Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots

If the title of Kate Devlin's Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots is eye-catching, mission accomplished! Devlin employs a cheeky writing style to discuss the serious academic work for which she is best known: the intersection of robots and human sexuality. Turned On, far from being salacious, covers the history, psychology and philosophical underpinnings of artificial intelligence (AI) as it relates to intimate relationships. "Most of all, it's about being human in a world of machines."

In the 21st century, robots can be purchased at department stores (Roomba vacuums, for example), and AI is ubiquitous (witness Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa). Humans, with a predilection to believe that any "semblance of human-like behavior" indicates a "degree of sentience," often anthropomorphize inanimate objects. If people respond emotionally to a disembodied voice, why not add a body to it? Devlin identifies the challenges and benefits of nonhuman companions as she charts the course from sex toys to humanoid sex robots. Will sex robots with AI be designed only for physical needs, or will emphasis "be placed firmly on interactions and responses"? Throughout her book, Devlin, senior lecturer in the department of computing at Goldsmiths, University of London, introduces people with sex doll fetishes and engineers who built working prototypes of sex robots. Beyond the obvious titillation of her title, she persuasively explores the need for "a serious... conversation about what it means to be human when surrounded by machines that might one day care for us and about us." --Cindy Pauldine, bookseller, the river's end bookstore, Oswego, N.Y.

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