Robots on display at the China International Robot Show in Shanghai, July 8-11, 2015. (Photo : Imagine China)
It could be another case of life imitating art if the prediction of an expert about sex robots would become true. Such a situation was the plot in a 2013 movie, "Her," in which the character portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix fell in love with a robot that operates like Apple's Siri.
What would make intimacy as well as falling in love with a robot possible in five decades are advances in Artificial Intelligence, said Dr. Helen Driscoll, a sex psychologist, reports Daily Mail. She adds that closer and sexual relationships with androids could even improve the mental health of humans.
As it is, online gaming and the use of social media - virtual realities that have become extremely popular - have been credited with boosting certain capabilities and shaping the younger generation.
"As virtual reality becomes more realistic and immersive and is able to mimic and even improve on the experience of sex with a human partner, it is conceivable that some will choose this in preference to sex with a less than perfect human being," Driscoll wrote in a blog post for Huffington Post.
Among those who would benefit from sex with robots are people who lost a partner or are single or live alone. She points out that "After all a virtual partner is surely better than no partner at all."
Driscoll acknowledges that spending more time in virtual reality and solitary living could lead to more mental health problems which could be partly solved by intimacy offered by intelligent robots. Millennials not inclined towards sex, unlike their parents, is becoming a trend in Japan where studies show that 50 percent of adults no longer have sex. AI alternatives, such as a Chinese girlfriend app, Xiaoice, has been added as a friend on several big Chinese social networking services.
The advances in AI would be accompanied by evolution of attitude towards sex, making the concept of robophilia normal in the near future, although currently it is an alien concept, Driscoll says. She adds that virtual relationships do not necessarily have lesser value than real ones, noting that, "People already fall in love with fictional characters though there is no chance to meet and interact with them."
