How do you feel about VR romance?

[guy45]

VR is virtual reality, you know those headsets you put on and all of a sudden you're in a 3D world. Not just that but there are touch suits, suits which let you actually feel the VR world, apparently are already real, check out TeslaSuit.

 

Given enough time, developers could create 3D worlds in which you could find yourself in with say a lover, real or fake, living your fantasy, doing whatever.

 

Wouldn't this solve just about all loneliness and depression out there?

[Bastile]

Would androids dream of electric alphas?

[d0nnivain]

There are people who think this is the wave of the future. There's a bad movie starring Sylvester Stallone & Sandra Bullock where this is how people interact. IMO you need all the messiness that is real reality or it's just fake. I think texting has ruined communication. I'm just glad I'll probably be dead or no longer interested in romance by the time your proposal if VR romance is more the norm. It sounds awful

[Miss Spider]

I look forward to it

[guy45]

I don't think it will ever be as good as the real thing, or maybe I'm wrong, but let's face it...it would help a lot of people.

[AHopelessRomantic]

Nope. This will not solve loneliness or depression. It's still an illusion. It's an instant gratification.

 

Human contact and interaction is what helps to heal loneliness and depression. New York has one of the lowest depression and suicide rates. Sure, everyone there is frustrated because it's crowded, but they're just frustrated. When you have all of that energy around you to share your energy with, a lot of weight is taken off of your spirit. You won't feel as sad and lonely.

 

Highest suicide rates are the loneliest and spaciest states, e.g. Washington and Alaska. The only way we survive is with people. We can't survive off of machines. The life span of people who are married/sexual etc is much higher than those who do not marry/have kids/are sexual etc.

 

We're human. If we could survive on robotics, we'd be created as such. We were not meant to survive on that, though.

[knabe]

The problem is people already expect this. Look at modern dating. We already treat it like it's a fantasy catalog instead of two humans interacting in real life. Look at the people who hide behind their screens all day or spend an entire semester in school imagining what the dream girl across the room must be like and obsessing over whether that smile "meant something."

 

If it is inevitable it is because we are becoming more and more incapable of emotional intelligence in real time.

[Chilli]

l'd hate it but of course that's where the world is headed.

 

Or, they've also been building these real life robot humans, forget what they're called.

They say no one will have a human partner in 50yrs time instead you order one of these.

These things could pass for human now pretty close , could only imagine where they'll be at in 50 yrs.

People are already ordering the ones out now.

 

Everyone will be walking around with human size Ken and Barbies

[Bastile]

There are people who think this is the wave of the future. There's a bad movie starring Sylvester Stallone & Sandra Bullock where this is how people interact.

 

Don't be dissing Demolition Man

 

I'm in two minds on the subject. I like Sci-Fi, and the thought of a Neuromancer world is quite enticing.

 

But I also have a good friend that moved to Japan. He tells me of what things are like regarding sexual relationships out there. It's pretty damn lame. So, I imagine that VR would be that X20. I think the consequences would be pretty shocking.

[thefooloftheyear]

About the same as VR money....

 

TFY

[somanymistakes]

VR is virtual reality, you know those headsets you put on and all of a sudden you're in a 3D world. Not just that but there are touch suits, suits which let you actually feel the VR world, apparently are already real, check out TeslaSuit.

 

Given enough time, developers could create 3D worlds in which you could find yourself in with say a lover, real or fake, living your fantasy, doing whatever.

 

Wouldn't this solve just about all loneliness and depression out there?

 

Why?

 

A VR tool to interact with real people at a distance is great and will help people meet each other from far away places without having to deal with expensive travel and international border problems, but it still falls down to people being people.

 

Most of us could meet a lot of people close to home but that doesn't guarantee that we will meet people and have perfect relationships. We can still be lonely, we can still have our relationships go wrong.

 

If you're imagining some sort of AI 'perfect romance' with a believable fake character designed to love you, that's a waaaaaaaay, waaaaaay different story than just having a VR headset. totally different technology. and no one is anywhere near making believable fake people.

 

VR could provide free sex with dolls that are more realistic than current sex dolls, and that might be fun for a bit, but it's not going to cure depression, it will make some people even more depressed because it's not real.

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

I wouldn't want to do it, but it could be a lifeline for lots of people (i.e. people with severe deformities/injuries, agoraphobia, bedridden, etc.).

[preraph]

Why it's not going to work as a replacement is because there is no ego gratification, no validation that you're wanted or desirable. These are big reasons guys who are serial cheaters can't stop, because they so badly need to feel someone thinks they're hot, because they have mediocre self-esteem and need others to make them feel more worthy. Doing it with something you program who will do it with anybody will be repugnant to those same guys who can't stand the thought of their gf doing it with someone else after they break up much less during. If there are guys who can be retroactively jealous, there are guys who can be possessive of robots.

 

Robots will be nothing more than a fancy sex toy, kind of like my old boyfriend, Mr. Jacuzzi.

[RecentChange]

Honestly, I don’t get it at all.

 

Now… if it was VR, with ONLY other humans you were interacting with…. Maybe.

 

But if we are talking about interacting with a machine, with technology instead of a human.

 

How very very sad. Might be the definition of unrequited love. It would never replace the smell, touch, heartbeat and complexity of a human who loves you BACK.

 

A human who is with you because it WANTS to be, not because it was programmed to be. I want free will, not solid programming.

 

If my choice was a life with “virtual” lover… or a life of celibacy. I would choose celibacy, and a pet to keep me company.

 

A virtual lover just seems straight pathetic to me. And an insult to what it means to be human.

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

Honestly, I don’t get it at all.

 

Now… if it was VR, with ONLY other humans you were interacting with…. Maybe.

 

But if we are talking about interacting with a machine, with technology instead of a human.

 

How very very sad. Might be the definition of unrequited love. It would never replace the smell, touch, heartbeat and complexity of a human who loves you BACK.

 

A human who is with you because it WANTS to be, not because it was programmed to be. I want free will, not solid programming.

 

If my choice was a life with “virtual” lover… or a life of celibacy. I would choose celibacy, and a pet to keep me company.

 

A virtual lover just seems straight pathetic to me. And an insult to what it means to be human.

 

Oh, I assumed it was other humans on the other end....like Second Life.

[somanymistakes]

Oh, I assumed it was other humans on the other end....like Second Life.

 

It would have to be, since like I said, the other option does not exist, and if it ever will exist, it won't be for a long time.

 

We can't make fake people. We can make 3d models of bodies that flop like bodies should flop. We can make them recite a handful of lines on command, like any video game character. We can program them to recite "Yes. Yes. More. More." when touched in particular ways. That isn't going to fool anyone into believing they're 'real'.

 

We can't make virtual people programmed to love you.

[Chilli]

It would have to be, since like I said, the other option does not exist, and if it ever will exist, it won't be for a long time.

 

We can't make fake people. We can make 3d models of bodies that flop like bodies should flop. We can make them recite a handful of lines on command, like any video game character. We can program them to recite "Yes. Yes. More. More." when touched in particular ways. That isn't going to fool anyone into believing they're 'real'.

 

We can't make virtual people programmed to love you.

 

 

Nope , like l said , they're building fake people right now , you can buy one right now.

But they'll be way way beyond now in 20yrs time.

Sick sh@t , sad, how depressing.

[Chilli]

l'm just so thankful my daughter is 16 but even that's been as scary as hell.

Schools insisted 5yrs ago every kid from prep upward have ipads and full internet.

We weren't gonna let her have full internet until 16 but schools the very people we have to trust to look after our kids, introduced them to porn and the internet and FB and snapchat at 5yrs old, thankfully my daughter was around 11 at the time and at least had 11yrs of real life, real friends, getting outside and having real fun

before the school turned what were normal happy healthy active children into bedroom vegetables over night , mine at least had 11 years real life first and two parents with their feet on the ground.

So although she also stopped doing just about everything when the school brought that in, she did have a great circle of real friends and they still did real things and at 15 she got her first real boy friend and thankfully she is fully aware of the internet lala land,

 

But , l'd hate to be bringing babies into this world from here on now though, by the time they're 15, they won't know or live any real life, or even have real friends or later a real bf or gf.

How sad is that.

[somanymistakes]

Nope , like l said , they're building fake people right now , you can buy one right now.

But they'll be way way beyond now in 20yrs time.

Sick sh@t , sad, how depressing.

 

I don't think you understand what a person is.

 

Which is quite worrying for your existing relationships!

 

What you can buy right now is a sex doll. There are some pretty high-end ones on the market that can just about pass as human in the right pose/lighting, although up close it's still obvious that they're dolls. Most of the ones available in the west tend towards the tall, tan, giant breasts, barbie kind of look.

They are not people in any way, they are dolls. They lie there. You have to pose them. They cost about $7000.

 

It is possible to get some robotic add-ons so that you can press a button to make the hand move in a jerking motion, or the hips swivel, or the like. This costs extra. It still does not make the doll get up and walk around, it adds extremely simple motions designed only for sex.

 

There is at least one company that is working on adding some simple voice recordings to sex dolls, so that they can moan and say Yes or No, things like that. This does not make them fake people. It is a handful of recorded lines that can be delivered on command. This is not new. Children's dolls for decades have had strings you could pull to make them say "I love you".

 

 

Now, in the video game world, you can make 3d models that walk around and dance and jiggle and all that. Walking isn't the big dangerous complicated problem it is in the real world.

 

But you still cannot make a believable artificial intelligence that can talk and act like a person.

[Chilli]

Ahh , yeah, l think l might understand what a person is , figure of speech.

But nope ,these are far different to the ones your talking about.

This things walk talk do house work and lots of other goodies.

And that's only now, imagine in another 20yrs, l don;t think you can.

And at the moment to yeah, they are all program, but they'll go much much further than that in the next decade or two.

 

Saw a docco on them , see if you can find it, bloody amazing, sickening but amazing.

Edited July 28, 2017 by Chilli

[somanymistakes]

You're sure you're not mixing up documentaries with that 80s movie with Michelle Pheifer in it, that had the sex doll doing the dishes? lol

(Not trying to make fun of you there mostly trying to make fun of that movie!!)

 

I've seen a lot of documentaries on what dolls and robots can and can't do so I feel like i'm pretty well-read on what's possible right now, but if i've missed one please provide a link, I'd like to know. I'm curious!

 

I was having a discussion with people just the other day about a particular company that was supposedly selling robots with personalities but if you actually read their sales pitch it was, again, just a doll that lies there and has some pre-recorded sayings. The article talking about it tried to hype it up as much more than that so that they could stir up a moral panic about the evils of making robot slaves, but it wasn't true.

 

As far as I know technology is at the point where top-end researchers are just barely managing to make things that walk (ASIMO, PETMAN) but they don't look human at all and certainly aren't designed for sex.

[Chilli]

Ahh, no , you must think l'm 6,l'm early 50s.

Wouldn't matter even if l was , it's still only a matter of time anyway , that's a no brainer, technology is a run away freight train, dunno why anyone would even be surprised.

 

But nope, they're building them right now. Long way to go of course but that will go fast.

l couldn't care less tbh anyway but this was just one l saw not long ago.

Those things your talking about they're just life like dolls that do nothing, like you said, they're nothing like these ones a totally different thing.

Remember, everything through history has been impossible 20 or 50yrs earlier .

[Chilli]

Actually , not sure if it was in this forum somewhere or in another one but l brought that up once before and somebody there was right up with them and knew all about them .

He talked about some pretty creepy stuff they;re doing right now.

[somanymistakes]

I'm willing to be convinced if you have links, but what you're saying does not seem to be at all in line with what the big companies in that industry have on sale.

[guy45]

VR might be able render a realistic enough person but real life believable robots? Probably not.

 

Current robots have silicone skin which well...looks fake. They also have motors that make jittering sounds that are incredibly annoying.

 

And unfortunately most robots suffer from the uncanny valley, when it looks close enough to be a human but it's not making repulsive to look at. This is an evolutionary trait to recognize the sick in order to protect yourself from disease.