Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds Welcomes Our New Sex-Robot Overlords
Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, writes about super-realistic sex robots coming out of Japan like yesteryear's transistor radios. Among various criticisms of the trend is that human-robot sex will depress fertility rates even more than they already are.
Just as we've developed snack foods that appeal to us more than real food, perhaps we'll see robots that appeal to us more than real people. As weredefine "sex" away from reproduction, perhaps robosexuality will just be seen as another preference. Already, one in five people in the United Kingdom say they'd be willing to get down and "dirty with a droid." Presumably, as the sexbots get sexier, and the idea less unfamiliar, the numbers will go up.
Will humanity die out, though? Probably not. Katy Perry offers the path to human salvation. Although the singer has gotten flak for saying she doesn't need a man to have a baby, the fact is that new reproductive technologies make that largely true. By the time robot prostitutes are a going concern, it's likely that men won't need women to have babies, either. While some futurists are predicting robot prostitutes by 2025,artificial wombs may arrive at the same time.
So you may or may not like the new world of sex robots, but at least they probably won't wipe out humanity. And we can have robot nannies to raise the kids, too. But if we combine the two roles in one machine, would that be creepy? Or just "Mom"? Welcome to the 21st century.