SCIENCE sciencemag.org 21 DECEMBER 2018 • VOL 362 ISSUE 6421 1365PHOTO: FRED DUFOUR/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY IMAGES
By Lily FrankS
ex robots are so hot right now. Robot
brothels are popping up around the
world, and the sex robot “Harmony”
even has her own Tinder profile. (She
reportedly matched with dozens of
men within hours.) In Turned On,
computer scientist Kate Devlin tackles the
transition of sex-tech from novelty to just
another feature of our technologi-
cally enabled environment.
The book is a highly readable
romp through the history of com-
puters, robots, and sex toys. In a
journalistic and often humorous
style, Devlin introduces the tech-
nical, social, historical, philosophi-
cal, and ethical issues surrounding
humanoid sex robots, peppering
these discussions with literary,
historical, and pop culture refer-
ences and personal anecdotes.
Turned On focuses on technol-
ogies that are currently available
or in development. But sex robots are noth-
ing new. They are part of a long history, as re-
vealed in ancient myths, early literature, and
archaeological and historical records. Here,
Devlin introduces a central theme: the idea
that humans have long been fascinated with
amorous relations with inanimate objects.COMPUTER SCIENCEThe sex robots are here
In chapter three, Devlin delves into the
origins of the computer, interrogating some
classic philosophical arguments about the
nature of consciousness; the problem of
other minds; and whether or not it might
be possible for a machine to feel, think, or
be conscious. She is, admittedly, not a phi-
losopher and does not aim to offer more than
a cursory discussion of these issues. But I
found this somewhat unsatisfying because
philosophical assumptions about
mentality often inform nonphilos-
ophers’ speculation about artifi-
cial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
The book is at its best when
explaining difficult technical con-
cepts such as machine learning,
artificial neural networks, and
natural language processing. It
also presents memorable exam-
ples of how biases are introduced
into programmed systems.
After discussing the Turing test,
“ELIZA” (the first conversational
natural language processing pro-
gram), and the Loebner Prize (an award
given for programs that can fool humans into
thinking they are interacting with another
human), Devlin comes to a second major
theme: that “[a] semblance of human-like
behaviour can be enough for us to assume a
degree of sentience.”
Here, she launches into a discussion of
love, sex, and attachment from psychological,
physiological, anthropological, and neurosci-
entific perspectives. Canvassing vast swathsof history and anthropology, Devlin includes
intriguing tidbits on sexual diversity and the
taboos and mores of the past. (In case you
ever wondered how many years of penance
were required by the Bishop of Worms for
the use of a dildo in 1008 AD, for example,
the answer is three.) Humans, it seems, can
become emotionally attached to all sorts of
things—from fish to laptops—and we have no
trouble anthropomorphizing and even empa-
thizing with simple animated shapes.
In chapter five, Devlin takes the reader on
a behind-the-scenes tour of the sex doll and
robot industries, introducing us to design-
ers, entrepreneurs, and avid users (lovers?).
She meticulously describes various aspects of
sex robot design, ranging from lifelike works
of artistry to the mechanical, crude, and tin-
voiced. From industry-compiled customer
reports, she discovers that users are predomi-
nantly male and that they turn to these tech-
nologies for a variety of reasons, from sexual
experimentation to coping with loneliness.
Next, Devlin engages with some scholarly
philosophical works, including David Levy’s
2007 book Love and Sex with Robots. What is
love? What defines sex? Could human beings
fall in love with machines? Should they?
There are also a range of normative issues
surrounding sex robots, including what some
perceive as their implicit sexism, concerns
about how they might normalize violence
against women and children, and questions
about how they relate to prostitution and
pornography. Here, Devlin raises a host of le-
gal and ethical questions. Should sex robots
be used to rehabilitate sex offenders? Should
it be illegal to produce childlike sex robots?
Do sex robots reinforce harmful stereotypes
about women’s bodies or their roles, or the
importance of sexual consent? The book of-
fers more questions than answers, leaving me
somewhat dissatisfied, once again.
Devlin urges readers to “think outside the
bot” in chapter 10, looking to the next gen-
eration of engineering and design of sex-tech
more broadly. Here, she imagines a future in
which a sex robot might have tentacles in-
stead of arms or be molded from sensuous
fabrics, rather than from silicone.
“The future of intimacy is not a bleak and
isolated vision but a network of connected
people who want, as humans have always
wanted, to be together,” Devlin writes. Re-
gardless of how one feels about this optimis-
tic attitude (I remain skeptical), Turned On
provides the reader with an invitation to ex-
plore these topics further and a fascinating
introduction to the state of sex-tech. j10.1126/science.aav6001An engineer makes an adjustment to a humanoid
robot at a factory in Dalian, China.Advances in robotics and AI bring new concerns to
age-old questions about human intimacyBOOKS et al.
Turned On
Science, Sex and
Robots
Kate Devlin
Bloomsbury, 2018.
288 pp.The reviewer is at the Department of Industrial Engineering
and Innovation Sciences, Technical University of Eindhoven,
5612 AZ Eindhoven, Netherlands. Email: [email protected]Published by AAASon December 20, 2018^http://science.sciencemag.org/Downloaded from