Love and Sex with Robots
“Levy points out that we’re perfectly capable of falling in love with non-humans, including our pets, our teddy bears, our computers and our computerized pets...Once you realize how easy it is to think of your own laptop as a sympathetic friend, how much more difficult is it to imagine having fond feelings for a robot programmed to interact with you in exactly the way your heart desires?”
New York Times
From Pygmalion falling for his chiseled Galatea to Dr. Frankenstein marveling at his creature to the man-meets-machine fiction of Philip K. Dick and Michael Crichton, humans have been enthralled by the possibilities of emotional relationships with their technological creations. Synthesizing cutting-edge research in robotics with the cultural history and psychology of artificial intelligence, Love and Sex with Robots explores this fascination and its far-reaching implications. Artificial intelligence expert David Levy looks at the evolution of human interactions with their machines as technology has become more sophisticated and cultural attitudes toward love and sex have changed over the years. His shocking yet persuasive argument is that the entities we once deemed cold and mechanical will soon become the objects of real companionship and human desire.
Praise