The shocking potential future of your sex life

Would you ever have sex with a human-like robot?

Dr. Ian Pearson, an inventor, issued a report that says we are quickly approaching an era when human/robot sex will become commonplace. Here are a few things to know:

1. They’re for women too

According to this article in the Daily Mail:

He believes that while the market for sex dolls is currently driven by male customers, sex robots could become as popular with women.

In the report, commissioned by Bondara, an adult online store, he said most people will have some form of sex using virtual reality headsets by 2030.

It comes at a time when many sex toy companies are developing new devices that integrate with smartphones and link to the internet.

2. Apparently people might stop having sex with each other

According to this article in Complex:

A lot of people will still have reservations about sex with robots at first but gradually as they get used to them, as the AI (artificial intelligence) and mechanical behavior and their feel improves, and they start to become friends with strong emotional bonds, that squeamishness will gradually evaporate,” he said in the report, which was commissioned by adult store Bondara.

He joins a number of futurologists who have predicted that artificial intelligence and technological developments will mean the end of human sex, including robotics software specialist David Levy, who also predicted sex with robots would be commonplace by 2050 and holds an annual ‘Love and Sex with Robots’ conference.

3. There are social and ethical concerns

According to this article in The Star:

The technology has so far yet to cross the “uncanny valley” — the wide gulf from creepy to sexy sparked by almost-but-not-quite real humanoid robots.

They’re essentially rubber bodies with motors and some software; more like the love doll Bianca from Lars and The Real Girl than emotionally intelligent gynoid Ava from Ex Machina.

But sex robots are already raising ethical, legal and moral questions of consent, sexism, human biases and what our desire for them says about human psychology.

The debate over them highlights one of the more controversial aspects of the increasingly social nature of our interactions with robots as they move from factories into our homes and someday, our bedrooms.