Will it respect you in the morning?
LOVE AND SEX WITH ROBOTS:
The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships
By David Levy
352 pp. Harper $24.95
Reviewed by Roger Poppen
In this book David Levy, who has been an active figure in the computer chess arena and Artificial Intelligence (AI) since the late ‘60s, expands on the ideas discussed in his earlier work, Robots Unlimited: Life in a Virtual Age, which traced the history of thinking machines and discussed their future development, including emotions and sex.
Levy proposes that by 2050 robot partners will be commercially available—not mere animated sex dolls, but rational, emotional companions, both male and female, suitable for romantic love and marriage. In this brave new world, the old-fashioned virtues of love and marriage are, or should be, preconditions for human-robot couplings.
In Part One, Levy reviews how people “fall in love” with other humans, pets, “electronic machines,” and robots. Human mating is an immense field of study, with recent advances in sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.
Levy uses “Evolution” in his subtitle, but doesn’t use evolutionary concepts. He relies instead on psychoanalytic theories of attachment and questionnaire surveys to derive “Ten Causes of Falling in Love.” These include factors such as “similarity,” ”desirable characteristics of the other,” and so forth. He believes these criteria can easily be satisfied by the androids of the future.
In a chapter on pets, Levy employs anthropomorphism and the psychoanalytic mechanism of projection to explain humans’ love for animals. These concepts also account for human love of computers and other machines. Electronic pets introduced in the late ‘90s, such as the Tamagotchi toy and the AIBO robot dog, merged these attractions for animals and machines. While the Tamagotchi continues to be popular, the $2000 AIBO has not proved successful.
Levy surveys the development of human-like characteristics in robots. The star attraction seems to be “Repliee Q1,” shown in a photo to be an attractive young woman. (A website reveals she is powered by compressed air and has 42 actuators to move her face, head and arms). Levy describes two instances of computerized faces that display recognizable emotional expressions, one made of Lego blocks (!) and one with soft polymer skin. Pressure-sensitive artificial skin is under development at another laboratory.
Levy reviews studies showing that people are comfortable interacting with computers, often more intimately than with human interviewers. He implies this comfort will extend to robots, but that has yet to be demonstrated. He cites ELIZA, a program developed over forty years ago that mimics a psychotherapist asking reflective questions as evidence of computer conversational ability. One wonders if there have been any advances in AI natural language programs since then. In sum, Levy believes that these scattered efforts are the beginnings of a trend leading to life-like androids. A more dispassionate analysis might suggest otherwise.
In Part Two, Levy again employs Freudian concepts (the pleasure principle, transference) and the results of questionnaire surveys to derive a list of reasons why human sexual desires can be satisfied by androids with simulated genitalia. He provides a short history of the construction and use of “fornicatory dolls” and vibrators, from ancient to modern times, with illustrations and photographs that are decidedly not erotic. His description of the sexual features of androids is surprisingly discreet compared to his lengthy discussions of their other physical and personality characteristics.
The current state of the art seems to be life-size silicon rubber sex dolls, male or female, for about $7000. The Sybian, a saddle-like device with a motorized phallus, goes for about $1500. These have been available for about a decade, with no trends toward incorporating AI features. Levy does not speculate on the cost of the sexual androids he expects to be produced.
In the final chapters, Levy focuses on cultural issues regarding human-robot sexuality. He traces historical changes in sexual attitudes (in Western nations, at least) toward homosexuality, interracial marriage, women's sexuality, and masturbation. He concludes these trends indicate eventual acceptance of human-robot sex and marriage, especially in succeeding generations familiar with the developing technology. If the struggle over gay marriage is any indication, Levy’s analysis again appears overly optimistic.
Levy also raises the issue of “roboethics,” asking, ”When robots become, for all emotional and practical purposes, surrogate humans, will we not have ethical obligations toward them?” Would human married partners be unfaithful if they had a sexbot on the side? Would a spouse feel inadequate compared to the performance of his/her partner's sexbot? How about sexbot swapping? The use of sexbots by minors? Though Levy does not mention it, one wonders about people with paraphilias such as rape, sadism or pedophilia; would their actions with sexbots be unethical or illegal? Levy also fails to consider the impact such devices would have on reproduction rates, which are declining in technologically developed countries. Ethically, Japan needs worker robots to care for its aging population far more than sexbots to depress birth rates still further.
The overriding question is whether Levy’s arguments are convincing. How likely is the production of androids that physically resemble GQ and Playboy models, with motor capabilities allowing myriad actions from walking to gentle caressing to orgasmic sexual responsiveness, as well as simulating loving emotions through facial expression and body language, not to mention carrying on intelligent conversations? An android that has the sensory capabilities to detect and decipher its human partner’s wishes given by verbal command, gesture, facial expression, and physiologic cues? One that will learn from experience to become increasingly adept as a delightful companion and sexual partner? All this at an affordable price with widespread social acceptance? To this reader the answer is, not very.
Levy chooses the date 2050 based on growth trends in AI and other technologies. He personally witnessed the development of computer chess programs that, within thirty years, defeated the world's strongest human player. The ensuing decade has seen the development of more programs that can defeat Grand Masters, but that is all they do. A chess-playing android is not even on the horizon.
Electronic computers have evolved from the behemoths of the 1950s to the to the tiny mechanisms of today, and seem likely to continue on this trajectory. In less than a century, the airplane has progressed from the Wright flyer to the jumbo jet that can fly across the continent on automatic pilot. What Levy fails to note is the immense commercial and military interests that fueled these technologies. No such contingencies exist to direct the development of sexbots. Despite limitations in current biologic delivery systems, three million years of hominid natural selection is unlikely to be supplanted, or even supplemented to any significant degree, by one hundred years of AI.
The book is well-organized and written with minimal technical jargon, though Levy maintains a scholarly tone throughout. (Indeed, a version of this material has garnered him a Ph.D. from University of Maastrich.) Quoted sources are cited in endnotes for each chapter. Footnotes add parenthetical commentary and citations. However, many authors and studies are mentioned with no citation; the lack of a bibliography is a glaring omission. An index of important topics and concepts also would be useful. Better editing could have helped Levy avoid a great deal of repetition.
Though this is an interesting and somewhat entertaining look at the aspirations of some in the AI community, the author has reached too far outside his field of expertise to be truly convincing.
Roger Poppen has a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University and spent over thirty years as researcher and professor. He authored two books and over a hundred professional articles and presentations in the field of behavior analysis and therapy. His focus since retiring is creative writing.