Abstract
AbstractIn this article, we present our experiences from research into the healthy ageing and well-being of older people and we report on our personal opinions of robots that may help the elderly to have sex and to cope with isolation and loneliness. However, and while there is a growing industry for sex robots and other sex toys and gadgets, there is also a growing concern about the ethics of such an industry. As is the case with pornography, the concept of sex robots may be criticized, yet it has deep roots in human civilization, with erotic depictions that date back to the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Ages. So the need for an artefact that would offer sexually relevant functionality is not new at all. But what might be new and worrying is the potential for using artificial intelligence in sex robots in ways that might cause a repositioning of our entire value system. Such a threat is not related to the proliferation of sex robots per se but to the use of robots in general and in a variety of other fields of application.
Highlights
We have acquired certain experiences from our involvement and participation in the context of European research projects such as the MARIO project
MARIO was a robot project that would facilitate the care of people with dementia [1]
The main idea was to design and offer apps that are intended to serve as reminders for those affected, and which can
Summary
We have acquired certain experiences from our involvement and participation in the context of European research projects such as the MARIO project (http://www.marioproject.eu). There Yalom writes about an elderly man, panicking because of his fear of death, who developed an atypical sex drive and as a result had many sexual encounters with women who lived in his senior citizens’ community. Those who favour the advent of sex with robots are often perceived as being sexually deviant, even perverted. Sex robots and other devices that have a sexually relevant functionality are nothing more than interactive sex dolls The latter are no novelty for our civilization – the first of these gadgets was invented during the seventeenth century by Dutch sailors who suffered from isolation and a lack of sex during long voyages at sea. One might not feel comfortable in admitting this, these “Dutch wives” are an example of a need leading to a solution
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