Turned On

Science, Sex and Robots

By: Kate Devlin

Narrated by: Kate Devlin

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

The idea of the seductive sex robot is the stuff of myth, legend and science fiction. From the ancient Greeks to 21st-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.

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? Sex robots are here and here to stay, and more are coming.

This audiobook explores how the emerging and future development of sexual companion robots might affect us and the society in which we live. It explores the social changes arising from emerging technologies and our relationships with the machines that may someday care for us and about us.

Chapter by chapter, this audiobook 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 20th-century sci-fi that promised us our own robot slaves.

This is followed by an explanation of artificial intelligence and the urge to create sentient machines. It delves into our own psychology: how does desire affect our own behaviour, and can we become attached to an inanimate object? This then leads to a discussion of the good (robots making society a better place) and the bad (the potential for all to go wrong).

©2018 Kate Devlin (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

Itching for More

A great look into the future of sex and robotics. I am excited to delve further into the topic with more similar titles. Lots of interesting questions.

Creating the conversation

Timely work supporting a discussion I have been asking students to have for many years asking similar questions but not from a “feminist” perspective but from a “what kind of future society do you want?”
Very interesting topics discussed and will be a reference material for my course. I only hope the author can update the book given the rapid developments since the book was published. Worth the read as we need to be constructive with our futures and not let them be created for us by default.

Nuanced, Smart, and Compassionate

Dr. Devlin is clearly an expert and has deeply explored the research and philosophy of sex with robots at our current point in history. This book is an uninhibited, nonjudgmental dive into the kind of relationships we have with companions, with lovers, and with technology. The author does not gloss over the disturbing doors that have been opened by creating sex objects and machines in human likenesses, but also does not go off into overly lurid speculation about the potential impacts of such devices. Furthermore, Dr. Devlin’s reading of the text was pleasant and added nuance to my understanding of her intent with the work and my enjoyment of her humor. I highly recommend this book!

Accent Was Occasionally Challenging

There were a few points where (even after a couple of rewinds) my Southern American ears just could not parse the author/narrator's Irish accent. But I don't think I missed anything important. On the whole, I found the book very interesting and informative, even though I don't completely agree with the author. Unlike her cautious disbelief regarding sentient robots, I think we will get them and sooner than anyone expects. Whether *we* will be interesting enough to such beings to be potential companions for *them* is a different question, though.

A Great Read, But I Found It A Little Lacking

Considering how often the author questioned the hypersexualized female form of existing sex dolls and of sex robots depicted in media, I kept expecting her to delve deeper into why this is. She also seems to make the assumption that this would only be appealing to men, but as a lesbian, I can tell you that that isn't so. In the final chapter, I get the impression that she thinks that sex dolls and robots ought to be designed to optimize sexual pleasure. But from what I've seen, and from my own experience, people who own or want to own one view it as an idealized fantasy made "real." Hence why sex dolls typically look the way they do. Aside from that, I really enjoyed the book, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the subject. Kate Devlin has some really interesting views, and I honestly wish I could hear her thoughts on my concerns above.

Biased while trashing bias from an echo chamber

Hoping for objectivity. Got none. Extremely biased. Could be called click bait based on the title. Marxist technique was on point...