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by: David Levy  List Price: $24.95 Amazon.com's Price: $18.21 You Save: $6.74 (27%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 629.892 EAN: 9780061359750 ISBN: 0061359750 Label: Harper Manufacturer: Harper Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: November 01, 2007 Publisher: Harper Release Date: November 06, 2007 Studio: Harper Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: Love, marriage, and sex with robots? Not in a million years? Maybe a whole lot sooner.From a leading expert in artificial intelligence comes an eye-opening, superbly argued book that explores a new level of human intimacy and relationships—with robots. From Pygmalion falling for his chiseled Galatea to Dr. Frankenstein marveling at his "modern Prometheus" to the man-meets-machine fiction of Philip K. Dick and Michael Crichton, humans have been enthralled by the possibilities of emotional relationships with their technological creations. Synthesizing cutting-edge research in robotics with the cultural history and psychology of artificial intelligence, Love and Sex with Robots explores this fascination and its far-reaching implications. Using examples drawn from around the world, David Levy shows how automata have evolved from the mechanical marvels of centuries past to the electronic androids of the modern age, and how human interactions with technology have changed over the years. Along the way, Levy explores many aspects of human relationships—the reasons we fall in love, why we form emotional attachments to animals and to virtual pets such as the Tamagotchi, and why these same attachments could extend to love for robots. He also examines the needs we seek to fulfill through sexual relationships, tracking the development of life-sized dolls, machines, and other sexual devices, and demonstrating how society's ideas about what constitutes normal sex have changed—and will continue to change—as sexual technology becomes increasingly sophisticated. Shocking but utterly convincing, Love and Sex with Robots provides insights that are surprisingly relevant to our everyday interactions with technology. This is science brought to life, and Levy makes a compelling and titillating case that the entities we once deemed cold and mechanical will soon become the objects of real companionship and human desire. Anyone reading the book with an open mind will find a wealth of fascinating material on this important new direction of intimate relationships, a direction that, before long, will be regarded as perfectly normal. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Poorly edited, but interesting ideas...The ideas are interesting ones. I think its important for people to realize how ubiquitous technology has become in every area of our lives, including love and sex. This wasn't as shocking as I originally thought, but I am a researcher in the field (AI and HCI), so I have some experience and know about how people react to robots and AI software. While I liked the book, the editing was pretty bad. A number of sentences were obviously ungrammatical (most likely typos), and I found a ... Read More Rating:  - No love, no sex, no robots, no evolutionI am extremely disappointed in this book and am still confused why there is such a powerful taboo on this subject. Who or what is everyone afraid of? It can't be the usual suspects, the religious right. How about the feminists? The author spends a lot of time trying to pander to a (probably nonexistent) female audience. Is female approval that critical? If so, then why? There is almost nothing in the book that matches the title. There is a rehash of various psycho-babble theories from the last ... Read More Rating:  - Well-researched, but a bit optimisticOverall, this is a fairly thorough treatment on the subject. Mr. Levy provides a history of the use of artificial devices in human sexuality, some of the issues of sexuality in the law, and a quick glimpse at the state-of-the-art in attempts at believable computer interfaces to imitate human interaction. It's an interesting book, and delves into many of the questions that might arise with (as with any new technology) the use of robots for sexual purposes. Mr. Levy did a lot of research ... Read More Rating:  - Are Levy's Predictions Outlandish?Title: Love + Sex With Robots Author: David Levy ISBN: 978-0-06-135975-0 After reading David Levy's fascinating Love + Sex With Robots I would have to concur that in the short term many of his ideas and predictions would appear outlandish and will be met with considerable scepticism, or downright disbelief and even hostility. However, as Levy maintains that those who doubt the prospect of computer life or robot life lack a breadth of vision similar to the doubters in the 1960s, ... Read More Rating: - Well Researched bookI can only imagine the amount of interesting research David Levy had to do for this book. The book started off good, but got better towards the latter chapters. I found the sections on sex dolls fascinating--these sections were sociological, yet written for the lay audience. The sections on pets creeped me out some, as did some of the early chapters. The jump of logic was unsettling at times, since I felt that Levy was truly on to something. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would ... Read More 
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