Free Republic

Should we be having sex with robots? It's a question that has sparked fierce debate among moralists and the robotics industry. And it turns out, they're all split on what role machines should play in future relationships. During a discussion at the Web Summit technology conference in Dublin on Wednesday, experts warned about the dangers of getting intimate with robots.

The idea for the conference was sparked when Cheok and Levy, two academics interested in robotics, met several years ago and realized they had goals in common. Levy, author of Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, focuses on the brain, the software side, and the algorithms of humanoid robots. Cheok researches the hardware side from an engineering view, looking at multi-modal interfaces including communication by touch, taste, and smell. These areas of study, Cheok said, will be important in the future of robots. "A lot of the technology that's incubating in my lab will be integrated...

SCIENTISTS at Leeds University are to create new robots and drones to help fix street lights and potholes as part of an ambitious plan to create “self-repairing cities.” Academics are leading a pioneering £4.2m national research project to develop small robots which can identify problems with utility pipes, street lights and roads and fix them.

Can you imagine having sex with a humanoid robot? Apparently, this will be the norm in a few short decades. Futurologist Dr Ian Pearson has released a report in which he predicts the future of sex. He released the report in partnership with Bondara, one of the UK's leading sex toy shops. Dr. Pearson makes the point that robotic sex toys - vibrators - have been in use for around a century, and that virtual reality porn is about to become mainstream.

In a massive coincidence, every single Hillary Clinton staffer and surrogate who watched the Democratic presidential candidate’s Meet the Press interview had the exact same thoughts, sometimes using identical language.... Now at first, it may appear that these responses were all coordinated in some fashion. However, it would be against the law for campaign officials to coordinate with a pro-Clinton Super PAC director like Brad Woodhouse. So clearly it’s a coincidence that his tweet was identical to Clinton staffer Karen Finney’s.

Spot is electrically operated and walks on four hydraulically actuated legs The latest version of a walking, quadruped battlefield robot from Boston Dynamics, the military robotics maker owned by Google X, was tested by U.S. Marines last week. Spot weighs about 70kgs, is electrically operated and walks on four hydraulically-actuated legs. It's controlled via wireless by an operator who can be up to 500 meters away. It underwent trials and testing at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia as part of evaluations by the Marines on future military uses of robotic technology. In a series of missions, it was evaluated...

Volvo has a vision about rubbish. They want to replace bin collectors with autonomous robots, and they want to do it by summer 2016. (snip) The drones will accompany a dustcart, itself developed by another partner, the recycling company Renova, with a single driver who would sit, clean and at ease, in his or her cab as the robots do the dirty heavy lifting. The driver would not have direct control over the drones, but would act as their supervisor. (snip) The image that accompanies the announcement of the project shows robots that look like a cross between a Segway...

Sex with robots will be ‘the norm’ in 50 years, say experts. Men are considering the prospect with curiosity and a sense of humour. But academics and feminists are terrified and calling for them to be banned. Let me tell you why. Who, or what, men have sex with is the basis of our civilisation. It is the driving force behind our greatest accomplishments. Men don’t compete for abstract pleasure: they compete to bag the best mate. The internet, the pyramids and the moon landings would not exist were it not for man’s desire to have sex with woman.

They are yet to hit the shelves, but activists are already campaigning against the sale of so-called sex robots, which may be "harmful and contribute to inequalities in society." Several companies are developing robots that can be used as sexual substitutes for humans, leading to the launch of the "Campaign against sex robots" on Tuesday to highlight the potential dangers.

Robots have taken up residence at some small- and medium-sized dairy farms across the country, providing reliable and more efficient labor and helping the businesses remain viable. Plus, farmers say, the milking technology makes for happier, more productive cows. Dairy operations here and abroad have used robotic milkers for more than a decade. But with more manufacturers and dealerships emerging the U.S., the number of smaller farms in Iowa with the technology has doubled over the last two years, from roughly 20 to more than 40, and family farms in the Northeast also are plugging in. The cost of not...

[Luddites and people with Marxist premises are wrong again.] The Robots of Labor DayEdward Hudgins Fear of robots has been rising: not just fear of the sci-fi killer kind but also fear that robots will take our jobs. But this Labor Day we should celebrate the fact that robots free us from the need to perform certain tasks, make our labor more valuable, and could usher in new age of prosperity and human flourishing. Robots are machinesRobots are special types of machines. They’re programmed electro-mechanical devices that perform various physical functions, ideally better than humans. They range from the types...

Is the world we live in a computer simulation in the minds of Robotic Overlords who are using humanity as playthings? This is the "scientific" theory put forward by a number of physicists and Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom.(1) Bostrom is one of the founders of the World Transhumanist Association. Transhumanism is a blend of revitalized Gnostic pagan and Eastern occult pantheist elements and magic science undergirded by a strong Darwinian impulse. Thus it subscribes to the modern myth of a coming Superman that is actually a counterfeit of the Christian vision of a new and perfected human race spiritually...

So question du jour (and I'm asking it in several places today: it was set off by the attached link and its' discussion here on FR. . ) Replacing low-skilled workers with automation, and now robots, has been an accellerating trend for over a century now, and really looks like we're soon going to hit the point where the curve goes hyperbolic. (especially with the push for $15/hour for minimum wage. . .) Given that, as more and more skilled jobs are automated out of existence. . . .what do we do about the now-unemployed, and likely permanently unemployable? So...

Take a tour of an Amazon fulfillment center and see how our Associates Works.

The Supreme Court’s recent 5–4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing same-sex marriage across the United States has already spawned speculation about “what will be next” in expanding marital rights. As the Supreme Court noted, “[t]he history of marriage is one of both continuity and change. That institution … has evolved over time.” Interracial marriage, equality between husband and wife, and same-sex marriage were all excluded for long periods of time under our Constitution but now have been sanctioned and protected by the courts. While these changes have come slowly, and courts are unlikely to take the next step in...

"I believe that anyone who has a job and works full time, they should be able to pay the things that sustain life: food, shelter and clothing. I can't even do that."That rather depressing quote is from 61-year old Rebecca Cornick. She’s a grandmother and a 9-year Wendy’s veteran who spoke to CBS News. Rebecca makes $9 an hour and her plight is representative of fast food workers across the country who are campaigning for higher pay. The fast food worker pay debate is part of a larger discussion as "states and cities across the country [wrestle] with the idea of...

A Chinese firm specialising in precision technology has set up the first unmanned factory at Dongguan city where all the processes are operated by robots, regarded as futuristic solution to tide over China's looming demographic crisis and dependence on manual workers. In the plant, all the processes are operated by computer- controlled robots, computer numerical control machining equipment, unmanned transport trucks and automated warehouse equipment. The technical staff just sits at the computer and monitors through a central control system. At the workshop of Changying Precision Technology Company in Dongguan, known as the "world factory", which manufactures cell phone modules,...

New technologies fascinate us – from the precision of robotic surgery to the potential of Amazon dropping packages on our doorsteps via drone. But at the same time, there is anxiety over robots and artificial intelligence making human labor unnecessary and, ultimately, replacing us. Fear of the changes innovation brings is nothing new, and the reality is that robots will eventually replace us in many or most of today’s jobs and that’s, in fact, a glorious thing. Yes, jobs will be destroyed by innovation, as they’ve always been, but it doesn’t mean we’ll run out of jobs. New ones will...

Hardly a day goes by without some new article describing the very rapid advance of automation in our lives. As it is right now, more and more manufacturing is done using computer-controlled machining and robots doing the assembling and even testing. We can’t call for customer assistance anymore without going through a battery of mechanical voices asking us which option we want while directing us away from any hope of human interaction. Machines are accurate, dependable and they never sleep. They don’t belong to unions and they never complain about working conditions and best of all for the Captains of...

Ever heard of the Luddites, who took their name from Ned Ludd? They were English textile workers who protested, from 1811 to 1816, against the development and implementation of labor-saving technologies....... .... Robots are causing a new Industrial Revolution..... [SNIP] ....Liberals are even proposing the regulation of technological advancement..... .........One aspect of the massive agrarian job loss in America was that the unemployed farm workers did not sit idle. Instead of lamenting their fate, waiting for government to do something and/or take care of them, they took advantage of the fact that new technology created hundreds of millions of jobs...