Sex robots the future of sex tourism: Academics

Sex workers in Amsterdam will have a hard time finding work if two New Zealand academics' vision of the future comes true.

"In 2050, Amsterdam's red light district will all be about android prostitutes who are clean of sexual transmitted infections, not smuggled in from Eastern Europe and forced into slavery, the city council will have direct control over android sex workers controlling prices, hours of operations and sexual services," write futurologist Ian Yeoman and sexologist Michelle Mars.

The duo's paper, Robots, Men And Sex Tourism, published in the journal Futures, centres on an imaginary future sex club in Amsterdam called Yub-Yum.

It posits that sex tourists will dish out big cash for all-inclusive robot sex romps.

This will be a big win for Amsterdam, they say, as the city will keep drawing huge swaths of randy tourists willing to empty their pockets, but avoid all the downsides, like drugs, violence and underage exploitation.

The sex-bots will even be made from bacteria resistant fibre, the Victoria University of Wellington academics predict.

Before discussing the issue, everyone should see Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. (No spoilers: just see it. Well, see Ghost in the Shell first, since the sequel ends up having spoilers for the first, better movie. But for this thread the sequel is the relevant one.)

As you might guess, the subtitle is deliberately ironic.

Would it still lead to people basing their lives around a biological function (gays, sex addicts, adulterers, etc) or would it just be an advanced form of masturbation?

I'd say latter; most people would think of them as equivalent of a glorified vibrator. Remember that unless it's equipped with a human-level AI (which would open an entirely another can of worms), it's not good for pillow talk or psychological support after a rough day at work.

Very few people base their lives around a biological function even today and many of those understand that they have a problem. Alcoholism, sex addiction, chronic cheating... It'd just be another new vice.

Also note that without human-level AI these things won't make appreciable impact on higher-class prostitution where the working girl is expected to be sharp, charming, suave, know etiquette to accompany their client on a formal function, etc. It would have a significant impact on low-level market of streetwalkers and lot lizards.

Would it become popular for wives to buy their husbands a sex robot for their anniversary? Or vice-versa?

Probably not. Think about what your wife would think of you giving her an expensive vibrator as a gift...

Would they advance the societal slide into degeneration or serve as a stopgap making sex just like a pill to take allowing society to move away from its sexual obsessions?

It probably would have very little effect on societal degeneration; just an elaboration on something that humanity has practiced since dawn of time (ie. masturbation).

Remember “Mr. Universe” the hacker/media/blogger guy they got info from?

Capt. Reynolds used his equipment to broadcast the “Miranda” info at the end.

The assassin had already killed Mr. U when they got back, but his sexbot talked to Mal.

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