All Mode
The idea that realistic humanoid sex dolls were well and indeed a reality first surprised the general public with the release of the 2007 film Lars and the Real Girl. Familiar with the blow-up party favor version usually seen tossed into swimming pools in college sex comedies, the Ryan Gosling-starring film was the first exposure many had to the concept of an artificial human being used for genuine companionship and love, along with sex.
From RealDolls to Real Sex
Image: Lars and the Real Girl (2007; MGM) / Whitney Cummings: Can I Touch It? (2019, Netflix)
Comedy fans got another surprise this year with the release of Whitney Cummings’s Netflix stand-up special, Can I Touch It?, in which she introduces her co-star: Robot Whitney (aka Bearclaw). Robot Whitney is an invention of Abyss Creations that not only looks disturbingly like Cummings but carries on conversations guided by a sophisticated, adaptive artificial intelligence. Nailing a few unexpected benefits of humanoid AI robots – they can learn to make guacamole; they can be programmed to teach us about consent – Cummings sets aside any notion of this tech being a threat to human sexuality.
“I’m so pro-robot it’s ridiculous… Everyone’s worried, like, ‘Aren’t you worried they’ll replace human women?’ Get the fuck out of here. If you’re worried about being replaced by a giant piece of plastic, you’re not bringing that much to the table…” –Whitney Cummings, Can I Touch It? (Netflix)
“I Love You, Too [ENTER USER NAME HERE]”
Image: RealDoll founder Matt McMullen with his creation, Harmony.
The unstoppable popularity of pornography has confirmed sexual entertainment can be just as appealing as sex itself. VR porn goes one step further and creates an artificial environment and scenario for the user to participate in, further suggesting that reality is overrated. With the arrival of such impressive AI creations as RealDoll X models Solana and Harmony (the latter the basis for Robot Whitney), a sexual experience can be programmed directly into the humanoid with which the user will be physically interacting.
Although Harmony, Solana, and Robot Whitney’s motion capabilities are currently limited to their heads alone, the bodies being standard RealDolls, they suggest we’re not far from seeing other developments in humanoid mobility robotics. It is leading to the creation of a fully functional, mentally, and physically artificially intelligent entity that will allow a full range of responses: verbal, non-verbal, tactile, gestural, sexual.
Crossing Porn’s Uncanny Valley
The amalgamation of VR and AR porn with tangible AI sexbots is something tech fanatics, sci-fi fans, and geeks of all stripes have desired for many decades. From the strangely attractive gynoid, Maria from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) to Ava from Alex Garland’s 2014 film, Ex Machina, sex with robotic humans has always seemed like the ultimate evolution of porn. Increased physical mobility and response aside and disregarding all current or future legal boundaries, there’s still (at least) one lingering obstacle to our dreams becoming, well, reality.
Image: Metropolis (1927; Universum) / Ex Machina (2014; Universal Pictures)
Image: Waifu Sex Simulator
First identified by roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970, the “Uncanny Valley” refers to the relationship between how much an object resembles a human and a human observer’s emotional response to that object. Predictions that a near-perfect humanoid will repulse us and prevent our empathizing and emotionally connecting with them won’t hold that much sway with an audience of keen CGI-based VR porn users. Are we growing accustomed to finding our own individual ways across the uncanny valley, or is it a comprehensive breakthrough just a few years away? The almost-but-not-quite human representation in VR porn definitely suggests that if anyone is safely making it to the other side of the uncanny valley before those in the mainstream, it could very well be porn fans.
Hey this was an interesting read!
The future is upon us.