Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-robot Relationships - Softcover

David Levy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0715637770 ISBN 13: 9780715637777

Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

From Pygmalion falling for his Galatea, to Dr Frankenstein marvelling at his monster, to the man-meets-machine fiction of Philip K Dick and Michael Crichton, humans have been enthralled by the possibilities of emotional relationships with their technological creations. This book explores this fascination, and its far-reaching implications.

About this title

Review:

'The safest sex on the planet' - Wired. 'Racy, divertingly illustrated book' - Guardian. 'Robocopulate' - Sun. 'Oddly - very oddly - fascinating new book ... It's no mean feat just presenting a prediction as outlandish as that as unabashedly as Levy does. But more impressive still is how coherently he backs it up' - Telegraph. --Various

His book reminds us that humanity is an act: it is something we do. When our robots become pets, carers, even companions, we will, quite naturally, feel the urge to treat them well - Guardian. An interesting read and certainly food for thought ... There's certainly enough material in this book for you to examine human as well as android love needs - SFCrowsnest.com. David Levy's thesis, in this utterly fascinating, scholarly and rather uncomfortable book, is essentially that we'll f**k anything (which we knew), and that we love pretty much anything that looks as though it might love us; or, at least, is blank and malleable enough for us to project that idea upon - New Statesman. Get ready to bed a robot - Daily Star. --Various

'Love and Sex with Robots' provokes all kinds of questions about consciousness and emotions, about how we recognise ourselves in others and about the extent to which behaviour reflects the mechanics of the mind - New Scientist Magazine. Will surely rank as the definitive study of such phenomena for years to come - LA Times Book Review. The deeper you get into the book, the more difficult it becomes to dismiss his thesis - Chicago Sun-Times. [A] controversial and troublingly arousing book - USA Today. Entertaining (even climactic) -Washington Post --Various

Synopsis:

From Pygmalion falling for his chiselled Galatea, to Dr Frankenstein marvelling at his 'modern Prometheus', to the man-meets-machine fiction of Philip K Dick and Michael Crichton, humans have been enthralled by the possibilities of emotional relationships with their technological creations. Synthesizing cutting-edge research in robotics with the cultural history and psychology of artificial intelligence, "Love and Sex with Robots" explores this fascination, and its far-reaching implications. Using examples drawn from around the world, David Levy argues that, once we have conditioned ourselves to feel affection for animate creations, the next logical step is physical intimacy. Shocking but utterly convincing, "Love and Sex With Robots" brings to life these fascinating aspects of science fact, and Levy makes a compelling case that the entities we once deemed cold and mechanical, will soon become the objects of real, human desire.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0715637770
• ISBN 13: 9780715637777
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352