Robophilia

Hey everyone. This weekend I had to clean out a lot of the crap in my room, so I came across my relatively small stack of anime. I flipped through some of it... Samurai Champloo, Serial Experiments: Lain (look for my full review of this cyberpunk and philosophical anime in the near future)... And I also came across my two movies, ghost in the shell and it's sequel, Innocence. So it was late but I figured I'm have a mini movie night and watch both. I haven't seen them in a while. I watched the first and really got back into it. Now while watching the sequel, the topic of sex robots, or sexiods as they're referee to by Dr. Harrowway, in the movie, came up. As an aside note, the character of Dr. Harroway is one of the more interesting characters in the series. One of my favorites. I wish they would have explored her a little more. Apparently in the future, cybernetics has gotten to the point where companies can create synthetic human skin and reproductive organs that would in essence simulate a human's.
Now for those of you who haven't seen the movie, Ghost in the Shell 2,the movie deals with a series of attacks on humans by 'gynoids'. Basically everyone in the Ghost in the Shell series has atleast some sort of cybernetic enhancement.it can range from just subtle brain enhancements to full scale body overhauls, like artificial hearts, arms, limbs.. Even exoskeletons can be cybernetic. But technology has progressed to such a point that humans can create synthetic humans. Completely Robotic and programmable these 'gynoids' are created for specific tasks. One such gynoid is programmed and designed exclusively for sex and oral pleasure. If you haven't seen the movie, I don't want to spoil it for you, so consider this a spoiler warning... In the movie said 'sexoid' robots begin to malfunction and intentional 'kill' themselves. This is as much as I'll say without giving too much away. The moral implications are pretty obvious. Now after I watched this i was curious and that usually leads to trouble... I began googling terms 'sex with robots' and 'human robot sex' etc... I stepped into a pretty bizarre realm of fetish that i didn't really know existed. Apparently "robophillia" is a very real fetish. Guys (and maybe women?) enjoy thinking about having sexual relations with robots, or rather people simulating robotic qualities. A lot of then apparently just simply like the submissiveness of what would be a robot girl, but for many and maybe the majority really do get excited about the idea of a robo-girl. So I'd love to know in the future when Apple has taken over the world, and they release the igirl, would anyone be willing to buy one? A totally mobile, walking, talking 'human' being, just for sex? Now as it stands currently we can't sell or buy other humans. So would robotic humans who could have the power of talking and reasoning be given the same rights? Of course I wouldn't be the first to pose this question, it's almost at the heart of all cyberpunk. I just think that with these 'love dolls' on the market now, that it would be the next step to improve these 'real dolls' so they could move, talk and increase the 'awareness' of the sex doll. Of course these idea's are many years away. So any of you out there, closet or open robophilliac's? In the digital age now, such cyber fetishes seem less and less bizarre. We may all have stepford wives type sex robots in the future. Silently and obediently cleaning up after us, very little emotional needs.
Now, the moral implications of such human / robot relationship interest me. Could one need to marry one of these robots? Would it be recognized in the eyes of the church? Would they be looked at as human? What if it were totally conscious? But just made instead of born? Better yet, and here's one to think about... Hans Moravec said that in the future we'd be able to download our memories, thoughts and consciousness into chips like RAM. Now if one of these robots were given human memory, thought and consciousness, would it be human? This brings up the question, what's more 'human', the body, or the mind? And does consciousness need be in an organic body? I'd contest that if you strip the body down to its simpliest functions, they would resemble a machine like process. Anyway guys if you haven't watched any of the Ghost in the Shell movies, I'd highly recommend both. Though, admittedly I wasn't a big fan of the 2nd . I don't like mixing cgi with drawn art. But let me know what you think, your thoughts on the matter, and if you are a robophiliac, please share your thoughts!

As always,a recommendation:
There's an essay written by Daniel C. Dennet, called: Consciousness in Human Mind and Robot Minds. Its pretty interesting

Also if your in Barnes and Noble, or Borders, check out the book "Science Fiction and Philosophy" Its a thicker book, but its composed of a whole bunch of short essays and mirco stories all about, A.I, consciousness, time travel, the matrix etc... Its a really good read, trust me.