From a leading expert in artificial intelligence, an eye-opening but superbly argued book about how increasing innovation in robotic technology is enabling legitimate romantic and sexual relationships between humans and robots. Synthesizing breaking news in the field of robotics with the cultural history, technological development, art, literature, and psychology of artificial intelligence, Love and Sex with Robots is popular science at its diverting - and eye-opening - best. From Pygmalion falling for his chiseled Galatea to Dr. Frankenstein marveling in both awe and terror at his modern Prometheus to the man-meets-machine fiction of Ray Bradbury and Michael Crichton, readers have been enthralled by the possibilities of interaction between technological creations and themselves. Shocking yet wildly informative, Love and Sex with Robots builds on that fascination to show how entities we once deemed benign and unresponsive may very well turn out to be objects of real, human desire.

By:   David Levy
Imprint:   Harper Collins
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 230mm,  Width: 150mm,  Spine: 32mm
Weight:   603g
ISBN:  

9780061359750

ISBN 10:   0061359750
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   October 2007
Audience:   General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available  
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David Levy is an internationally recognized expert on artificial intelligence who made his name in the field of computer chess and online gaming. Levy has been interviewed extensively in the media about the field of robotics, including a New York Times in-depth profile on sex with robots in 2006, and in that same year he was the first person to present academic papers on the subject of intimate relationships with robotic partners at the Roboethics conference in Geneva. He is also the author of the industry primer Robots Unlimited (2005). Levy lives in London.

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 first reading, 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. (Kirkus Reviews)