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"The Legislative Riddle of Robotic Rape & Robotic Child Sexual Abuse"

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MASTER THESIS "THE LEGISLATIVE RIDDLE OF ROBOTIC RAPE & ROBOTIC CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE" University ........................................... Tilburg University Master ................................................ Law & Technology Student name ..................................... Anthi Kanelli Student Number (SNR) .................... 2031739 Administration Number (ANR) ....... 791355 First supervisor ................................. Silvia de Conca Second supervisor ............................. Tineke Broer Location of writing ............................ Tilburg Date of conclusion ............................. 11 November 2019 The First Step The young poet Evmenis complained one day to Theocritos: "I've been writing for two years now and I've composed only one idyll. It's my single completed work. I see, sadly, that the ladder of Poetry is tall, extremely tall; and from this first step I'm standing on now I'll never climb any higher." Theocritos retorted: "Words like that are improper, blasphemous. Just to be on the first step should make you happy and proud. To have reached this point is no small achievement: what you've done already is a wonderful thing. Even this first step is a long way above the ordinary world. To stand on this step you must be in your own right a member of the city of ideas. And it's a hard, unusual thing to be enrolled as a citizen of that city. Its councils are full of Legislators no charlatan can fool. To have reached this point is no small achievement: what you've done already is a wonderful thing."1 Constantine P. Cavafy 1 English translation of the poem, found in <http://cavafis.compupress.gr/>accessed 5 August 2019. In the front page, sex robot Harmony's photo is taken from this news article: 'Solana The Sex Robot Looks Absolutely Horrifying Without Her Skin' (International Business Times UK, 2018) <https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ces-2018-solana-sex-robot-looks-absolutely-horrifying-without-her-skin- 1654796> accessed 11 November 2019, and Lady Justice photo is taken from this website <https://morguefile.com/>. The editing is done by the Author, by use of this photo editing website: <https://www.remove.bg/> and MS Paint. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to the people who made this thesis possible, namely my supervisors: Silvia de Conca, whose guidance and critique were pivotal to the writing of the thesis, who taught me so much about academic writing through her feedback, fostered my independent thinking and was immensely supportive and patient. Tineke Broer, who, with her brilliant and perceptive feedback/critique made me see my topic with fresh eyes and a more contemplative perspective. I am thankful to Prof. Bert-Jaap Koops for answering my questions regarding the criminalisation of virtual child pornography during the Cybercrime Course, thus giving me food for thought for my thesis. I am deeply indebted to every author who wrote about the topics I discuss, before me. Particularly Ι am thankful to John Danaher and Sven Nyholm, who have been constant sources of inspiration and with whom I had the pleasure and honour to discuss in person some of the topics covered in this thesis. For the idea of writing about sex robots I owe thanks to my friend Lee, who loves to stimulate my mind and shared an article about sex robots with me several years ago. I would also like to express my gratitude to Tom Chokrevski, for being the first person to listen to my initial idea and for helping me to put my thoughts in order and to formulate my thesis proposal. I am eternally grateful to my parents Dimitris and Foteini, my brother George and my grandparents, for always lighting the flame within me and being my sweet refuge (mental or physical) in times of trouble. Thanks to my friends Foteini and Daniel, who believed in me, hung out with me and were my guardian angels in various mishaps. Thanks to my lifelong friends Dimitra, Mandy, Vasso and Dora, who may be living away from me, but have been my loving support network. Last but not least, thanks to my feline friend Enzo, for all the companionship during long nights of writing. Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION: BRAVE NEW WORLD ............................................................................................... 1 1. An unusual story ................................................................................................................................... 1 2. The advent of sex robots ....................................................................................................................... 1 3. One legal problem ................................................................................................................................ 2 4. Legal literature on sex robots-facilitated unconsented sex, and the gap therein ................................... 4 5. The research question ........................................................................................................................... 6 6. Limits of the research ........................................................................................................................... 7 7. Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 7 8. Outline of the thesis .............................................................................................................................. 7 9. Reflections and motivation ................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................. 9 THE TECHNOLOGY: ROBOTIC LOVERS .............................................................................................. 9 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1. A changing world .......................................................................................................................... 9 1.2. Outline of this Chapter ................................................................................................................ 10 2. From mythology and science fiction to reality ................................................................................... 11 3. An age-old artefact ............................................................................................................................. 11 4. Definition of sex robots ...................................................................................................................... 12 4.1. Definition of robots, humanoids, androids, and gynoids ............................................................. 12 4.2. Definition of Artificial Intelligence (AI) ..................................................................................... 12 4.3. A legal definition of sex robots ................................................................................................... 13 4.4. Sex robots or sex dolls? ............................................................................................................... 14 4.5. Robot rights ................................................................................................................................. 15 5. Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) ........................................................................................................ 15 5.1. Definition of HRI ........................................................................................................................ 15 5.2. Anthropomorphism ...................................................................................................................... 16 5.3. The uncanny valley ...................................................................................................................... 17 6. Modern sex robots .............................................................................................................................. 17 6.1. Realbotix-"Harmony" .................................................................................................................. 17 6.2. Other companies and current market size .................................................................................... 19 7. The future of sex robots ...................................................................................................................... 21 7.1. Future advancements ................................................................................................................... 21 7.2. Future projections of the market .................................................................................................. 22 8. Sex robots' possible benefits ............................................................................................................... 23 9. The dark side of sex robots ................................................................................................................. 24 9.1. Objectification of women ............................................................................................................ 24 9.2. Simulation of unconsensual sex .................................................................................................
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