Turned On: Science, Sex, and Robots by Kate DevlinTurned On: Science, Sex, and Robots by Kate Devlin

Turned On: Science, Sex, and Robots by Kate DevlinI confess that when I opened up Turned On: Science, Sex, and Robots (2018) by Kate Devlin, I wasn’t expecting a tour of classical literature: stories about Laodamia, who had “commissioned a bronze likeness of her [dead] husband — an artificial lover that she took to her bed.” Or the Spartan king Nabis, who had a “lifelike robot designed and dressed up to look like his dead wife, Apega.” But as Devlin cautions us, “This is not a book that’s just about sex. Or robots … It’s about intimacy and technology … history and archaeology, love and biology.” Though that’s not to say sex and robots don’t appear. They do.

But before we get to the sex robot “Harmony” and an exploration of teledildonics (use your root words, people), Devlin works her way through that classical literature as well as various historical artifacts, such as ancient phalluses that may have had a “dedicated purpose” beyond ritual, or the Greek olisbokollix, a “hard-baked breadstick … literally a bread dildo.” From there it’s a jump forward to the first electromechanical vibrator in the late 1800s and then a tour of its development into the cornucopia of devices now available. Sex tech, Devlin informs us, is a 30-billion-dollar industry (not including online porn) that includes both hardware and software all while it moves into new technology such as virtual reality.

From there Devlin dips into today’s sex dolls (mostly female forms, she notes, though she’ll delve into that more fully later), and then she cycles once more back to ancient times, detailing Greek and Chinese automata. While these ancient examples were rough and primitive, by the seventeenth century, “automata were becoming more sophisticated and more impressive,” including a full-size flute player that could play twelve songs. Some decades later the Mechanical Turk seemed to put all prior examples to shame, although the mechanical chess player turned out to be a complete hoax (though it took, Devlin informs us, nearly a hundred years for the full extent of how it worked to become public). The automata were the precursors to the robots, which is Devlin’s next topic, starting with Capek’s R.U.R and bringing us up to modern times, with a discussion not just of the mechanics but also the ethics of robots (here she brings in Asimov’s famed Three Laws), before then delving into machine learning and AI.

We’re getting nearer to the book’s subtitle, with a foray into companion robots for the elderly and the lonely, discussion of the “uncanny valley,” and anthropomorphism. And then, about halfway through Turned On, Devlin takes a tour of a RealDoll factory, where she meets the aforementioned Harmony: “a RealDoll body with a face that speaks and moves … [and] breasts that are unfeasibly balloon-like above a narrow waist.” The tour leads to some surprises for Devlin. For instance, she “came here expecting to be riled by the hyper-sexualized, pornified shapes of the artificial women, and yet … all I see is artistry and expertise. I’m conflicted.” And in a superb detail that is hard to imagine in any other work, she describes looking to her side to see “production manager Mike, busy at work shaping the vulva and vagina … Next to him is a tray of eye-wateringly large penises in various states of completion … I stop to take pictures. I have the best holiday snaps.” That wry sense of humor runs throughout the book, making it all the more charming and engaging.

After a few more stops with other inventors/sex “robots” (in quotes because, as Devlin had warned us at the start, there really aren’t any such fully working inventions yet), she moves into what is a fascinating discussion, more philosophical than technical, of love and intimacy between humans and the inanimate. Some of the intriguing questions she brings up are the effect/ethics/possible benefits and pitfalls of sex robots on pedophiles, sex trafficking, prostitution, rape, human relationships, body image, and more. As we’ve just entered into this phase (really, the “pre-phase”), Devlin offers more questions than answers, which might be frustrating to some readers but made perfect sense to me. She leaves the reader to think, which is what good non-fiction should aim at. Toward the end, she muses on what she sees as the best type of sex robot — which is surprisingly non-humanoid:

Why not pick the features that could bring the greatest pleasure? A velvet or silk body, sensors and mixed genitalia, tentacles instead of arms? … increasingly embodied forms providing robotic, multi-sensory experiences … reduc[ing] some of the more compelling fears.

The first half of Turned On is filled with fascinating details of the development of cultural views and mechanics. The book does bog down a little in the middle, but not for long, and the second half shifts gear in welcome manner from informative tour to boundary-pushing questions of ethics, philosophy, and human intimacy. And while the prose is mostly just effective, the voice is engaging and charmingly wry. Recommended.

Published in December 2018. The idea of the seductive sex robot is the stuff of myth, legend and science fiction. From the ancient Greeks to twenty-first century movies, robots in human form have captured our imagination, our hopes and our fears. But beyond the fantasies there are real and fundamental questions about our relationship with technology as it moves into the realm of robotics. Artificial intelligence raises very real concerns. Sexual activity is central to our very existence; it shapes how we think, how we act and how we live. With advances in technology come machines that may one day think independently. What will happen to us when we form close relationships with these intelligent systems? Chapter by chapter, this book will build on the science and the philosophy surrounding our most intimate relationship with technology. The scene is set with the history of the artificial sexual companion, then goes on to explore the “modern” robot and the twentieth century sci-fi that promised us our own robot slaves. An explanation of artificial intelligence and the urge to create sentient machines delves into our own psychology: how does desire affect our own behavior, and can we become attached to an inanimate object? Can robots make society a better place? And what can go wrong? Sex robots are here, and here to stay–and more are coming. This book explores how the emerging and future development of sexual companion robots might affect us, and our society. It explores the social changes arising from emerging technologies, and our relationships with the machines that may someday care for us and about us.

Author

  • Bill Capossere

    BILL CAPOSSERE, who's been with us since June 2007, lives in Rochester NY, where he is an English adjunct by day and a writer by night. His essays and stories have appeared in Colorado Review, Rosebud, Alaska Quarterly, and other literary journals, along with a few anthologies, and been recognized in the "Notable Essays" section of Best American Essays. His children's work has appeared in several magazines, while his plays have been given stage readings at GEVA Theatre and Bristol Valley Playhouse. When he's not writing, reading, reviewing, or teaching, he can usually be found with his wife and son on the frisbee golf course or the ultimate frisbee field.

    View all posts