Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships
Author: David Levy
Love, marriage, and sex with robots? Not in a million years? Maybe a whole lot sooner.From a leading expert in artificial intelligence comes an eye-opening, superbly argued book that explores a new level of human intimacy and relationships—with robots.
From Pygmalion falling for his chiseled Galatea to Dr. Frankenstein marveling at his "modern Prometheus" to the man-meets-machine fiction of Philip K. Dick and Michael Crichton, humans have been enthralled by the possibilities of emotional relationships with their technological creations. Synthesizing cutting-edge research in robotics with the cultural history and psychology of artificial intelligence, Love and Sex with Robots explores this fascination and its far-reaching implications.
Using examples drawn from around the world, David Levy shows how automata have evolved from the mechanical marvels of centuries past to the electronic androids of the modern age, and how human interactions with technology have changed over the years. Along the way, Levy explores many aspects of human relationships—the reasons we fall in love, why we form emotional attachments to animals and to virtual pets such as the Tamagotchi, and why these same attachments could extend to love for robots. He also examines the needs we seek to fulfill through sexual relationships, tracking the development of life-sized dolls, machines, and other sexual devices, and demonstrating how society's ideas about what constitutes normal sex have changed—and will continue to change—as sexual technology becomes increasingly sophisticated.
Shocking but utterly convincing, Love and Sex withRobots provides insights that are surprisingly relevant to our everyday interactions with technology. This is science brought to life, and Levy makes a compelling and titillating case that the entities we once deemed cold and mechanical will soon become the objects of real companionship and human desire. Anyone reading the book with an open mind will find a wealth of fascinating material on this important new direction of intimate relationships, a direction that, before long, will be regarded as perfectly normal.
The Washington Post - Joel Achenbach
"Levy's book is entertaining in parts, such as the eye-opening (even climactic) section on the evolution of vibrators."..."But throughout Love and Sex with Robot's, there's a recurring sense of the writer trying a little too hard: Every brick must be carefully laid as he builds the great edifice of his thesis. Thus, we must labor through long sections on why people fall in love, why they love their pets, how they become attached to their computers, and so on, before we can get to the good stuff on sex toys. And it's not clear that Levy -- described on the book jacket as "an internationally recognized expert in artificial intelligence" -- is truly an expert on the subject of human love. He seems more like a partisan in a technological debate most of us didn't realize was going on."
Diana Hartle - Library Journal
Levy, a renowned expert on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and author of Robots Unlimited, gives us an awe-inspiring and frightening peek into the future, to imagine a society where humans have deep psychological and physical relationships with robots. Rather than focusing on the current state of the art, Levy explores both the technological breakthroughs and the evolutionary changes in human behavior necessary to achieve his utopian dream. Our psychological knowledge of relationships is used as design specifications to develop animate creations that can play a major role in the advancement of humankind. Levy uses today's robots (e.g., ASIMO, AIBO, Repliee Qi, the RealDoll) and research into human behavior with technology to argue that love and sex with robots on a grand scale is inevitable. While Levy asks and answers a lot of intriguing questions, he does not acknowledge whether, just because we can, we should. Although reading the book in public would not raise eyebrows in Japan, here, be prepared to cause a major stir. Strongly recommended for academic and public libraries.
Kirkus Reviews
By mid-century, people will be marrying robots, asserts Levy, author of numerous books on chess, computers and artificial intelligence (Robots Unlimited: Life in a Virtual Age, 2005, etc.). To doubt that, he writes, is to be unaware of the rapid progress being made in artificial intelligence, materials science and other relevant technological areas. Levy explores the changing relationship between humans and robots, from industrial and service robots to children's toys and virtual pets-think Tamagotchi-to the caregiver robots being developed in Japan to help the elderly. Once a more human-like appearance can be achieved, says Levy, robots will move on to roles as companions and lovers. He analyzes the reasons people fall in love with each other and finds the same reasons applicable to human-robot relationships. He notes that social mores regarding marriage are changing, and he predicts that the combination of dynamic changes in social and cultural thinking with major advances in technology will move society toward acceptance of human-robot marriage. The advantages-a partner programmed to one's individual desires, one that can never truly die or fall out of love-are considerable. As for sex with a robot, Levy devotes an illustrated chapter to technological solutions to the problems facing the amorous human partner, ranging from old-fashioned mechanical devices to virtual-reality software systems. It's easy for the casual reader to be swept along by Levy's assumptions and arguments, so that statements such as, "If we can accept that a robot can think, then there is no good reason we should not also accept that it could have feelings of love and feelings of lust" may seem reasonable on firstreading, but highly questionable upon deeper reflection. Levy is willing to go far out on a limb with his predictions, and even the reader who remains unconvinced may well enjoy this thought-provoking and entertaining ride into the future. Agent: Molly Glick/Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
Table of Contents:
Pt. 1 Love with Robots
1 Falling in Love (with People) 25
2 Loving Our Pets 46
3 Emotional Relationships with Electronic Objects 54
4 Falling in Love with Virtual People (Humanoid Robots) 105
Pt. 2 Sex with Robots
5 Why We Enjoy Sex 182
6 Why People Pay for Sex 193
7 Sex Technologies 220
8 The Mental Leap to Sex with Robots 274
Books about: Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation or Gaming the Vote
Digital Infrared Photography
Author: Cyrill Harnischmacher
To record the "invisible light" has always been an intriguing and fascinating experiment. The infrared part of the light spectrum is outside the range of what the human eye can see, but with a digital camera, we are able to record only this "invisible light" while blocking the "visible" part. The results are often unusual, yet beautiful, renderings of otherwise fairly common scenes.
Since as far back as the 1960 's artists have experimented with analog infrared photography, as seen on the album covers of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. But as we enter the digital age, new equipment and technology has opened up the exciting world of infrared photography to all.
This compact guide to infrared photography shows the beauty of infrared imagery, but also teaches how to shoot these images with your digital camera. The book provides the basic theoretical background, some information on cameras, filters and equipment, and lots of guidance on how to do infrared photography. This beautifully designed and illustrated book is the perfect companion for the aspiring photographer wanting to explore new photographic territories.
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