Robot sex will become common
Would you ever have sex with a robot? If the answer to that question is “only if everyone else is doing it”, then you'll be happy to hear that a new report claims human-robot sex will be more popular than human-human sex in a matter of decades.
Pearson points to the hype surrounding virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive as evidence of an impending wave of VR porn. From there it's only a matter of linking VR to sex toys before you get an emerging market for sex robots.
"A lot of people will still have reservations about sex with robots at first but gradually as they get used to them, as the AI and mechanical behaviour and their feel improves, and they start to become friends with strong emotional bonds, that squeamishness will gradually evaporate,” says Pearson in the report.
"While some people will enthusiastically embrace relationship-free robot sex as soon as they can afford one, as early as 2025, it won't have much chance of overtaking sex with humans overall until 2050."
Some have warned that the emergence of sex robots will lead to greater objectification of humans. Campaign Against Sex Robots, led by Dr Kathleen Richardson, a senior research fellow in the ethics of robotics at De Montfort University, says that these robots will reinforce negative power relations and reduce human empathy. They are calling for greater debate about the societal implications of creating robots used for sex.
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