Monday, October 21, 2019

Sex-bots To Teach Us Virtue?


                 A doctoral student at Australia’s University of Wollongong, and an associate professor at The Netherlands’ Radboud University, wrote an article titled “Designing Virtuous Sex Robots” that was recently published in the International Journal of Social Robotics (look for the centerfold!). In it, they argue that even robots specifically created for human pleasure should be designed to grant or withhold consent. And teach sex education. They say that these sex-bots can and should be designed to help human beings become more virtuous, either by exhibiting virtuous behavior themselves or “nudging human behavior directly.”
                The academics also argue that “A sex robot which not only can practice consent scenarios with a human partner, but which can actually cultivate a virtue like compassion could potentially be used in sex education and therapy.” They even foresee a time when robots will help coax users “towards virtuous behavior,” such as praising humans for exercising.
                John Banzhaf, law professor at George Washington University Law School, told The College Fix that he’s skeptical of the authors’ arguments, stating in part: “ It is hard to see a university requiring its incoming (presumably male) students to have sex with a robot enough times to teach this virtue, or even permitting students to interact with a sexy female robot on a voluntary basis much like checking out a book from the library or some scientific equipment from a lab.”
                Apparently, Professor Banzhaf is shuttered in his office and doesn’t read The Fix, Campus Reform, or any of several other journals that routinely document the institutionally sanctioned insanity that is now ubiquitous on college campuses.
  For the roughly half-dozen or so of you around the globe that are interested in my take on this, here it is: A “virtuous sex-bot?” That rather defeats the point, doesn’t it? I may have to do more research on this, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t why they were invented.
  Besides, robots can’t be virtuous. Not inherently, naturally, organically…truly… virtuous. Not now, not ever. And do we really want attractive, lifelike sexbots around telling us to eat more vegetables and cut down on our drinking? Do we want them to nag us to cut out red meat and give up air-conditioning and our automobiles in order to help keep the planet from spontaneously igniting someday soon? Might they remind us to tie our shoes and look both ways before crossing the street? Does anybody else think this is a good idea and a natural fit?
  Seriously, though, it appears much of mankind is entering a post religious world. Many people no longer believe in a higher power……except for A.I. robots, apparently. Is this increasingly secular and hedonistic world a sign of the end times? 2 Tim 3:1-5 states, “But know this…in the last days…men will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
  The jig is already up if we are to learn virtue from machines.


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