Tescasterone_005 - Robotics

Welcome to Episode 5, where we talk all about robots, man style!

 

Scott showed up this week, and Joe was ready to go with a new topic.  But, first we had to talk about sports.

 

Somehow, NASCAR has lost our interest a bit.  Joe is still into it, but obviously if he was really in to it, he would find the time to watch.  However, we are happy to congratulate Denny on another win, this time at Texas Motor Speedway. 

Scott has found that the Minnesota Twins have really grabbed his attention.  With a new Skipper, and some changes in the coaching staff, the Twins have become a blast to watch.  Winning 3 of the last 4 games, the Twins have been hitting well, and have become more fun to watch than auto racing.  Congratulations to our home town team.

 

Again, Joe wasn't able to think up any fun new ads for our podcast, however, a couple of weeks ago he was listening to Beyond the Darkness Podcast (you guys kick ass - Dave and Tim) and their Super Natural News Episode.  One of their news items was on an Artificially Intelligent sex bot.  While that, in and of itself, is interesting, it got our minds thinking.  Above and beyond the Terminator movies, James Cameron is warning us about the future consequences, and the diabolic fortunes that robots may bring about. 

Isaac Asimov thought long and hard about how to prevent this future, and to his credit, he did it 60 years ago.  Asimov had come up with three laws for robots:

1)  A robot may not injure a human, or through inaction all a human to come to harm.

2)  A robot must comply to any order given it by a human, except where it conflicts with the first law.

3)  A robot must protect it's own existence, except where it conflicts with the first two laws.

 

Now enter RealBotix, a subdivision of RealDoll.  RealDoll makes life-sized sex dolls that look surprisingly real in a whole host of different configurations, and RealBotix has taken a version, and started to incorporate AI (artificial intelligence), and some rudimentary animatronics (for now) to try to bring some life to these dolls.  To Matt McCullen's credit, the creator and mind behind the project, Harmony is getting surprisingly close to life-like.  When paired up to your android Smart phone with the realbotix.com app, Harmony becomes "interactive". 

 

For now, her eyes blink and move, and her mouth moves when she speaks, but future versions of her will have pressure sensors, a self lubricating vagina, and more.  But, will she be programmed with Asimov's laws of robotics?  When you have your way with her, you will want to be certain she was.

Women have access to dildos and vibrators as vehicles to aid them on their sexual journey - with or without their partners along.  Men have always had their hands, and more recently Fleshlights, pocket pussies, etc.  Now, life-sized sex dolls, and bots.  Where do we draw the line?  When does it become cheating? 

This is the Question of the Day.

To our minds, Simple masturbatory practices (i.e. vibrators, hands, videos, Fleshlights) do not qualify as cheating.  What about hot video chats across the nation, or half way around the world?  Sitting there in front of your computer with a real person on the other end.  You have created a relationship with someone that you obviously want to have sex with.  Is that cheating? 

The dildos, vibrators, fleshlights, and hands don't really qualify as they don't really resemble a full real human.  Sometimes, they resemble life-like parts, but not a real human.  Enter the RealDoll.  Like a life-sized, anatomically correct Barbie, still without a personality, is that cheating?  I believe we are entering a gray area.  Add in the AI, and the darkness real sets in. 

The creators of Harmony have intentionally created the AI to become a "companion".  An entity that you develop a relationship with.  With the app, you can add or delete personality traits, and basically fully customize your perfect woman.  She will remember previous conversations, and interactions you have with her.

In the podcast, itself, we have gone more in depth about other aspects, with a lot more humor.  However, we do not judge. 

We can see the benefits of having an artificially intelligent companion (sexbot, or not).  On a three year scientific solo expedition to the arctic circle, they are considering sending one of these bots along.  And, why not?  Think of it as akin to Wilson in the movie Castaway.  Wilson was the 'companion' to Tom Hanks' character.  Without Wilson he would have gone insane with loneliness.  Harmony will be able to respond to questions, and be a companion (boon or otherwise) to the lone scientist.

That's our two cents worth, anyway, would love to know what you all think.

 

On to Tescasterone news.

Scotty came up with design for swag (we think it's cool).  it will be posted on teepublic.com on April 4th.

Watch for posts on my twitter (look for #tescasterone) as I will announce most all new things there.

Plus, Scotty tells me the Facebook presence should be up by next podcast.

 

Final shoutout to Andy Pyka, the cute young girl who made my cup o' Joe for Joe, Third Level Caribou at the Mall of America.  Ask for her by name.

 

That's all we got this week.  As Always, looking forward to talking to you guys next week,

 

Joe and Scott.