Robot Love: Science, Sex, and Artificial Companionship

The idea of the seductive sex robot is the stuff of myth, legend and science fiction. From the myth of Laodamia in Ancient Greece to twenty-first century shows such as Westworld, robots in human form have captured our imagination, our hopes and our fears. But beyond the fantasies there are real and fundamental questions about our relationship with technology as it moves into the realm of robotics. In this episode of The Small Print, Bronwyn speaks to computer scientist and sex-robot expert Kate Devlin about how the emerging and future development of sexual companion robots might affect us and the society in which we live. They discuss the social changes arising from emerging technologies, the gender gap in the supply of artificial companionship, and how robots can enhance — but not replace — human relationships.

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Bronwyn Williams is a futurist, economist, trend analyst and host of The Small Print. Her day job as a partner at Flux Trends involves helping business leaders to use foresight to design the future they want to live and work in. You may have seen her talking about Transhumanism or Tikok on Carte Blanche, or heard her talking about trends on 702 or CNBC Africa where she is a regular expert commentator. When she's not talking to brands and businesses about the future, you will probably find her curled up somewhere with a (preferably paperback) book. She tweets at @bronwynwilliams.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bronwynwilliams

Flux Trends: https://www.fluxtrends.com/future-flux/futurist-in-residence/

Website: https://whatthefuturenow.com/

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Dr Kate Devlin is a British computer scientist specialising in Artificial intelligence and Human–computer interaction (HCI). She is best known for her work on human sexuality and robotics and was co-chair of the annual Love and Sex With Robots convention in 2016 held in London and was founder of the UK's first ever sex tech hackathon held in 2016 at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is Senior Lecturer in Social and Cultural Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London and is the author of Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots in addition to several academic papers.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/drkatedevlin

Website: https://www.drkatedevlin.com

Book: https://amzn.to/31HSVhx

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