Campaign Against 'Sex Robots'

If the idea of sexual relationships with robots once existed only in science fiction, its spread has now reached a point where a campaign has been launched to combat its expansion. Activists of this campaign believe that 'in recent decades, significant efforts have been made by the scientific and industrial community to create sex robots that aim to replace human companionship with machines, taking the form of women and children as sexual objects.' This campaign holds that the proliferation of this technology exacerbates social inequalities in societies and will have destructive effects on humanity. Dr. Richardson from the University of Leicester in England tells the technology section of the BBC News that it seems the robotics industry is paying special attention to sex robots as it gives a new dimension to the use of this technology. They are working on how robots should look and what roles they should play (in sexual relationships). According to this expert in robotic ethics, these robots reinforce traditional roles defined for women in a relationship, reducing them to mere tools for sexual interaction. According to the Huffington Post, Dr. Neil McArthur, a professor of philosophy and ethics at the University of Manitoba in Canada, also predicts that there will be serious demands for these sex robots in the market in the next ten to fifteen years. However, individuals like David Levy, an artificial intelligence expert working on sex robots, express confusion over the opposition. He states that people ask him why he thinks a sexual relationship with a robot is better than one with a human. They do not realize that for many people, having relationships with others is very difficult or even impossible. For them, the question is not whether a relationship with a human is better than with a robot; it is whether they should have a relationship with a robot or have no relationship at all.