Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
change. My own view is that if someone wishes to marry a robot, why
stop them?
Although there are some claims that same-sex relationships have long
been blessed by various churches in ceremonies akin to marriage, it was
not until 2004 that Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S.A. to
legalise same-sex marriages.
12
Within a few decades I believe that some
American states will also legalise marriage between humans and robots,
and I predict that Massachusetts will lead the way in this respect, not only
because of its comparatively liberal views to same-sex marriage but also
because it is the home of countless high-tech companies and academic
institutions working in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
Companionship
Today's interactive Barneys, Tamagocchis, Furbies, and “Winnie
the Pooh” dolls may be socialising a generation of children to not
only having emotional relationships with artefacts, but believing,
long after childhood wanes, that toys can really have feelings. If
these toys could recognise even a few of the child's truly expressed
feelings and reflect as much empathy as a dog, then the illusion
may become as powerful as it is for many adults who swear their
pet understands their feelings better than anyone.
One credible possibility is an entire generation of toys that are capa-
ble of this kind of emotional-content interaction with their young
users capable of soothing a crying child or of perhaps artificially
preventing strong feelings of loneliness, sadness, frustration, and a
host of other strong, negative emotions. Might such artefacts dis-
courage their owners from fostering normal, healthy interactions
with their parents and other children? There are certainly many
adults who prefer interacting with their pets and computers to in-
teracting with other people, and who are quite happy with this state
of affairs. If such support for emotion regulation is provided too
early by a non-human source, would this have a beneficial, educa-
tional effect, or might it possibly leave some children emotionally
crippled, thwarting the development of the skills needed to interact
successfully with other humans?
This question may be developed in the adult world as well: if such
devices achieve popular success, and humans routinely use them to
help manage their emotional states, what happens to the human's
12
In the Netherlands this happened earlier—the first same-sex marriage there took place in 2001.
