Futurama - "I dated a robot"

[Shy Tall Guy]

Lat night's episode was a rerun, but it poses an interesting question. If a "robot" was available that was externally, sexually, and intellectually indistinguishable from a human, would you have an intimate relationship with it?

Would you consider the possiblity of a lifetime relationship?

 

[estevie]

I'm beginning to worry about you, Shy Tall Guy!

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

I'm beginning to worry about you, Shy Tall Guy!

If you are worried about me considering a romantic relationship with a "robot", don't.

I just find people's attitudes/thoughts on such issues interesting.

Not a very realistic issue for the present (AI has not progressed to that point, and probably won't for many, many decades), but eventually it may become an issue.

Hey, people are willing to pay $5k for a somewhat realistic sex doll, how much more would they pay for a "doll" that could act, feel and respond as a human could? At what point would this become slavery? Is this akin to beastiality?

 

[Azwed]

Sounds like the last episode of the Voyager where the Doctor finaly got married.

I guess if this "robot" was so much like a human that it was indistigushable from the outside then a physical relationship would not be a problem.

A long lasting emotional relationship could be a problem. How would you feel if your partner never grew old. Never aged and always stayed looking the same when they were younger.

That would be a problem.

 

[estevie]

You have a point there. I watched this program on people that bought those dolls...very interesting people, i might add. Entirely too much money on their hands, but definately interesting!

Its weird to think about a relationship with a robot. You are right though, in time, i bet it will be an option. Maybe in another 100 years, people won't think it weird at all.

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

Lifetime relationship No

Sexual relationship Yes ... But not for me

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

A long lasting emotional relationship could be a problem. How would you feel if your partner never grew old. Never aged and always stayed looking the same when they were younger.

Ever seen Bicentennial Man? One of the best movies I have ever seen - full of issues about what it is to be human, sentient, and mortal.

 

[Azwed]

I mean to see it when it was in theaters but my current gf at the time heard it was bad.

The current state of my relationship with her was pretty bad and so well we did not go.

Yeah I know I was really pathetic at that point in my life.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

I mean to see it when it was in theaters but my current gf at the time heard it was bad.

I have seen it a dozen times on TV. If you get a chance see it. It is not so much that the robot part of it makes it good, as it is to see the human characters in the movie play off the robot. Excellent acting and excellent screenplay - IMO, yours may vary.

 

[The Nitelight]

If a "robot" was available that was externally, sexually, and intellectually indistinguishable from a human, would you have an intimate relationship with it?

Maybe even if it wasn't.
Heck.
When you consider how much fun I have with the toaster......

 

[Todd]

I would fer sure, the ultimate in safe sex,

screw, rinse and repeat

 

[Renegade]

Only if I could get a good deal.

 

[shescurious]

Could we program it not to talk back, to do the dishes, to take out the garbage......

The scary part is eventually we will not be able to tell who amoung us is a real live human being and who is not. I for one think no I wouldn't want to date a machine.

Shescurious

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Could we program it not to talk back, to do the dishes, to take out the garbage......

Hey, it is software and you can program software just about any way you want. However, if you wanted a "robot" that would think like a human, it might wind up having the same kind of independence of thought.

Personally, I would think that such eventualities may result in chaos if not the extermination of the human race. I don't think I or even my grandchildren will have to worry about it - although, advances in genetic research might allow my grandchildren to live long enough to see it.

AI is totally over-hyped; AI is nowhere near the intelligence of a small insect much less the intelligence of a human, and software progress lags way behind the progress of hardware.