Last year, a story hit the headlines about a guy in Hong Kong who spent $50,000 building a Scarlett Johansson look-alike robot. I didn't think a lot about it at the time, as I was busy with other things.
This came back to me again the other week. I recently decided that it was time to take back control over my own investments (the guy who was managing them on my behalf made a few decisions that I didn't agree with, but that's on me), so I'd been looking for new stocks to put my money into. 90% of the time, especially now, I'm pretty defensive with stuff like this, and invest in packaging, security, and other 'unexciting' stuff.
You can't always be like that, though, so I was trying to think blue sky, and I read an article about sex robots.
I can see these becoming BIG. As in you almost have to think "Why WOULDN'T they?" rather than "Why WOULD they?". Places where there's a gender imbalance, obvious example being China, places where dating opportunities are limited or non-existent (Japan, the Islamic world) - there's surely a big market for this kind of thing. I'd like to see a counter argument to this, but I don't think there is one. Price, I agree, might be an issue for some, but there would still be a massive market.
And then, there's the West. Widowed guys, shy guys, busy guys etc are obvious. But it goes further than this - hell, I can see a few limited opportunities where it could seem like fun to bring a female sex robot in, as an adjunct to my gal and I's bedroom activities (although it would probably not be even half as fun as it might have seemed, and the robot would then end up in a wardrobe, I suspect).
Then I started to think about it a little more carefully. In fact, it was my G@G experiences that got me to think about it more carefully.
What would *really* happen to these sex robots? Would they actually be a remedy for loneliness? Probably, yes. As in people would come to believe they were in 'relationships' with them, and would cease to seek out real relationships.
If another person could remotely control a sex robot, would this be more likely to lead to long distance relationships, where the two parties control the sex robot that's actually in close proximity to the other party, and 'have sex' that way? I expect so, yes. And this would become a kind of relationship where the two parties feel less of a need to actually meet in person.
Then my thoughts started taking me to places I didn't really want them to go. How would some of our MGTOW friends behave towards a sex robot? I think it's safe to say that not all of them would treat their robots well. But it doesn't matter, right? Because she's only a robot, she's not real? I think it does matter, because she's a stand-in, an avatar for a real girl, and one who never says no. And how exactly might that affect behaviour towards a real girl? I thought about this, and didn't like the answer.
So more and more, this feels like an idea with wings. I'm sure it will fly. But is it an ethical investment? I've come to the conclusion that it's not. And that's before I even got as far as finding out which companies are actively researching this kind of thing.
This is something we, as a society, need to think quite hard about. We missed the boat with the internet, and we're still only just starting to figure out the impact that that has on our minds. I think sex robots could be the worst idea yet.
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