Rob Brooks, Nikki Goldstein and Xanthe Mallet: Sex robots have no taboos
Sex robots are suddenly here, realistic-looking human-sized dolls that can provide both simulated intimacy and real physical gratification. What does this mean for sex, and what does it mean for relationships? If robots can deliver sex without feelings and intimacy without commitment, what happens to relationships? Will sex robots make sex safer for everybody, and particularly for vulnerable people, by satisfying unmet demand? Will child-like robots or robots with a ‘resistance’ setting only normalise sexual predation and paedophilia?
If you normalise violent behaviour and abuse with a bot, what's the impact for our everyday relationships, and wider society?
Chaired by Natasha Mitchell, journalist and presenter of ABC RN’s Science Friction.
This conversation is part of the UNSW Grand Challenge on Living with 21st Century Technology, and was recorded live on stage at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2018.
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Nikki Goldstein
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Rob Brooks, Nikki Goldstein and Xanthe Mallet
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Rob Brooks
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Xanthe Mallet
Rob Brooks
Rob Brooks is Professor of Evolution at UNSW Sydney and a popular science author. He has spent his career understanding the many complexities and conflict that sex and reproduction add to the lives of animals, including human animals. His popular writing explores the murky confluence of culture, economics and biology, and how new technologies interact with our evolved minds and bodies. He has won the Queensland Literary Award for Science (for his first book Sex, Genes and Rock ‘n’ Roll), and the Eureka Prize for Science Communication. His articles have been published in Psyche, CNN, The Atlantic, The Sydney Morning Herald, Areo, and many other publications. His latest book Artificial Intimacy: Virtual Friends, Digital Lovers, and Algorithmic Matchmakers considers what happens when new technology collides with our ancient ways of forming relationships and falling in love.
