[spoiler]I'm fully aware 90% of the flood isn't mature enough to discuss or read this. Hopefully the howling of those chimps will keep this bumped long enough for the people who are to see it.[/spoiler] In my ongoing effort to write threads that make people from every viewpoint cringe, today I ask you about SexBots. The time when convincing androids begin appearing in our world is fast approaching; watch [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ySljCcnq4o]this[/url] if you want to lose your shit. As with all things, we must address the three most pressing concerns that arise whenever humanity encounters a new entity: 1) Can it kill us? 2) Can we kill it? 3) Can we have sex with it? While the first two are still a matter of debate, the answer to the third question is undoubtedly yes, at least in some form. Since time immemorial, humanity has constructed a variety of tools to aide in the achieving of orgasm, including artificial phallus', fleshlights, and the internet. We, in this time, may be privileged to be the humans that witness the birth of technology that can completely emulate the sex act. This would have a variety of philosophical implications, but the one that the general public is most likely to have the relevant background for is how it will affect our gender politics. Now, let's get the ugly stereotypes out of the way first: yes, this would finally give the basement dweller the hyper-submissive waifu he's always dreamed of, and it would finally give the over-bearing pop-feminist the man with so little free-will that he literally is little more than a walking dildo. There, got it out of your system? Of course not; that's what the reply button is for. When I see the "gender war," I see a lot of people (from [i]all[/i] genders) use it as a place to vent frustration about the courtship process. A lot of these complaints center around the distinction between individuals that enter relationships only for sex, and those that enter for deeper relationships. What if the two never had to mix again? Could technology do that? Should it? The closest example we have is porn. On one hand, it's considered to be a release for sexual urges, possibly giving potential sex criminals a means of release that doesn't directly hurt anyone. On the other hand, some studies have shown that more violent porn can desensitize viewers to violence against women/"receivers". There are a host of other benefits and dis-benefits, many of which have been discussed here already. The thing that makes SexBots a fundamentally different problem than Porn is their potential to [i]completely replace[/i] human sexual contact for non-breeding or non-intimate purposes. Humans are made from replicable materials, the actions we take and thoughts we have during sex are not exactly the most complex we're capable of, and our imagination outpaces our abilities in this area anyway. The thought that we may one day replicate this act through technology is not that outlandish to me. [b][i]If this happens[/b][/i], there will undoubtedly be a societal shift with regards to how we view sex. Upon extended consideration, I can't determine with confidence what that shift will be, so I encourage you to post suggestions. In fact, upon writing this, I realized this is much more complicated than I originally believed. I guess my question splits into several parts: Will humanity allow one of it's greatest driving forces to be delegated to machines? Will we still be able to advance without this driving force (the hedonist problem)? Will gender politics become healthier if carnal urges are removed from the equation? Would carnal urges be removed from the equation? Will the net effect of this change be a beneficial or detrimental to humanity? Personally, I'm not really sure about any of these.