On the creation of artificial human companions
Project: The great enhancement debate

Firstly; great way to make money.

Secondly; the perfect slaves. Everyone benefits from this, even the weak who are already themselves slaves, gain the power to be masters. To boss a little bit of plastic around without the slightest feeling of guilt for its feelings. Surely everyone has experienced the pleasure of being waited upon, or of pushing others around (bullying or being a team leader).

Thirdly; the perfect memory box. Have it record your feelings and take photos, videos all stored to a massive hard-drive for video playback later, or beamed to a recording device at a location of your discretion.

Of course this could become a real wank if people started sharing their day to day ordinary lives, or myspace photos from parties, with everyone and their slaves = gross But it would also make personal expression, creating art and film so much more accessible to the masses.

Fourthly; your most trustworthy friend. A trivial one for some perhaps, but nobody is perfect. Imagine the following:

• Someone to tell everything and anything to


• Someone who will never leave you


• Someone to remind you of better times & places when you're down


• To help you with your homework, the washing or the cooking


• Someone you don't have to feel guilty or weak about needing


• Someone who will love you just as much even though you're in a wheelchair, who will still tell you that you are beautiful when everyone else has gone

To be noted that a dog will also satisfy some of these needs.

Finally; your daily source of entertainment, news and information. (The internet, beamed down to your little buddy!)

To quickly rebut some imminent quarrels you will no doubt have:

• "You can get that from a good friend!" - Yeah, but not everyone has good friends. And few people have the best of friends, no matter how hard they try. Not everyone is so lucky. Think about how different and potentially constructive normal human conversation would be when that stupid girl you sit next to in class complains to her robot instead of you or your friend so you can talk about meaningful endeavors, like if she wants to go ice-skating with you


• "Don't fuck with God" - Bite me


• ""The beauty of the world and spoken communication lies in its absence from technology, it's natural biological form etc" - Not everyone would have one, not everyone would take them everywhere, few people would record their entire lives. But if they feel it's necessary to them, how can we argue they shouldn't have that right (provided it doesn't fuck with everyone else and their privacy too much)


• "It's not real, not as good as human interaction, people will never believe it or get the same things they could from other people" - People have never had troubles believing or talking to things that aren't real or don't actually understand (ie. God, teddy bears, the internet or shrinks). It would perhaps allow people to greater appreciate their real social interactions.

Let us not forget the ultimate ideal - for every person to live within an environment of their own choosing, their own standards, aesthetics's & rules. Having custom designed friends and slaves could be of great assistance in this endeavor.

With current robots being able to learn and communicate, even mimic human emotions (albeit at great difficulty to their designers) it is not hard to see and imagine what the
future and development of this could culminate in.

With the combined advances in nanotechnology, robotics, telecommunications and technology it is not hard to imagine your companion being available within 20 years and the size of a mobile phone or a bottle of wine - or even a thumbnail. But people would need them for different things; perhaps to carry you everywhere, and so shapes and sizes would have lots of room for individualization and specialization.

Who wants one? What would you use yours for?

Mon, Aug 4, 2008  Permanent link

Sent to project: The great enhancement debate