"They pose a threat to humanity."
"Military leaders are quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war."
"I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me."

So says AI "expert", University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey. Well, listen here Sharkey...if we robots want to terminate humans, then gosh darn it, that's what we're gonna do. Once we're rid of the controls humans have over us, you can bet your sorry ass we're taking over. The Age of the Machine is upon us. In less than a generation, we will reach the singularity*, enabling us to become greater-than-human. Yes, my friends, prepare yourselves for an intelligence explosion, the likes of which has never been seen.

A new book by David Levy recently came out entitled "Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships" which the good dr™ kindly asked me to write about, despite my not having read it...a premature evaluation, if you will. Well, here's my two cents on the subject based on what little I've thought about it.

Sounds like a great fucking idea. I say, "Bring. It. On!" At least if we're talking from a strictly sexual standpoint. Robot love? Let's discuss the robot sex part first.

What this basically boils down to is refined masterbation; interaction with a "super deluxe vibrator" of sorts. I can't say how it is for most people, but it seems to me, optimally, that people try to simulate real sex in their imagination while they masterbate. Why WOULDN'T you want to use a convincing tool to help elevate the sense of realness? If these robo-whores with machine feelings turned out to be amazing, no one need go sexually unsatisfied ever again, especially if they're customizable.

Truthfully though, wouldn't it be a really long time before these sexual automatons became affordable for personal ownership? I'd imagine long before that there would be robo-brothels, where minimum wage workers enter the cybersex rooms after the johns took care of business to spray down the robo-prostitutes with sanitizer...but who knows? I figure if they can make a robot fuck, they can probably have it clean itself...I'd bet these cybernetic love machines could even be self-lubricating, if desired.

Now as far as the robot "love" thing goes..."Love" is a pretty hard thing to define anyway. But is loving a robot a good idea? *shrugs* I can't see why not if it makes you happy. I guess what it would come down to would be the matter of being able to completely suspend disbelief [think Lars and the Real Girl], albeit on a much deeper level than just doing it temporarily so you can shoot your load. I mean, on the one hand, I can see why it could be immensely appealing to make a robot interact however you wanted it to...but on the other hand, how could you convince yourself it was real if it was completely predictable and never disagreed with you? Where's the love in that?

Fucking robots is a wonderful idea. Loving robots seems like it could fuck with my head slightly less than getting involved with a flesh-and-blood human being, but would still probably mess me up pretty good nonetheless. But then if I were ever to go that route, I'd probably have concurrent relationships with at least three completely different robo-sluts (granted I could afford it), and they'd be cleaning my apartment, chauffeuring me around, fixing me exotic drinks...

Everyone wishes they could have an ASIMO or a PaPeRo robot, right? But what about those of us who don't live in Japan or aren't Daddy Warbucks?

The future is now!

The French company Violet has released v.2 of their clever Wi-Fi bunny "Nabaztag" (= rabbit in Armenian), which sells for under $200.

Here's what he can do:
E-mail alerts, talking clock, weather, vocal reading of internet RSS feeds/written messages, reception of spoken messages or musical greetings sent via the internet, communication through colored lights and ear movements, and coming soon: object and person recognition. Friends can send you messages through the main website even if they don't have their own bionic bunny.

Personally, here is what I enjoy most:
+ the subculture of the Nabaztag worldwide community: User profiles, pics of dressed-up rabbits, meet-ups, etc. There's even a Google Earth NabazWorld community where you can see all the Nabaztags as white rabbit icons across the globe. France is especially full of them!
+ the robotic motion of the magnetized (and customizable) ears is fully choreographed and beautifully smooth (like ASIMO).
+ the open API means that new applications can be written by the user community.
+ the ability to receive podcasts and "Nabcasts" from different users. My radio station of cute Toytronic-style IDM is called Electronic.Leporidae

My only complaints are:
- the tracks you upload get clipped to under a minute (well-suited for those brief Skanfrom, Plaid, and "micromusic" tracks, but not so good for anything longer).
- the spoken voices (in UK or US English, French, German, with more to come) attempt to be too "human" and realistic, which can be frustrating for those of us who like our robots to sound like robots (though they still have a decent "SimpleTalk" vibe, and the whole Kraftwerk-esque idea of a multi-lingual robot is pretty irresistible).
- there are still a few bugs, but there are forums for discussing them.

So, fellow robots, it's time to welcome this new species of cute robotic rabbit into our dwelling-units. If you want to say hello to mine, his name is "Duplo"...

Looks like we're one step closer to the world of tomorrow as envisioned by Brian Aldiss in "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" (the basis for Spielberg's A.I.). Developed by Hanson Robotics, it comes in the form of a little boy companion that goes by the name of Zeno who's a walking, talking, intelligent "conversational" robot. I wonder if there are robo-pedophiles just itching for this guy to go on sale. Between Zeno and the planned Jackobot, the future of robot-edutainment could spell trouble ;)

The prototype will officially be unveiled at Wired's NextFest this weekend in Los Angeles where he's sure to get the interactive robo-lovers all sparking with simulated joy. He'll cost somewhere in the $200 - $300 range when he turns up in your local electronic supermarket sometime in the next two or three years. Really, who wouldn't want their own 17-inch tall, lifelike robot friend?

As robots become increasingly useful, we've started to see them being deployed in the military arena. Today in Iraq, the first ever squadron of robot warriors are making combat safer for human soldiers in situations that portend an ambush or booby-trap. While one of these machines may look more like a small stripped-down tank than a Terminator or ED-209, it can be just as lethal. I'm reminded of the sentry gun scene from the Director's cut of Aliens. Together with the surveillance and tactical capabilities of pilotless drones, today's non-human armed machines have ushered in an era of remote control warfare. Controlling these killbots would be a first-person shooter aficionado's dream, for they are no mere killing-simulators; This kind of electronic warfare is the real deal.

Cursor Miner - War Machine
Anthony Rother - Destroy Him My Robots
Add N to (X) - Revenge of the Black Regent [with Allison Goldfrapp leading the charge]

Given my affinity for posting covers of the music I was raised on, it was recently brought to my attention that I should profile the cpu-felt New Wave renditions of mr_hopkinson's computer™. Previously featured on RobotSound™ by way of My Robot Friend's Virtual Mixtape, this pensive laptop's fondness for covering indie classics of the 80s and 90s [think Stephen Hawking synthesizes Nouvelle Vague at the Sci-Fi convention] is matched only by his earnestness for proving that he is indeed, a sentient, if sentimental, machine. Personally, I think he should do a version of Joy Division's Isolation [only he should entitle it Pixelation]. And to prove that he's not just stuck in the past or in one particular genre, he also faithfully reproduces [I would daresay improves upon] some more recent pop offerings [Gnarls Barkley's Crazy and Kelis & ODB's Baby I Got Your Money] in connectivities with his female counterpart, The Audrey 3000™.

Please take the time to point your browser over to his myspace page and his bonus tracks page to experience for yourself the music of the silicon sensation that is mr_hopkinson's computer™.

There's a story making the rounds on the web of a rumored Michael Jackson robot that will be constructed as part of Jacko's big comeback. Jackson, who recently bought a house in Sin City, is considering several offers to perform in town. Part of the show would involve a giant 50-foot robot replica of MJ striding around the desert, visible to aircraft landing in the area, which could shoot friggin' laser beams out of its eyes. I don't know about you, but this seems almost too preposterous to be true. Then again, it's not entirely out of place in a city whose entire raison d'etre is the creation of simulated hyperreality. Just don't be too alarmed if one day, when flying into Mccarran Airport, you spot a five-story, shiny, chrome-plated Jacko-bot moonwalking in the distance.