Friday, October 15, 2004

They're Humanoids, Sort of Like Us

What's with all the antirobotism and robophobia I'm seeing around the web these days? I am disturbed, truly I am. Some robots are humanoids too, just like Republicans. If Republicans can marry humans, why can't robots? Can't we all just get along? I mean, check out this example of robophobia from a supposedly "liberal" blogger, Belle Waring:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no daughter of mine is going to marry a robot. Call me old-fashioned and intolerant, but I can't go for these machine-intelligence loving perversions. Think of the cyborg children!

Belle, I have just one question for you and your fellow robophobes: What have you got against robots with faces like this:


Posted by Hello

Could you spew your hate speech to a face like this? I long for a day when robot-human love is widely accepted in our culture, so that robots like Kismet can have the oppurtunity to express their love for humans through the ancient and revered institution of marriage.

I showed this post to Kismet, and this is how he looked afterwards:

Posted by Hello


At least we have truly progressive liberals, like Lindsay Beyerstein, who writes:

For the record: If I ever have kids, and they bring home anything that passes the Turing test, I'll be okay with that.

Bravo, Lindsay. Bravo.

UPDATE: There are still more truly tolerant people out there. PZ Myers is one of them. He wrote:

I am more open-minded than Belle Waring, since I am perfectly willing to allow my kids to marry robots. As long as they are kind and loving robots, that is.

Dr. Myers, I'd like to introduce you to Cog

Posted by Hello


andCoco.

Posted by Hello


They're two kind and loving robots looking for love. How 'bout we set them up with a couple of your offspring?

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