands for Robot."

  50. lordbot

    I for one, welcome our new sexbot overlords. Dying of exhaustion while having sex, can it be any better?

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