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    The Noble RenardStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:14am

    In my entirely unqualified opinion, sex robots of an actual human being who has not consented to have a sex robot made of her/him are unethical, creepy, and really borderline a violation, but sex robots not made in the likeness of a specific human being or made with a person’s permission are not unethical. Creepy to me personally, sure, but I generally stay away from judging people on their sex toys.

    I understand the argument from the Campaign Against Sex Robots about the literal objectification of the female body, but I also think the same argument would apply to realistic dildos, and no one has any problem with those.

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      SheeshTheseNamesThe Noble Renard
      4/07/16 11:22am

      I like your comment, particularly the first paragraph.

      Now about the dildos: They are just one piece, not a full human Women aren’t trying to get their dildos to act like humans by responding when complimented, moaning, etc. Men literally want to make synthetic women when they can’t be bothered with dealing with real ones as human beings, and that’s what makes my stomach hurt about this kind of thing. The kind of man who wants one of these things has an issue with seeing women as full human beings. After all, human beings have autonomy, demand respect, feel pain, require that you obtain consent, bleed/cough/sweat, etc. It’s no accident that women, who MUST consider men in all their humanity, aren’t the ones constantly trying to create and mount fake ones.

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      johnseaveyThe Noble Renard
      4/07/16 11:25am

      I agree that it’s creepy, but I don’t think it’s a particularly new development. I mean, doing a search for “fan art” for any celebrity you care to name is going to turn up a metric ton of porn using their likeness; this is more elaborate, obviously, but it’s not really any different from drawing a celebrity naked or posting erotica about them. It’s an inappropriate erasure of boundaries with a total stranger based on a false sense of intimacy cultivated to get you to spend money on their branded products, basically.

      And on that note, time to start my drinking for the day! :)

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    SevenYearTitheStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:14am

    I’m curious why no one mentions that there might be a market for male sex bots aimed at straight women? Aren’t sex toys for women a much bigger market than sex toys for me?

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      minoukatzeSevenYearTithe
      4/07/16 11:19am

      THIS.

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      johnseaveySevenYearTithe
      4/07/16 11:26am

      Women have successfully reduced the experience to the important bit. :)

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    JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:15am

    I wouldn’t be terribly worried. eventually Apple will release a product that allows us to fuck our phones and then nobody will ever leave their house again.

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      GELLA - LLAPJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      4/07/16 11:19am

      are you saying out of your house now??? OMG

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      ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILDJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      4/07/16 11:21am

      Wrong: Samsung will beat them to it! (very NSFW)

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    I'm Fart and I'm SmunnyStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:15am

    The fact that anyone would even want to make a female AI after watching Ex Machina is beyond me.

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      clockworkandcameosI'm Fart and I'm Smunny
      4/07/16 11:25am

      That movie, amazing but horrifying.

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      Buckylaw14I'm Fart and I'm Smunny
      4/07/16 11:27am

      An AI period, do you know if they’ll have a sense of empathy or will they be complete psychopaths?

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    UngreyMyHeartStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:07am

    IMO, less “unethical” and more “giant red flag that someone is a creep.” I’m happy with the idea of guys who want women to be dolls without free will getting to own ACTUAL dolls without free will, and leaving real women alone.

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      SodburgerUngreyMyHeart
      4/07/16 11:14am

      I remember a while back there was an article about child dolls. Yes - huge red flag that is awful and terrible. BUT better a doll than an actual child?

      eek what a world.

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      InSocialMediasResUngreyMyHeart
      4/07/16 11:20am

      This is what I thought! Yes, clearly the fact that the tech space has so few women and yet so many female gendered AIs is based in misogyny and how these men view women’s roles. However, I somewhat think it’s inevitable (I don’t think women will be left out, just less catered to in the market, like with porn).

      I kind of like the idea that men who are so bad/apathetic about seeing women as real people they need to engage with as equals.. might eliminate themselves from the gene pool because it’s just easier for them to fuck their robot. It won’t be satisfying to a lot of people (most? who knows, probably just takes time to normalize), but those are the people who are willing to engage with women as people.

      If someone hates women enough to forgo us for robots, PLEASE DO SO, is all I’m sayin.

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    ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILDStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:08am

    I love you so much PHILLIP J FRY

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      Slut Panicʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILD
      4/07/16 11:11am
      GIF
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      mazzieDʕ•ᴥ•ʔ : Riot GRRR is RUNNING WILD
      4/07/16 11:13am

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    andsmokeit is mrs tormund giantsbaneStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:38am

    *WELL, ACTUALLY ALERT*

    there are no robots in serenity

    *disappears forever*

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      MisterJinglesandsmokeit is mrs tormund giantsbane
      4/07/16 11:49am

      Battlestar Galactica on the other hand...

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      pH unbalancedandsmokeit is mrs tormund giantsbane
      4/07/16 11:56am

      “Mal, he like, totally killed me.”

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    Rando CalrissianStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:06am
    GIF

    We’ll call this game, making literal female sex objects.

    eta: the robot has built in high heels. i’m just so fucking done at this point.

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      LostInSpaceCampRando Calrissian
      4/07/16 11:29am

      Is it better, worse, or the same as a fleshlight because it has a face? I’m genuinely asking.

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      Rando CalrissianLostInSpaceCamp
      4/07/16 11:45am

      It’s worse, because with a fleshlight there is no illusion that this is what the ideal human woman is like. With sex robots, the ideal human woman is rendered as utterly docile, self-objectifying, and consumed with nothing except the sexual satisfaction of her male owner.

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    SprocheteStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:20am

    Would it be any less creepy if a woman invented a Justin Beiber robot to tell her he loves her and hug her to sleep every night? I think not, and I think that for a lonely person to channel all their affection towards a robot is heartbreaking. But is it any more heartbreaking than to be lonely and not have strong, rewarding relationships with other humans?

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      weebleswobbleSprochete
      4/07/16 11:29am

      I just think it’s creepy when it’s a real person. If it’s a random robot face it’s sad and would kind of freak me out but you do you.

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      Country Mac's Ocular Patdownweebleswobble
      4/07/16 11:32am

      I mean, I imagine every robot with a realistic face already has a person who it has been made to look like. That person just may not be super famous.

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    goddessoftransitoryStassa Edwards
    4/07/16 11:44am

    Weirdly, the first two things that came to mind for me reading this piece were the Futurama episode where Frye downloads a Lucy Liu-bot (and a persuasive argument is made that such downloading is theft from the real Liu, who exists as a disembodied but still sentient head) and the 1987 film Cherry 2000 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt009274..., in which a man, desperately in love with his companion robot, uses a bounty hunter to track down a replacement personality chip when her model breaks down and it turns out she isn’t manufactured anymore.

    Both of these are played for laughs and sci-fi adventure, but in both the male protagonists are shown as men who are both relieved to find and helpless (at least temporarily) without the “safe” receptacle for their feelings. For sex? Of course. But (especially in Cherry 2000) the guy is shown to not only have feelings for his robot companion but to be bereft, without any kind of emotional outlet, when she breaks down. It’s pointed out to him that her “model” is considered old fashioned, that “newer and better” versions exist and are easily affordable. If all he wanted was a creative and willing hole for his dick, he’d have no problems.

    But Cherry made him feel safe. And the film really, if inadvertently, underlines that men very, very rarely feel safe emotionally in the world they’ve constructed. If men are to stay in control, but not go mad from having no way to process love, vulnerability, tenderness and sharing, they have to create what’s basically a safe deposit box with a vagina, programmed to never say anything unexpected or rash or cruel or indicating that they just don’t “get” him.

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      John Jackulagoddessoftransitory
      4/07/16 12:35pm

      Wow. Freud has nothing on you.

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      goddessoftransitoryJohn Jackula
      4/07/16 12:58pm
      GIF
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