Intimate relationships with artificial partners Citation for published version (APA): Levy, D. (2007). Intimate relationships with artificial partners. Datawyse / Universitaire Pers Maastricht. https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20071011dl Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2007 DOI: 10.26481/dis.20071011dl Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.umlib.nl/taverne-license Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 07 Oct. 2021 INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH ARTIFICIAL PARTNERS DAVID NEIL LAURENCE LEVY To the memory of my mother INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH ARTIFICIAL PARTNERS PROEFSCHRIFT Ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Maastricht op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Prof.mr. G.P.M.F. Mols, volgens het besluit van het College van Decanen, in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 11 oktober 2007 om 14:00 uur door David Neil Laurence Levy UMP UNIVERSITAIRE PERS MAASTRICHT Promotores: Prof.dr. M. Meijer Prof.dr. H.J. van den Herik Leden van de beoordelingscommissie: Prof.dr. E.O. Postma (voorzitter) Prof. dr. M. Diocaretz Prof.dr. J-J. Meyer (Universiteit Utrecht) Prof.dr. R. de Wilde Prof.dr. L. van Zoonen (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Dissertation Series No. 2007-19 The research reported in this thesis has been carried out under the auspices of SIKS, the Dutch Research School for Information and Knowledge Systems. ISBN 978-90-5278-643-8 Proefschrift Universiteit Maastricht Printed by Datawyse b.v., Maastricht, The Netherlands ©2007 D.N.L. Levy, Maastricht, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, photocopying, or otherwise, without proper permission of the author. iv Preface Intimate relationships with artificial partners is a challenging topic that will certainly raise many eyebrows. Let me start with a quotation. “We ask [of the computer] not just about where we stand in nature, but about where we stand in the world of artefact. We search for a link between who we are and what we have made, between who we are and what we might create, between who we are and what, through our intimacy with our own creations, we might become.” - Sherry Turkle (1984) The aims of this thesis are to argue that intimate relationships with artificial partners will arise as natural extensions of more conventional human feelings of attraction. I accept that many people today will regard such suggestions as speculative, but I believe that our grandchildren’s generation will embrace the robots of the mid-21st century as their companions, friends, and artificial partners. Robots will also be attracted to humans and will fall in love with them - they will be programmed to do so and to develop their relationships with humans in ways that will maximize the satisfaction and enjoyment for their human partners. In the closing chapters of my book, Robots Unlimited, I assert that the robots of the mid-21st century will possess humanlike consciousness and emotions; that they will be hugely attractive to humans as companions because of their many talents, senses, and capabilities. The raison d’être of that book is principally to demonstrate the “how” of all this – how all these talents, capabilities, and senses are created by Artificial Intelligence researchers. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate scientifically the validity of these ideas, to give them a place in the new virtual world, and to explain the depth of feelings that these new developments will evoke within human beings and even within the robots themselves. The thesis consists of four parts, of which Part Two and Part Three constitute the main body of my research. Part One has two chapters providing an introduction and historical background, culminating in a twofold problem statement. Part Two deals with robots and feelings of attraction, and Part Three with robots and intimate relationships. My conclusions are formulated in Part Four. I would like to thank Christine Fox and Bill Yeager who carefully read the first draft of the text and made many helpful comments and suggestions. Heather Allen and Raymond Kirsch read a subsequent draft and provided encouragement. Cynde Moya offered some helpful advice on early 20th century sex artefacts, and brought to my attention two of the exhibits from Magnus Hirschfeld’s former collection (the artificial vagina and the fornicatory dolls). She also kindly provided me with images of both of these (section 9.4), as reproduced in her Ph.D. thesis “Artificial Vaginas and Sex Dolls: An Erotological Investigation.” Cynde also brought to my attention Henry Cary’s privately published book (from which she kindly provided extracts). Alan Pate provided the original source information for explaining the origin of the term “Dutch wives.” Andrew Keatley and Alastair Levy assisted with the v technicalities of some of the images. Kimballe Thomerson was my Japanese speaking intermediary in my communications with the manufacturer Orient Doll. I received an enormous amount of assistance and advice at Maastricht University. Joke Hellemons and Tons van den Bosch devoted a considerable amount of time and effort to ensure that my text met all of the appropriate formatting. They also taught me about all the administrative matters and requirements for the printing and publication of the thesis. Above all I wish to thank my two thesis supervisors, Professor Maaike Meijer and Professor Jaap van den Herik, firstly for having the necessary confidence in my research topic as being one suitable for a Ph.D. thesis, and then for the enthusiasm and energy with which they encouraged and supported me throughout the whole process. Maaike Meijer also opened my eyes to some new and important ways of examining and considering my research results, particularly in the realms of gender studies and philosophy, and she pointed me in the direction of many useful references in those areas. Jaap van den Herik not only provided commensurate advice and suggested many references in the more technical areas of my research, he also subjected me to an intensive and invaluable learning period on how to structure my text in a manner appropriate for a thesis. Furthermore, Professor van den Herik gave of his time, energy, and advice to an extent that I could not have expected when I started on this thesis, and for which I shall be eternally grateful. I also wish to thank the following for granting me permission to reproduce certain images and text: Peter Menzel / Science Photo Library for Peter Menzel’s photograph of Kismet (section 2.5); The New Yorker for Peter Steiner’s cartoon “On the Internet, no-one knows you’re a dog.” (section 3.6); Getty Images for the photograph of the Repliee Q1 robot (section 10.8); John Suler for the extract from his article “Mom, Dad, Computer (Transference Reactions to Computers)” in his electronic book Psychology of Cyberspace (section 7.4); Jane Treays and the BBC for the quotations from clients in her TV documentary “What Sort of Gentleman Are You After?” (section 8.4); Orient Industries for the company’s photograph of one of their Orient Doll products (section 9.4); Asian Sex Gazette (www.asiansexgazette.com) for Mark Schreiber’s article “A Jewel in Japan’s Hi- Tech Crown: Sex Dolls.” (section 9.4); Mainichi newspapers for Ryann Connell’s article “Rent-a-Doll Blows Hooker Market Wide Open” (section 9.4); Dave Lampert for the image of the Sybian “Lovemaster” sex machine (section 9.5); and Paul Gaertner for the photograph of the Stallion XL sex machine (section 9.5). David Levy London, June 2007 vi Contents Preface v Contents vii Part One 1 1. Introduction 3 1.1 Artificial Intelligence and Robotics 4 1.2 Agent Technology and Software Agents 5 1.3 Agents and the Information Society 6 1.4 Representation in the Context of Poststructuralist Thinking 8 1.5 Problem Statement 12 1.6 The Topic in Gender Perspective 13 1.7 Research Objectives and Research Questions 15 1.8 Methodology 16 1.9 Thesis Structure: an Overview 17 2. Historical Background 19 2.1 Mechanical Marvels 20 2.2 A Chess-playing Automaton 22 2.3 Tea-carrying Dolls 23 2.4 Universal Robots 23 2.5 Cybernetics 24 2.6 The Breakthrough of Artificial Intelligence 25 2.7 Service Robots 26 2.8 Robots for Entertainment 27 2.9 Two New Disciplines: Robot Psychology and Robotherapy 28 2.10 Recent Developments 30 Part Two 33 3.