Robots have Sex lives? (nsfw)

What is it lately with the blogosphere? It seems that I have seen more references this week to robot weirdness than ever before. Cabin fever or what? Anyway, what we have here is more of a 'making of' a film made by Michael Sullivan. It's weird, unsettling and compellingly imagery. It really shows the loopholes in what society calls pornography, when you have for all intents, mangled Barbies and G.I. Joes, stop motion photographed into something that resembles the human condition, I .....guess. It's worth it to hear Sullivan speak about his views and how he managed to make a robot porno...

Sex In Space

Spurred on by the announcement of an upcoming wedding in space, Space.com has a interesting article about the increasing likely hood of sex in space. The upcoming space tourism industry has made it almost inevitable that sex will soon occur in space with relative regularity. Today's society and experts like Jason Kring of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida and science journalist Laura Woodmansee, who penned "Sex in Space" seem ready for this topic.

NASA, however, seems stuck in an earlier, more puritanical era. "We don't study sexuality in space, and we don't have any studies ongoing with that," said NASA spokesman Bill Jeffs of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "If that's your specific topic, there's nothing to discuss," he added, referring to "sex in space."

Science fiction, as it is with so much, is far ahead on this subject. Starting at least as far back as 1940s pulp covers, where space was clearly"clothing optional," through more sophisticated stories like Philip José Farmer's groundbreaking "The Lovers" to today's SF where sex is no more a taboo subject than it is in mainstream fiction.

SF has long realized that no matter where you put people, they will always be human. As the space.com noted, neither isolation nor scientific research change this as indicated by the fact the month "before six months of winter darkness descended over Antarctica's McMurdo Station, the research base received a delivery of about 16,500 condoms."

Society and SF have come a long way on this topic and soon sex is space will no more a topic of media sensationalism than sex on Earth. Erm, bad example. And yes, the title should always be announced with a reverb effect exactly like the Muppet Show's classic "Pigs in Space."

<Complete Space.com article>

“Love + Sex With Robots”

Cory Doctorow's Boing Boing pointed me towards this interesting, unsettling and I must admit at times, horrifying interview with author David Levy in the blog "I am not even trying" - concerning the psychological, economic and the social implications of using robots as sexual partners, better known as sexbots. Some of the questions addressed are:

What essentially human traits do you envision future sexbots changing forever?

Obviously, not everyone will be able to afford robots for sex straight away and top-of-the-line ones will undoubtedly command top dollar. Do you think there is room for the poor in this vision?

Do you foresee much of a secondhand/refurbished market for sexbots?

Is it ethical for an adult to have sex with a sexbot designed to look like a child but programmed to “perform” like an experienced adult?

Would you personally use one of these robots? Would your wife? Would she mind if you used one?

Check out the complete interview by clicking the article title or clicking here