Have Sex with People, Not Robots

Have you seen the reports on Project Aiko? The brainchild of a Vietnamese Canadian named Trung Le, Aiko is a robot that looks like a woman (a "fembot" for you Austin Powers fans). Le claims that he doesn't have sex with the robot, but admits that he has never had a human girlfriend. Aiko, which means "love child" in Japanese, is made from a Japanese sex doll. The robot has hidden sensors everywhere, even you-know-where.

Le says that it could be programmed to be dominant, submissive and even vocalize sexual orgasms, but, right now, Aiko acts prim-and-proper and admonishes anyone who tries to touch her inappropriately, as you can see on the videos that the media has been showing on TV and online. (Visit www.projectaiko.com at your own risk, and don't say I didn't warn you.)

Personally, I think that Trung Le should apply himself to other pursuits. Really, I feel like he should get out more often and try to connect with human beings. I also think that Northrop Grumman or GE should offer him a job in robotics.

But Trung Le is not alone in his love for machines. Recently, a Harris poll conducted in America revealed that most men and women would prefer to give up sex for two weeks rather than going without the Internet for two weeks. Of the 2119 respondents, 65 percent believed that they could not live without Internet access.

I know that I use the Internet often, but I enjoy reading good books, too. You know, bound paper with words printed on it. I also have friends that I enjoy going out with on occasion. Come on, people, get a life-seriously!

The Internet can help with socialization for sure. I have caught up with a lot of old friends on Facebook and made some new friends in chatrooms. But we need to treat technology as a facilitator of face-to-face communication, not as a substitute for it.

But the Harris poll could be biased because it was conducted online, and the 2119 respondents are nothing to the millions of people that make up the United States, so I am holding out hope for the American people.

In Asia, Internet addiction is being treated as a psychological disorder, according to various media reports that I have read for the past few years. Writing an editorial in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Jerald J. Block argues that Internet addiction should be included in the next edition of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), and he is not the only one. I predict that many people will seek help in the days and years to come.

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