Are Sexbots Here to Stay?

"Tell me now, I know that it just won't stop / You will find your flow when you go robot / I want to thank you and spank you upon your silver skin / Robots don't care where I've been" –Red Hot Chili Peppers An avid science fiction reader from a young age, I remember reading Tanith Lee's classic The Silver Metal Lover when it was first published in 1981. Going beyond sex, Lee explores the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence, telling the story of a lonely young girl who, in spite of herself, falls in love with a robot minstrel. The robot, in turn, becomes seemingly more human through her love of him--though the question of whether the robot is truly alive, or if consciousness is merely an illusion, is never resolved. This highlights an important question about the modern-day evolution of sexbots: How far can the attachment to an inanimate, more and more human-like machine go? Will we relinquish relationships with other human beings for the convenience of an unreal partner, and is reality in the eye of the beholder?