Monday, May 05, 2008

Maybe love is letting people be just what they want to be/ The door always must be left unlocked   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

I think I missed this in February (back when there was a Republican primary wrapping up...remember that?):

At the Museum of Sex in New York City, artificial-intelligence researcher David Levy projected a mock image on a screen of a smiling bride in a wedding dress holding hands with a short robot groom. “Why not marry a robot? Look at this happy couple,” he said to a chuckling crowd.

When Levy was then asked whether anyone who would want to marry a robot was deluded, his face grew serious. “If the alternative is that you are lonely and sad and miserable, is it not better to find a robot that claims to love you and acts like it loves you?” Levy responded. “Does it really matter, if you’re a happier person?” In his 2007 book, Love and Sex with Robots, Levy contends that sex, love and even marriage between humans and robots are coming soon and, perhaps, are even desirable. “I know some people think the idea is totally outlandish,” he says. “But I am totally convinced it’s inevitable.”

(Subject line courtesy of Howard Jones)

UPDATE: An e-mail:

Laura Ingraham had Mr. Levy on her show.   It was an "interesting" interview.  When he talks of "coming soon" I think he's referring to approx 50 years.   Of course, I do think the concept is twisted, but he does seem sincere, and seems to care about the lonely folk out there (he himself is married - and BTW he thinks that sex with a robot should not be considered "cheating" on the marriage).   Listening to him, you can hear how "well-meaning" liberals could allow all this to happen.

05/05 10:49 AMShare