Robohookers and Android Sexual Rights
Posted Apr 01, 2007 18 comments
Most of what gets written about the future of androids—human-looking robots—totally avoids the single most important question: do we fuck them? I realize that when I use the word “fuck” it makes everything sound sarcastic and shallow...that’s exactly why I use it. The hardest part about convincing people that all experts are full of shit and just lost as you are is that people will then treat you like an expert because you told them that.
Just the same, this is still a dead serious question, even though I refuse to approach it in a dignified (aka “constipated") fashion. The issue of wether or not humanoid robots will have something between their legs will probably define the future of human culture and morality. We dream the future through art—in recent years, we have taken to calling the art which is purely devoted to dreaming possible futures Science Fiction.
The Shape of Things to Cum
The visionary director Fritz Lang gave the human species a number of important movies, but Metropolis is the most relevant to our meditation here today. It’s a richly complex film and I’m going to totally ignore 95% of it—cuz see, there’s this mad inventor. His name is Rotwang, which conjures images of syphilis but then again, it’s a German film. He falls in love with a brilliant and courageous young woman named Maria. Since he’s brilliant but not courageous, he kidnaps her and builds a robo-Maria. (That’s the image that opened up this article, by the way.)
Readers with a sense of history might be reminded of the Greek myth of Pygmalion, the sculptor who fell in love with one of his own statues, which he named Galatea. The gods took pity on him—which sure as shit doesn’t happen too much anymore—and brought his statue to life. They even had a kid.
Let’s fast-forward to Hiroshi Ishiguro, the designer of the Actroid, which is one of the most cutting-edge androids known to mankind. The Actroid (or Repilee) style robots have been a huge hit at tech expos and on TV news, so it’s not a stretch to say it’s a sign of things to come. That which captures the public imagination is that which gets funding.
Internal sensors allow the android to react “naturally.” It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it’s the little, “unconscious” movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans.
The Actroid is always wearing a skirt, and maybe it’s insulting to her to speculate along these lines, but is there anything between her legs? Am I insane for referring to an automated machine as “her”? (For the record, I realize I haven’t even mentioned the RealDoll—that’s coming tomorrow. There’s only so much I can do in one sitting.)
Of course, on a pure headfuckery level, this quandary isn’t just androids, it’s also cloning. There’s already an international market for human beings who are sold to be sex slaves—imagine what will happen when cloning technology trickles down to a quasi-affordable level. Imagine people being paid to break into celebrities homes and steal hair, menstrual blood and skin cells to be taken back to black market cloning operations. Imagine being able to buy Marilyn Monroe or Cindy Crawford or Maculay Caulkin clones for ten grand.
Exceptionally Ugly Questions
Do we actually need other people? Most of the evidence that gets brought up in this debate focuses on the biofeedback we get from our fellow humans, the need for social interaction, and recently the concept of mirror neurons.
Mirror neurons are active when the monkeys perform certain tasks, but they also fire when the monkeys watch someone else perform the same specific task. There is evidence that a similar observation/action matching system exists in humans. Today, mirror neurons play a major explanatory role in the understanding of a number of human features, from imitation to empathy, mindreading and language learning.
I believe that humans need each other, but that’s an irrational and instinctive belief. I know that there’s no way the argument would hold up under any real scrutiny and I’d probably just wind up getting into a fight. If you lived surrounded by programmed androids who were cheerful and nice to you, that would be more than enough to trick your visual cortex and all other relevant brain organs into assuming that you were a valuable part of your social circle.
I believe that humans needs each other, but I’ve also eaten way too many mushrooms and concluded that everyone around me was a robot with an ultra-realistic synthetic flesh covering that didn’t...quite...fit. Everyone was too stilted to be real, I knew what they were going to say before they said it. It was a horrible realization, and like most of my nightmare psychotic drug episodes, I was completely right.
We’re Robots, Too
Most disturbing of all...maybe...is the fact that humans can be programmed just as totally and effectively as any computer on market today. I’m sure many readers are already all too fuckin’ familiar with MKUltra and darker horizons of hypnosis.
Ever since I first saw a stage hypnosis show, at a county fair when I was a freshman in high school, I have been shook, shook to the very core of my soul. The fact that someone can put you into a trance, implant suggestions and instructions, then wake you up and smile as you do precisely what you were told to do...that’s not entertainment. That’s a glimpse at the walls of the prison, folks. That’s why I stopped watching TV, right there.
Because the worst part of all is that guys doing these hypnosis shows aren’t some sort of Rasputin Psychic Badass gurus—they’re just goofy regular guys who can’t even dress well. They took some mail-order video lessons and now they can control people’s minds and alter their realities and get paid $700 a gig. They might as well be selling carpeting.
Do people abuse that power? Is that the stupidest fucking question that anyone could possibly ask? Here’s a sample site, hypnosis porn is real. Put any word in the english language before the noun “porn”...and yes, _____ porn exists. And it will eventually get covered on this site, and I will write the article under the influence of some drug or another, cuz hey—that’s just how I’m programmed.
Breaking Repeating Loops
In a perfect world, this article would serve to implant a suggestion into your head. It’s nothing too heavy, just a simple feedback loop: do you observe your own behavior? Are you aware of your own breathing? Do you feel your own heartbeat? Do you think while you interact with other humans, or are you acting out a script? How much of your behavior is ritual—pre-programmed and essentially the same every time? Do you have a morning routine? Do you catch yourself saying things you don’t believe or mean to say? How often do you act like a robot?
The trick to escaping—anything—is to stay still and watch closely. Stop blaming yourself, there is no self to blame. On that note, time for more whiskey.
Spread the Research:
Filed in: Sex Science
Next entry: Total Capitalism: Synthetic Sex Slavery
Previous Entry: Prolactin: Proof That God Hates Us
Comments
Sorry, but the comments for this entry have expired.
1. cen0bite on Apr 02, 2007 at 12:04 AM permalink
I was actually watching Tech TV (G4 now) a while ago… a show called “Wired For Sex” I believe. Or maybe it was something else… I was pretty baked. Anyway, they were talking about Androids and talked about the Actroid for a bit. Then they said something about some guy working on an “anotomically correct” version… Should be fun. I wonder it they’ll give em STD capabilities?
2. dirty on Apr 02, 2007 at 12:12 AM permalink
IF THAT BITCH DON’T FLINCH WHEN I RAISE MY HAND…
I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
oh yeah, keep writin
3. George on Apr 02, 2007 at 12:31 AM permalink
Ever see that movie with Molly Ringwald as a robot? I think it was called, Cherry 6000 or something. Oh, or what about that Twilight Zone, with the prisoner on a desolate planet, and the guards bring him a female robot, and he falls in love with it.
One time I had a girlfriend who was very mechanical in the sack. She might’ve been a robot, now that you mention it.
4. Humpasaur Jones on Apr 02, 2007 at 12:33 AM permalink
Molly Ringwald as a robot sounds like something I need to see, thanks for the heads-up on that. I’m re-watching Century of the Self deep into some whiskey now and truly despairing about the robotic nature of mankind. Of course, coffee and sunlight will take care of that soon enough.
5. Phyllis on Apr 02, 2007 at 4:35 AM permalink
My friends and I have decided that our vibrators will be replaced with robots in the future. And they will ejaculate our favorite ice cream while telling us how beautiful we are, and then they will do the dishes and laundry while we take a nap…
6. squid viscous on Apr 02, 2007 at 5:27 AM permalink
does this mean that there’s gonna be robotic erotic squid porn??
man, i always thought rotwang got the short stick when it came to the name game. that movie is dope though, i saw a version boasted as ‘the most complete’ on turner classic movies not too long ago, still strikingly poignant even in the age of talkies.
do we need other people? j.f. sebastian from blade runner made a bunch of robotoys to keep him company in the absence of real human contact, so i’d say yes.
then again, pris, leon and roy batty might disagree.
7. Senator Knee Hi on Apr 02, 2007 at 7:56 AM permalink
If we have whole industries built around fuckmachines and flashlight pussies, I’m guessing the question of whether or not humans and bots will make the beast with two backs is kinda redundant. And stay out of my head, damnit.
8. ness on Apr 02, 2007 at 8:34 AM permalink
uhh.. i am an expert on robots and they really just want to get drunk and high and get blow jobs. fo reealz
9. Sage on Apr 02, 2007 at 12:18 PM permalink
MKUltra was hardly even hypnosis...it was mostly torture and hardcore conditioning...no real hypnosis there...most of the government ops for mind-control are really primitive and brute force...(inducing phobic reactions and implanting suggestions, hacking up the brain physically, etc.)...although this is no less destructive when in the wrong hands…
And the majority of hypnosis porn is around for the same reason any other type of specialty porn is...to appeal to a certain crowd and peoples’ curiosity...(there are a couple out there that aren’t faked though...but i’m not even going to get into that...) Very few people have a mastery of hypnosis that will allow them to do the really crazy mind-slave kind of stuff…
The truth is, the majority of people don’t know anything about anything. They think all this crazy shit is possible when in fact they have just heard a lot of “stories”...and that’s exactly how they get taken advantage of...they become ‘mesmer’ized. haha…
Oh, and don’t get me started on stage hypnosis…
10. Humpasaur Jones on Apr 02, 2007 at 12:39 PM permalink
I think George Estabrooks and Andijra Puharich would both disagree with you, Sage.
11. Tommy D on Apr 02, 2007 at 1:46 PM permalink
Robot sex will NEVER be equivalent to human sex. It will be fun, probably more for men than women, but in the end, if you know that you’re fucking a robot, it’s not as fun.
Here’s why:
You know that girlfriend you have or had who absolutely loves giving blowjobs? She really gets no physical pleasure out of your cock in her throat, but she is happy that she has a skill that causes pleasure for another person. How likely is she to blow a robot, knowing that he’s got no feeling at all?
As much as men won’t always readily admit it, we also like to be the pleasurer. We like being good at licking the clit, swerving for 2 hours straight, and other things. Not only that, but we like the struggle of convincing her it’s a good idea to shove a beer bottle in her cooch after we pounded it for 2 hours.
We like to play mind games. A robot is not going to give as good of an argument with the beer bottle thing, and even still it’s not degrading for a robot.
So in short, no matter how human a robot seems, it isn’t. Just like as much as you want to pretend that the prostitute you boned last week is your girlfriend, and you’re her only one, she isn’t, and you aren’t.
12. Humpasaur Jones on Apr 02, 2007 at 1:58 PM permalink
Yeah, but...you realize you can program robots to do all that? Give it a modesty script. Simple.
13. Sage on Apr 02, 2007 at 5:00 PM permalink
George Estabrooks involvement in MKUltra was mediocre at best...It may have been “cutting edge hypnosis” at the time but now, anyone can do hypnotic locks and induce amnesia through hypnosis...you could go on the internet and find that out right now and have a working knowledge of it in less than 10 minutes...As I said, the majority of MKUltra WAS indeed just torture and hardcore conditioning of the poor people who went through that…
And, if you are referring to Andrija Puharich’s work with ELF and it’s use in mind-control, that isn’t really hypnosis. Furthermore, it can be countered with the right mindset and if so technically inclined, the right equipment.
So yeah I guess in a sense their work was pioneering, but in relation to the thoughts and techniques available now (even to the general public thanks to the internet), it’s primitive. They might disagree with me, but they both don’t really have any grounds for arguing as their work was well over a decade ago and they are both dead. hahaha…
The only real question that matters is do you disagree with me?
14. eddie lizzard on Apr 02, 2007 at 7:08 PM permalink
I HAVE OFTEN BROUGHT THIS TOPIC UP AND NO ONE LIKES TO DISCUSS IT IN DEPTH, ITS OFTEN SHUNNED, I USUALLY START WITH “ARENT WE ALL GOD’S ROBOTS? LOOK AT THE TECHNOLOGY OUR BODIES ARE DESIGNED WITH, SO INTRICATE AND MECHANICAL.” AND WHENEVER YOU ARE STRANGELY REMINDED OF SOMEONE BY A CERTAIN PERSON, THAT IS THEIR PROTOTYPE MODEL. ANYHOW I AM PROGRAMMED TO DEFY CONFORMOTISM, ALTHOUGH THERE IS A GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT DO THAT SO MAYBE THAT IS MY MODEL THE ROBOREBEL XRJ666
15. Senator Knee Hi on Apr 02, 2007 at 7:53 PM permalink
Perhaps the question isn’t “Will we fuck them?” but “Will we care about them?” or “Will we like fucking them more than we like fucking each other?” or even “Do they have to consent to being fucked?” Clearly, we will fuck them and in fact, we are already fucking their predecessors and prototypes. I imagine the fucking will only improve once we get it together to put heads, skin and by-wrote casual sex scripting on the disembodied plastic reproductive organs we already turn to for comfort as soon as our human relationships get complicated or unsatisfying.
16. archibald p. teuthis, esq. on Apr 03, 2007 at 6:25 AM permalink
i hate to be the nerd that brings up anime, but the film “ARMITAGE III” addressed this shit pretty in-depth. takes place in the far future where humans have colonized mars and what not, and there’re all kinds of androids, the most evolved of which are “Thirds,” basically identical to humans. i was just reminded of this one scene where the two main characters are in sort of a red light district and they’re selling sex “Seconds” all over the place.
expect it.
17. Humpasaur Jones on Apr 03, 2007 at 10:57 AM permalink
Sage, I just wander through the museums, I really have no conclusions about what MKUltra or anything else “really” “means”.
18. Sage on Apr 03, 2007 at 3:41 PM permalink
Yeah, I feel ya on that one...hahaha if that makes sense…