Any Synthetiks-related news, Davecat? (Jan 10)
typed for your pleasure on 4 January 2010, at 11.49 pmSdtrk: ‘The romance of the telescope’ by OMD
Now that I seem to have my iPod properly functioning (although that Shake function is completely worthless. Drop your iPod by accident, and bam! Suddenly you’re listening to a different song. Yeah, that’s practical), I’ve begun downloading various podcasts that catch my fancy. One of them, which is to say two of them, cos they cover the same topic and are released by the same group, would be Talking Robots and Robots, both by the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (EPFL), in Lausanne, Switzerland. As I usually listen to them on the way to work, currently I’m a third of the way through the interview they conducted with one of my favourite people, David Levy, author of ‘Love and Sex with Robots’, and it makes for encouraging listening! Both podcast series have quite a backlog, so I’m fairly sure they’ll keep me occupied for some time…
Incientally, if anyone out there can suggest any more podcasts that you think I’d like — not just robots and Synthetiks, mind you, but stuff that fits in with the whole ‘Shouting etc etc’ oeuvre — do please let me know!
So what with the timing of me stumbling upon these podcasts, and learning about the following piece in the Washington Times from spurtBOT, it makes for a happy bit of synchronicity:
Are artificial wives on the horizon?
By Paul Christensen | Wednesday, December 9, 2009Futurologist Ray Hammond says he thinks […] machine consciousness will happen toward the middle of the current century – the same time frame in which Mr. Levy has said robot marriage will occur.
“There will certainly be emotional attachment between humans and machines,” Mr. Hammond says, “although I don’t think ‘marriage’ is anything other than a word for headline writers. People already form weak emotional bonds with inanimate objects, and as objects become increasingly intelligent, these bonds will strengthen.”
Mr. Levy, however, says he thinks sentience is not the real issue. He points out that it isn’t the algorithm people fall in love with, but the convincing simulation. “If a robot appears in every way to possess consciousness, then in my opinion, we should accept that it does,” he says.
the entire article is here
Now, if you’ll recall, the date in this post’s title would be January 2010. That’s two thousand and ten, ladies and gentlemen. Now, it seems to me that if we’re in the future, which is now the present, we should be that much closer to fully-realised artificial humans, right? THIS IS NOT HAPPENING FAST ENOUGH. I’ll even overlook the distinct lack of manned commercial daily flights to one of the many colonies on the lunar surface, or the non-appearance of flying cars, if we can just get this whole Synthetik companion thing kick-started. Not just passive ones, such as Dolls, but active ones, like, I dunno… Cherry 2000. Let’s not have another decade pass without consumer-market Androids and Gynoids, here. *claps hands impatiently*
Until that glorious day arrives, however, we still have new models of Dolls to look forward to, thankfully. SynthCreations, for instance, have secretly debuted a new head for their standard Mecadoll body! Her name is Emanuelle; won’t you make her welcome?
Improved cleavage for… better cleaving
Her face is unusual, cos it falls between my particular parameters of being attractive, and not attractive. But that’s all right, cos again, it fills a niche! What may not be stunning to me may be pants-shrinkingly luscious to someone else, you know…
This here was brought to my attention via Wolfgang: an Organik lass had doll joint tattoos done. It should go without saying that I like the cut of this girl’s jib!
Very nice, but you can’t just stop at the legs! Perhaps this will inspire some enterprising young lass to go for an all-over ball-joint doll tattoo scheme. Hans Bellmer would be proud! And, more than likely, aroused, but you can hardly blame him, really. You can view the rest of the pics over at BME.
And thanks to various friends on le Twittré, I was informed that the episode of National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’ documentary series that Shi-chan and I shot back in June of 09 is finally due out! The episode is apparently entitled ‘Strange Love‘, and the Missus and I are occupying a segment of it, airing our views and voicing our opinions, cos that’s what we do. As of this writing, I don’t have the exact airdate — at the very least, it’ll be after 17 January — but you’ll want to keep an eye out for it, obviously, and I’ll let you know when I know, yada yada yada.
Hey, does this mean people will be hitting me up through Myspace again? Ergh
Technorati tags: Android, Gynoid, robot, Synthetiks, technosexual, Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, David Levy, Love and Sex with Robots, SynthCreations, tattoos, Hans Bellmer, Body Modification Ezine, National Geographic Taboo
Random similar posts, for more timewasting:
Any Synthetiks-related news, Davecat? (May 2008) on May 3rd, 2008
Any Synthetiks-related news, Davecat? (Sept 2008) on September 4th, 2008
January 7th, 2010 at 6.58 am
Emotional attachment to objects is already a fact of human existence. Attachments tend to be stronger when the object has human characteristics. So, I’m more inclined to agree with Levy that it’s the convincing simulation (or close approximation of human intelligence) that will make human/robot relationships rather than the complete artificial intelligence Hammond proposes.
Until then, however, we’ll have to settle for dolls who borrow cognitive processing power.
I’m still waiting for a car that can reliably drive itself, much less fly. Bloody stunted technological revolution.
January 8th, 2010 at 9.03 pm
That is great information about the silicone love dolls and all the new “fembots” technology.
(not-so-subtle advert removed)
January 10th, 2010 at 4.11 am
JM –
True, a lot of people do have strong emotional attachment to objects — not just iDollators, but people who hold such things as classic cars or things of that nature, in high value — but the general populace unfortunately tends to think that having that behaviour past a certain age is strange. More’s the pity, really, cos I view that as a desperate lack of imagination on their part…
I’m not sure I’d want a car to drive itself, but I’d much rather have a Gynoid that could drive us instead. In a spinner, no less. 🙂
RisqueBoutique –
Thanks very much! Despite your initial claim that you sell CandyGirls, ‘Shouting etc etc’ doesn’t really provide links to individual vendors, just the manufacturers themselves. But thanks to the tip-off to your store, though!
January 20th, 2010 at 6.41 pm
She looks a bit like a dark-haired Billie Piper. Very tasty, in other words!
Also, just want to say how great it is you’re still continuing this unique blog. I’m still loving it to this day. Awesome stuff – keep up the great work.
January 20th, 2010 at 9.06 pm
Bellsy –
See, there ya go: have your Emanuelle-type made with brown eyes and blonde hair, and you could have your very own Rose Tyler. Then you’d never leave the house!
Me? I’d prefer a Doll version of either Zoe Heriot, or the Lalla Ward Romana. I’m a traditionalist, you see. 🙂
And glad to hear you’re still enjoying ‘Shouting etc etc’! Honestly I didn’t know that CosmoBells was back in action; I think you’d drawn a line under it — what, last Xmas? — and I thought that was it. Time to update my bookmarks!
Nice to see you, to see you nice! 🙂
January 23rd, 2010 at 5.26 pm
I’ve quit a few times and came back at a later date. That’s the only way I can keep going I think. Never stop what you’re doing man – I’ve been loving your blog for years. Totally unique and a breath of fresh air.
January 24th, 2010 at 11.42 pm
Thanks for that, sir. 🙂 As long as I’ve got something to write about — more than likely, something centred round Synthetiks or Sixties design — this blog won’t be going anywhere. 🙂
As long as I don’t run out of words, I should say! And how likely is that to happ
February 4th, 2010 at 6.39 pm
I LOVE that tattoo…although it may be unoriginal, I may consider getting that in a full body version. What do you think?
February 4th, 2010 at 6.58 pm
I can only approve of you getting a set of tattoos like that, that’s what I think. 🙂 But you’ve got a few options to consider. Would you go for a more classic Hans Bellmer-style? Or a more contemporary ball-joint scheme? Or it seems that what the lass above has would be more like a kind of a Busou shinki theme going there.
Whatever you go with, obviously you’ll need to post pics of how it all goes. That’s a given. 🙂 And thanks for dropping a line!