Ethics of Sex Robots

We come to confusing areas when we start thinking about sentience and the ability to feel and experience emotions.

The robot’s form is what remains disconcerting, at least to me. Unlike a bloodless small squid stuffed into a plastic holder, this sex object actually resembles a whole human, along with that fake human having independent movement. Worse still are ideas raised by popular science-fiction regarding sentience – but for now, such concerns for artificial intelligence are far off (or perhaps impossible).

The idea that we can program something to “always consent” or “never refuse” is further discomforting to me. But we must wonder: how is it different to turning on an iPad? How is it different to the letter I type appearing on screen as I push these keys? Do we say the iPad or software is programmed to consent to my button pushing, swiping, clicking? No: We just assume a causal connection of “push button – get result”.

That’s the nature of tools. We don’t wonder about the hammer’s feelings being nailed, so why should we worry about a robot’s? Just because the robot has a human form doesn’t make it any less of a tool. It just has no property for feelings.

 

Ref: Robots and sex: creepy or cool? – TheGuardian