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zesty_pintoCuriosity from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
cuteoverload regarding Paro the robotic seal led me through one link to another. As I perused page after page of therapeutic wonder behind the furry robot and its scary resonance with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I found a BBC article that mentions another model they used and suggests another issue:
[The doll was] designed to be a substitute boyfriend for young single girls in the workforce
Several things came to mind as I read that:
-Wow, guys in Japan must be dorks.
-Couldn't this technology be applied the other way around?
-Japan also has those scary life-size mannequins with face changing features
-China still has a woman shortage
-Is the cyberpunk fantasy of mankind dating robotic love dolls coming too soon?
-Eww, that looks like a bad pun
Who's to say if the cyberpunk fantasy really will become a reality in ten years? It's harder not to note, especially with some of the advances I'm seeing recently (the Dragonfly, for one thing among many others).
In a side note, if I get desperate enough I'm going to learn Japanese. For academic reasons, of course.
I'm contemplating x-posting in S&S.
cuteoverload regarding Paro the robotic seal led me through one link to another. As I perused page after page of therapeutic wonder behind the furry robot and its scary resonance with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I found a BBC article that mentions another model they used and suggests another issue:[The doll was] designed to be a substitute boyfriend for young single girls in the workforce
Several things came to mind as I read that:
-Wow, guys in Japan must be dorks.
-Couldn't this technology be applied the other way around?
-Japan also has those scary life-size mannequins with face changing features
-China still has a woman shortage
-Is the cyberpunk fantasy of mankind dating robotic love dolls coming too soon?
-Eww, that looks like a bad pun
Who's to say if the cyberpunk fantasy really will become a reality in ten years? It's harder not to note, especially with some of the advances I'm seeing recently (the Dragonfly, for one thing among many others).
In a side note, if I get desperate enough I'm going to learn Japanese. For academic reasons, of course.
I'm contemplating x-posting in S&S.
