NEW YORK - Artificial-intelligence researcher David Levy of the University of Masstricht in the Netherlands has predicted that humans could marry robots by the middle of this century.
Levy, who recently completed a Ph.D. thesis on human-robot relationships, told LiveScience that marriages between humans and robots could be a possibility by 2050.
"My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots," Levy said. "At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, but once you have a story like ‘I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like [Cosmopolitan] magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon."
In his thesis "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," Levy predicted that robots will become so human-like in appearance, function and personality that it's inevitable that people will fall in love with robots, have sex with them and marry them.
Since companies already sell realistic dolls, "it's just a matter of adding some electronics to them to add some vibration," he explained. "That's fairly primitive, in terms of robotics, but the technology is there."
Since interracial and same-sex marriages were unheard of and illegal in the United States just 100 years ago, Levy argued, marriages between humans and robots may not be too far in the future.
"Interracial marriage has been legal now for 50 years," he said. "Same-sex marriage is legal in some parts of the [United States]. The question is not if this will happen, but when, and I am convinced the answer is much earlier than you think."
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