MONOLOGUE WRITTEN BY CLYDE LEWIS

The sentencing of Bill Cosby demonstrates the social impact of groups like the #MeToo movement and how weaponizing sexual allegations has brought down some prominent men all over the country.

What we are seeing is a culmination of pain and silent suffering by women who have now gathered the courage to report lecherous men to authorities.

However, one thing missing in all of this sexual warfare is due process and while cases like Cosby’s have been brought to trial, there are other cases like the Ford Kavanaugh case that are generating a heap of political resentment.

It has fueled a backlash among those who felt the movement sometimes led to excesses and injustice.

The seeds, symptoms, and signs of sexual harassment and assault can be fuzzy when held up close. Yet, the patterns we continue to see play out in our society are closer than they appear.

If almost every woman we know says “me too,” what can we expect from almost every man we know?

Well, there is a worry that women could lose out on opportunities at work because men will be afraid to work with them.

Some men may find themselves in situations where they are afraid to approach some women. Some may question what is appropriate and what isn’t, and then in order to avoid these situations will avoid intimacy altogether.

Men can be resourceful as virtual pornography, and technologically assisted sex can replace the awkwardness of intimate relationships with women.

In fact, The first so-called undefinedrobot sex brothelundefined in the U.S. slated to open in the Houston area and it is said to provide men with sexual gratification without all of the problems associated with approaching women for sex or intimacy.

Yuval Gavriel, the founder of KinkySdollS, made the announcement during an interview with the Examiner last week, telling the paper he plans to expand to 10 locations throughout the United States by 2020.

KinkySdollS opened a robot Brothel in Toronto where $60 buys a half-hour alone with a robot sex doll, according to the Washington Examiner. The dolls start at $2,500 to buy.

This poses the question is virtual sex and robot sex a response to the #MeToo movement?

Ever since CGI and life-like robotics were introduced to the public awareness, there has been this unwritten rule where the more life-like a creation is, the more likely it crosses the line from cute or intriguing to morbid and creepy.

This is known as the ‘uncanny valley.’

Believe it or not, life-like robots and CGI effects have been with us for nearly 30 years and every year the ability to create life-like images and robots has improved. While our exposure to these life-like creations is usually limited to the movies, the integration of life-like robotics and computer simulations is happening at a relatively rapid rate and many robotics engineers are questioning if the ‘uncanny valley’ even exists anymore.

Cliched as it may be, the future is here; we can and should talk about reality. Within a matter of decades, we’ve become entirely reliant on technology and robots are increasingly part of our everyday lives.

We are integrating so quickly into a technological hyper-reality that the simulation is far more real than the mediocrity of the real. Everything is so intensified that our stimulation sensors need upgrades in order to sustain the kind of stimulation we are seeing today. In order to do this, we may have to face voluntary human extinction with the promise that a better life awaits through technological advancement.

The simulation is becoming accepted and the question needs to be asked “How real is too real?” and what are the long-term and potentially lasting effects of repeatedly participating in realistic situations provided by virtual reality?

While questions have been raised about what violent virtual reality does to the brain, we are now at a point in time where sexual fantasies are being fulfilled with virtual reality and sexual robots.

As convenient as the drive-up window at your favorite fast-food restaurant, online sex requires little effort short of booting up and logging on. With its easy access comes an increasing number of people who are banging away at their computers for some electronic sexual fantasy.

These types of fantasies are paving the way for the crossing of the uncanny valley wherein the transhumant world man will be able to have relationships with sympathetic and empathetic virtual assistants and also have sexual relationships with robots.

Westworld and Futureworld were Michael Crichton’s vision of an amusement park where realistic robots would provide sex and entertainment for tourists. Of course, the train goes completely off the rails when a robotic gunslinger goes rogue and kills people.

In 1982, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner gave us the axiom “more human than human,” as the Tyrell Corporation introduced the Nexus 6 robot that is remarkably life-like. The only way to tell the difference between human and robot is to test the subject with a psychological exam that is administered using a Voight-Kampff machine.

What used to be science fiction is becoming reality. The simulation is becoming the reality. If the simulation is too uncannily real, then what is it?

David Levy is an author who has put into one book a future where sympathetic online systems combined with lifelike robots will satisfy the transhumanist sexual desires of humans. Levy’s book, Love and Sex with Robots, is perhaps the fullest exploration of the future of humans and robots, especially their interaction in the bedroom. It explores the details of internet-linked devices that transmit real physical contact.

And Levy is no fantasist. He is the only person to win the Loebner prize – an annual competition to determine which chat software is the most realistic – in two separate decades, first in 1997 and again in 2009.

According to 1,900 robotic experts, by 2025 human beings could be having sex with robots. “Robotic sex partners will be commonplace, although the source of scorn and division.”

A recent study in the UK found that one in five people would totally have sex with a robot. Which is interesting, to say the least. It may seem creepy, and cold, but the truth is there are many people who see the advantage to having robotic sex as opposed to the real thing.

A survey of college students found that 87% of more than 2,500 respondents undefinedfessed up to technology-assisted sex via tools like instant message, webcams, and text message. There were some who even said that during visits overseas they have also participated in robot sex in places like Japan and France. More and more robo sex brothels are popping up all over the world.

As many people believe sex is all about how they feel rather than their partner. The fact is while we try to pleasure the partner we are with, a robot would only care about whether or not you are satisfied. This would guarantee orgasm, no emotional ties, and no risks of STD’s or pregnancy and no accusations of sexual misconduct.

In some countries; most notably Japan, these robots have been perfected to the point of apparently becoming very human-like, and aside from being the next technological step in a hyper-pornified culture, they have been heralded by some as an “outlet” for those with kinky and unconventional sexual desires.

In February of this year, a brothel was opened in France.

The UKundefineds first sex doll brothel opened earlier this year - and one in Italy has been shut down.

At the UK brothel customers are offered a undefinedtry before you buyundefined service in an industrialized area of the country. Recently, a sex robot brothel in Italy was shut down by police less than two weeks after it opened.

Lumidollsundefined bordello in Turin was closed after alleged infringements of property law, Italian media reported.

With improving technology, and a growing appetite for sexual robots, National University of Ireland’s law professor, John Danaher said sex robots could be a good substitute in brothels — and have several health benefits for clients as well.

Prof. Danaher, who conducted research into human enhancement and artificial intelligence, said: “The cyborgs can cater for desire for sexual variety, freedom from constraint and complication and fear of lack of sexual success.undefined

The new sex robot brothel opening up in Houston has prompted a massive backlash from residents and activists who say it will ruin the neighborhood.

Elijah Rising, a Houston-based non-profit organization aimed at ending sex trafficking, started a petition titled “Keep Robot Brothels Out Of Houston.” The non-profit has more than 6,500 signatures and growing.

“As a nonprofit whose mission is to end sex trafficking we have seen the progression as sex buyers go from pornography to strip clubs to purchasing sex—robot brothels will ultimately harm men, their understanding of healthy sexuality, and increase the demand for the prostitution and sexual exploitation of women and children,” the petition states.

The organization plans to present the petition to the city’s mayor.

Residents are also expressing their opposition to the brothel, which is being described as a “showroom” where customers can test and rent dolls before deciding to purchase one.

Despite concerns, there are no regulations for the sex robot business.

The founder of the Campaign Against Sex Robots, Kathleen Richardson, argues that the existence of sex robots will increase levels of sexual assault and cause men to objectify women.

Others argue that a sex robot is just a robotic extension of sex toys that many women use in the bedroom.

In times of weaponized sexual accusations, is it any wonder that some men desire robots?

Sexual-assault allegations are piling up so frequently that it’s difficult to keep track. The idea that men would purchase a lifelike female sex robot who can be programmed to be submissive or reluctant is frightening to many. Even if sex robots wouldn’t lead to rape, the thinking goes that they could condition men to think that a woman’s role is to sexually please a man.

Yes, a sex robot could teach men to objectify women, but it wouldn’t have to.

Sex robots are merely a form of technology, and all technologies are the product of human imagination, desires, and choices. Sex robots won’t inevitably further rape culture or promote sexual assault, just as it is not inevitable that Twitter promotes sexual harassment or video games encourage violence.

With the new technology there have to be laws that dictate the business of robot brothels and as I have observed and predicted, our technology and innovations are creeping up on us and no one took the time away from their political pathetic existence to plan on this –even though it was obvious that it would happen eventually.

I think one of the reasons that sex dolls or robots are getting so much backlash is because men are designing them to look like fantasy women. In fact, looking back at the sex toy industry most early sex toys were designed by men for women—they did not sell too well, but when women designed them for pleasure then women saw no problem with buying sex toys and using them either with men or a replacement for men.

So the problem is simply aesthetic. Women’s sex toys today are more geometric than realistic; however, men need more and this is what causes the backlash.

The ultimate goal of sex-doll and robot design currently appears to be recreating the body of an ideal human.

If women were creating male sexual robots – they certainly would look a lot different and they would have other parts that human males do not have.

It’s unlikely that men will ever design a sex robot that will put female pleasure over their own egos and this is why a lot of women are crying foul and telling horror stories to themselves about what they will turn men into.

Sex robots could be programmed to do the opposite of what we fear: They could teach men and women about consent and female sexual pleasure. Since sex robots are in their infancy, now is the time to start shaping them into the technology we want them to be, not the technology we fear.

https://soundcloud.com/groundzeromedia/the-artificial-life-of-the-party-september-25-2018