Should companies develop and customers use robotic sexual companions?

Among the reasons why a human would prefer sex with a robot are the many problems that can prevent a satisfactory human encounter. Menstruation, premature ejaculation, frigidity, impotence, one person simply not being in the mood-all of these at one time or another prevent satisfactory acts of sexual intercourse. Just waiting for the right moment is a feature of human sexual behavior. Indeed, for many people, the right moment never comes.

Sexual frustration is common: everyone experiences it on many occasions in a lifetime. Sometimes there is only a temporary lack of opportunity for sexual expression, as when a mate is away or has a headache or is too tired for sexual play. Sometimes the lack of opportunity for sexual expression appears permanent, since the reasons for it, like ugliness or a pathological shyness, are more persistent.

Masturbation is a common way to deal with the lack of sexual opportunity when the appetite for sex is strong. Employment of prostitutes is another manifestation of the drive for sexual release. If people find some satisfaction in pornography or romance novels, then on occasion surely they would consider the use of sex machines, if they were available. The use of these machines would enable humans to bypass the many obstacles that present themselves as people try to find satisfactory sexual encounters with others. On occasion, some sexually sophisticated people may find their human companions uninteresting and may yearn for more adventure. Advanced robots could provide that.

The circulatory, lymphatic and nervous systems of humans provide vast areas in which bacteria and viruses can roam and a great many places in which these causes of disease can hide. Robots, having no need to carry inside them pools of potentially infected blood and lymph offer the possibility of complete disinfecting after each sexual contact with a human. Thus they would help prevent the spread of disease. In an age when some sexually transmitted diseases threaten to take human lives, robots which can be thoroughly sterilized will become especially attractive.

Sex with robots guarantees freedom from the duties associated with reproduction. When humans prefer sex with machines over sex with other humans, they will have completed the separation of sexual pleasure from the responsibilities associated with reproduction. Men could enjoy sex with a robot without being afraid of impregnating a female. Women could enjoy sex with a robot without being afraid of being impregnated.

When humans prefer sex with machines over sex with other humans, they will have completed the separation of sexual pleasure from the need for human relationships. But human attachments to robots could stir up jealousies among those humans who feel slighted. Affairs with robots could prompt divorces.

Sex robots could have a negative effect on human employment. Even animated holograms threaten to put strippers and sex performers out of work. Robots could do so. And given some assumptions, sex robots could reduce the trade in human flesh. There would have to be an adequate supply of robots: sufficient numbers of various models to suit diverse human preferences. The robots would have to be affordable. And they would have to be of sufficient quality, that is, match the appearance and sexual ability of humans, to attract attention and use. In addition, the more people are concerned about contracting diseases from prostitutes, the greater would be their demand for robot companions. These factors could tip the balance in favor of the machines. And prostitution could be dealt a serious blow.

The availability of robots for the satisfaction of sexual desires, however, would not eliminate prostitution altogether. Prostitutes will always need money for food and too often need money for drugs. So some humans will continue to sell sexual services. If robots are unavailable or are too expensive or are of poor quality, and if the concern for contracting a sexually transmitted disease is not very great, then clients will still prefer hookers.

The most sophisticated, most desirable machines may always cost more to own than most people could afford to pay. Leasing one for a few months or years might be an alternative to an outright purchase. But renting the use of them for a few minutes or hours might be more popular. Brothels where robots would service large numbers of clients could become as much a part of the American landscape as some fast food restaurants.

The robots, unlike human prostitutes, would never need to sleep, eat or argue for receiving paid vacations or group insurance. This arrangement as opposed to the private ownership of single robots may suit the clientele, because it would offer them the enjoyment of a wide variety of machines. And variety in sex partners, as much as ease and familiarity with a particular partner, often enhances the enjoyment of sexuality.

Before the mass marketing of certain machines and appliances, only a wealthy or otherwise privileged few could have these things. As technologies became refined and as consumers began to see the value of the new products to them, mass markets for those goods were born, and prices for the items fell. And so, a major new industry may emerge from the introduction of sex robots: engineers and designers of machines, suppliers and distributors of parts, repair personnel, advertising and marketing executives, and managers of the sex centers where the robots are rented or purchased-the demand for people to fill these roles will boom.

Consumers are willing to spend large portions of their incomes on entertainment. The market for sex robots could easily get to be as large as the current market for computers or even cars. Investors who buy one or more machines and use them to generate rental income could stand to make good incomes. And the biggest operators could make a fortune.

Many, if not most, brothels of the future could be staffed with robots. Those who market the businesses might call them 'model shops.' As always, entrepreneurs who want to start up and run these companies must consider the legal and political ramifications. Those areas that already have legal brothels would likely be among the first to permit the hiring of robots for sexual services. So Amsterdam, Nevada, Thailand, since they have a history of legal prostitution, are places where prospective operators of these shops are at first likely to go.

Present brothel owners are unlikely to expect that their businesses would suffer as a result of the introduction of model shops. And many clients of prostitutes would be hesitant to abandon their live companions in favor of lifeless dolls. But present brothel owners would be as free to open the shops as anyone else or to add robots to their list of offerings.

Intelligent machines could hold more than a sexual interest. When robots are highly educated, when they are able to communicate in several foreign languages and earn Ph.D.'s quicker than humans, they might be fascinating intellectual companions as well as sex objects. Then conversations with robots could be more delightful and more informative than conversations with many human beings. The human potential for learning has no fixed boundary, nor does the potential of robots for accumulating, processing and presenting information.

The people who are most concerned with status or who want a way to justify their sexual dalliance with a machine are more likely to insist that their artificial companions offer something for the mind as well as the body. Robots that offer intelligent interaction would at least be likely to provide very provocative sexual conversations.

Until robots get very good at what they do, they may be a source of very disappointing experiences. But if engineers concentrate on developing sexual robotics to a fraction of the extent they have concentrated on cars and computers, robots would easily surpass humans in sexual performance.

The sexual initiation of adolescents may take place with robots. This would ensure or at least increase the probability that the sexual initiate would have an experience that is free from anxiety and psychological trauma. The robots that serve as educators will be designed to perform according to the expectations of society and especially according to the expectations of parents. Therefore, the sex education conducted by robots would give all who receive it a taste of the conventional styles of intercourse. Robots could be programmed to resist and even punish abusive behavior.

So adolescents could get valuable lessons for sexual encounters with humans. As generations of adolescents now receive rather uniform training for driving cars, future generations may be prepared by robot instructors for eventual entry into a sex life with humans. And adults who want to introduce variety into their sex lives by learning new techniques could turn to robots for lessons.

Unfortunately, jealousies among humans could develop over the use of sex robots. A husband or wife could easily resent a spouse's devotion of time, attention, and sexual energy to a machine. And the pain of losing a spouse to a robot would be greater than the pain of losing a spouse to a sport or hobby or other interest.
If robots were sentient beings, we would likely feel compelled to give them rights, respect their autonomy, protect them from exploitation.

There is but a dim prospect that humanity will ever bring consciousness to inanimate matter. Until we do, our most sophisticated machines will not be entitled to the same rights that conscious beings deserve. And yet extremely advanced androids-those that have the ability to simulate human expressions of enjoyment and pain-may persuade us otherwise: They may convince some people to behave with all the deference and respect we give to other humans.

For users of sex robots, many more options than training in elementary sexual techniques will be available. This might not be all for the good. The choices that adults make in their relationships with robots may work to their detriment. Sex with robots enables the complete divorce of sexual activity from caring and even from respect for the sexual partner. What the punching bag is to the boxer in training, the robot could be to the adult in search of sexual adventure.

Some people may become accustomed to dishing out abuse to beings who simulate reactions to pain: if a human can take delight in causing a robot to shriek, bleed, or faint, and can do so with impunity, then humans will have a training camp for brutality. And even though psychological abuse would not hurt the machines, it might still misdirect humans. The behavior accepted in the presence of robots might manifest itself in dealings with other humans and produce terrifying consequences.

The presence of robots in society might create confusion in humans. We might mistake a human for a robot or a robot for a human. This might be disconcerting, embarrassing, and aggravating. And the resulting troubles could range from mild to serious: mistaken identities could be the basis for practical jokes that are easily dismissed, or they could be the basis for legal proceedings that grind on for years and cost fortunes. We might also have confusion in our systems of values: we could start to think that robots, because they satisfy our needs better than humans can, are more valuable than humans.

Imagination enables us to separate ourselves from the real world. This ability helps us escape from drudgery, boredom, and pain. But the fear in wandering too far from reality is that we may be unwilling to return to it or, if the captivation is strong enough, unable to return to it. Losing touch with reality may mean a separation from the sources of physical and emotional nourishment, or a movement out of safety and into a dangerous area which might allow no escape. The problems that may result from too deep an involvement with an imaginary world include the difficulties one encounters when one returns to the real world. If living in the imaginary world for any length of time makes living in the real world uncomfortable, then we might naturally want to control the access to that imaginary world.

The technology which makes the image of a human body more and more lifelike and which is helping to blur the distinction between illusion and reality, makes the user ever more likely to substitute the image for the reality it copies. In using robots for sexual performers, there could be a danger to psychological health. If the products of our imaginations captivate us, they could impair either our ability to understand the real world, our ability to function effectively in it, or our ability to return to it when the illusion has passed.

At the outset, only the very affluent will be able to afford robot companions. For some time, human beings will continue to be less expensive to maintain.

While one satisfaction of using a robot comes from knowing that the robot is unconscious of what the human looks like or does, there is another reason for worry: what transpires in the meeting between the human user and robot may be used by other humans to the user's detriment. Robots could be ideal spies: they are impersonal, unemotional (beyond what they can simulate), and lacking in a fear of death (beyond the programming they receive in order to protect themselves).

Thus they could present a grave danger to human privacy. Whether robots are completely autonomous or controlled from a remote location, the user may worry that he or she is not really alone: all activities might be monitored or recorded. The least sophisticated technology would enable the robot to record the interaction with the client either for a debriefing later or for transmission of data in real-time. The most sophisticated technology would enable the robot to discuss a human's behavior with those who are not bound to respect the human's interests.

In order to evaluate human sexual activity with robots, in order to determine the moral value of such activity, there must be an understanding of what sex with robots is.