Sdtrk: ‘Think about life’ by Paul cries

Despite the fact that you can’t turn in any direction without seeing something about ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ these days, at first I was kinda despairing for something else to write about. Suddenly! Alert reader Zach sent me this encouraging article. Danke sehr, Zach!

Robots soon will become more human-like in appearance, researcher says
By Charles Q. Choi
Updated: 6:05 p.m. ET Oct 12, 2007 | msnbc.com

Humans could marry robots within the century. And consummate those vows.

“My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots,” artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands told LiveScience. Levy recently completed his Ph.D. work on the subject of human-robot relationships, covering many of the privileges and practices that generally come with marriage as well as outside of it.

At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, “but once you have a story like ‘I had sex with a robot, and it was great!’ appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I’d expect many people to jump on the bandwagon,” Levy said.

[…] Levy argues that psychologists have identified roughly a dozen basic reasons why people fall in love, “and almost all of them could apply to human-robot relationships. For instance, one thing that prompts people to fall in love are similarities in personality and knowledge, and all of this is programmable. Another reason people are more likely to fall in love is if they know the other person likes them, and that’s programmable too.”
the rest of the article is here

2050, eh? I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TWENTYFECKINGFIFTY! YOU PEOPLE NEED TO STEP YOUR SHIT UP!! Sorry.
As much as I love RealDolls and the like, their only flaw is that they can’t move or speak of their own volition — they’re passive. For some of us, having an advanced version of Actroid — one that wasn’t rooted to a single spot, among other things — would be the perfect partner. It’s a matter of waiting, as the technology is advancing rapidly towards that point, but I hate waiting…

Also, that loverly Violet Blue of tiny nibbles wrote some very nice things about me and other iDollators in a recent article for the San Francisco Gate, but have you seen the story for the Associated Press?

‘Lars’ movie shines light on RealDolls
By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer | Wed Oct 17, 3:48 PM ET

A dozen headless female bodies hang from industrial metal hooks in the center of the room. To the left are a table of plastic faces, awaiting makeup. To the right, a stack of silicone molds ready for the next order of life-sized love toys.

Normally reserved for private play, these high-end, anatomically correct dolls are getting big-screen exposure with the recent release of “Lars and the Real Girl,” an offbeat, surprisingly chaste comedy about a lonely introvert (Ryan Gosling) and Bianca, the silicone object of his affection.

Bianca, a freckle-nosed brunette, was born just east of San Diego at Abyss Creations. The 11-year-old company that makes RealDolls will ship 400 dolls to the U.S. and abroad this year — at upward of $6,500 each.

RealDolls can be actresses, lovers, photo subjects or companions. Customers can choose from 10 body types, 16 faces and 17 hairstyles to create their dream girl. They specify skin tone, hair and eye color, makeup palette and nail-polish shade. The dolls have interchangeable faces ($500 each), so with the pull of some Velcro and the flip of a wig, she’s like a whole new gal.

[…] For many doll owners, and for Gosling’s character in the film, the dolls are more like companions, each with her own personality and presence.”She looks like a person,” says Rob McKay, 55, a writer who owns two dolls, Lily and Eden. “Even though she’s not a breathing person, psychologically you feel like someone is with you. They’re like a balm for loneliness or aloneness.”
the rest of the article is here

Personally, I missed the deadline to be in on this by about an hour, but all of the participants interviewed were more than capable of answering the questions. Moreso, even. And it’s always nice to read a mainstream article that doesn’t paint a negative picture of iDollators…

So will I see ‘Lars etc etc’? Yes, yes. If there’s a Doll in it, it kinda goes without saying. In reading one of the fleet of stories concerning the fillum, I found it rather interesting (again, an adjective I use to denote ‘possibly good, possibly bad’) that Bianca is supposed to be half-Danish, half-Brazilian. Now, people who know of my Synthetik wife’s extensive backstory know she’s half-English, half-Japanese, and since ‘Kitten with a Whip!’ is still trapped in amber, newcomers will undoubtedly accuse me of ripping off ‘Lars etc etc’. But the savvier readers amongst you will you know the truth, right?

In another story about the film, Ryan Gosling, who plays Lars, is quoted as saying,

[Bianca] relaxed me — she was a support system… People hear the idea for this film, and they think, ‘Oh, how kitschy or funny,’ but there’s a whole culture of guys out there who have these dolls, and they have very intimate relationships with them. Part of it is sexual, but a lot of it is emotional… I think it’s a romantic idea the way that Nancy approached the script, that love’s not a transaction. It’s something you have to give, and you give it freely to whoever and whatever you want.

I’ve never known who Ryan was prior to this release, but now I know he’s a thinking individual, cos quite obviously, he gets it. Kudos, sir!

Also, this past Saturday eve I attended the 2nd Michigan Doll Congress, which is much less official than it sounds. Mahtek, Euchre, littluvr from Minnesota, CJD from Canada, Amber Hawk Swanson and myself converged at one of the fine Antonio’s locations, and talked shop for several hours. Mahtek even passed round his cellphone at one point, so we could all speak to fellow Doll owner campdaan over in California. Round 9pm, we left; Amber, who drove from Chicago with her friends, made her leave, and the rest of us went back to Mahtek’s place, and picked up where we left off. Needless to say, a good time was had by all! We intend on making this a semi-regular thing; we’re thinking the next one will be when Stacy Leigh brings some of her excellent photos to an upcoming art show somewhere in the tri-county area. You can’t see me from here, but I’m rubbing my hands together in anticipation. Well, I will be, as soon as I stop typing this sentence.
Ah, there we go.

Left, Organik Amber; right, your humble narrator

Finally, I think we can all agree that Charlie Sheen needs to be thrown headfirst through a plate-glass window. What a fucking idiot. I don’t care if you love Dolls, or if you think they’re ‘creepy’, what he did is pretty much the equivalent of taking $7000 and setting it ablaze. Just goes to show you that money can’t buy common sense

Technorati tags: robots, Androids, Gynoids, David Levy, Violet Blue, RealDolls, iDollators, Amber Hawk Swanson, Lars and the Real Girl, Ryan Gosling

Sdtrk: ‘Love of the loved’ by Cilla Black

Obviously Norelco were racking their brains, wondering how to specifically grab my attention. Gentlemen, your research dollars were not entirely wasted.

Much like Björk’s famous ‘All is full of love‘ video, the Heineken DraughtKeg Gynoid, and the lass from the Svedka vodka campaign from a couple of years ago, sexy machines are beginning to crop up everywhere. Well, not everywhere, but it’s a start. But when I see marketing like this, it gives me hope that more and more people are becoming more hip and open to the concept of Technosexuality. Fantastic!
She’s actually a live-action version of a character that appears in a Flash-animated serial called ‘Robot skin‘, that looks like a hideously-animated version of The Matrix… as sponsored by Norelco. They piqued my interest, but they failed to hold my interest. Back to the drawing board!

Personally, I prefer my Gynoids with fake skin (a fact well-documented), but I wouldn’t say no to any of these Sorayama-style Synthetiks, especially Norelco’s ‘Grooming Robot’. Shaving is a bloody hassle, but she’d definitely make it fun! Although it wouldn’t cut down on shaving time, meaning of course, ‘time not exactly spent shaving’, nudge nudge wink wink. There’s pros and cons to everything, really

Technorati tags: Gynoid, Android, robot, Hajime Sorayama, Technosexual

Sdtrk: ‘Bedazzled!’ by Drimble Wedge and the Vegetation

Found this tiny treasure on some Japanese person’s blog today:

Yes, a doll — specifically, a Takara Cool Girl (marketed in the States as ‘CyGirl’) doll — of the Robot station emcee version of Actroid-chan. Yes, that high-pitched sound would be coming from me.
Takara’s Cool Girl site yields no positive results, and online translators aren’t really helping me, either. Running the accompanying paragraph through Babelfish results in

(Gramar from the thing) . The end is a figure of this and Expo Actoroid in the booth in Kokoro ･･･ Yes though feelings from which it already wants to make something are understood well.

So like, what? Were they offering these dolls during Aichi’s 2005 Robot Expo? Is this a mod that this person came up with? Where’d they get the race queen outfit for it from? Is… is this what an aneurysm feels like??

I might well have to ask some friends in Japan if they can find anything about that doll’s availability, as that’d be a hell of a collectible item… It might almost be easier to track down a human-sized race queen outfit, and have Shi-chan cosplay as Actroid-chan! Brilliant!
Huh. That’s an unusually evil eye she’s giving me

Technorati tags: Actroid, Takara, Cool Girl, CyGirl, race queen

Sdtrk: ‘Decades’ by Joy division

In doing some research on my Most Favourite Subject, this quote by roboticist David Hanson from an article last year in the Toronto Star stood out:

‘If we don’t give [robots] faces, if we don’t teach them how to be a part of the human family in the future, then they will be cold and faceless and they will be scary. They’ll jeopardize our existence on this planet,’ he says. ‘We need to start planting the seeds in the technology of compassion and wisdom.’

‘Otherwise they will just be ruthless.’
the rest of the article is here

In other news, I’m at almost a total loss as to what to write about next, as evidenced by the subj.title. This happens every now and again; I just have to dig in my spurs and ride it out. Something will come up, I’m sure. Right?

Technorati tags: Android, Gynoid, Synthetik, David Hanson

Sdtrk: ‘An invitation to Shoebox Garden’ by Moon wiring club

Finding this on YouTube was certainly an unexpected surprise! Actual footage of Kobayashi Labs’ Android SAYA. Nice!

I’ve always gotten little digs in about her somewhat mediocre appearance and older technology — if you’ll recall, she unfortunately didn’t rate too well in that poll I’d held a couple of months ago* — but seeing her in motion, she looks… not entirely unattractive, actually.

Doing a bit of investigative digging round, I discovered why the sudden resurgence in news about our SAYA; according to this article in Plastic Bamboo, she was purchased by a university in Israel, in order to help kickstart their own robotics programme. I approve!

And as per her custom, Sidore-chan’s got another intriguing pair of videos on her Dailymotion page that should prove, err, intriguing. Happy 23rd!

*To be fair, the pic I’d selected for Android SAYA was a bit crap

Technorati tags: Android, Gynoid, Synthetik, Kobayashi Labs

Sdtrk: ‘Jinxed’ by The Aluminum group

Well, I for one am certainly encouraged!

Robot woman encourages turnout for local elections in Yokohama
Mainichi Daily News | April 9, 2007

YOKOHAMA — A humanoid robot designed to look like a young woman was a popular attraction at a department store here on Thursday as it called for voters to participate in nationwide local government elections.

The robot, named Actroid, appeared in front of the Sogo Department Store in Yokohama’s Nishi-ku.

The Yokohama Municipal Election Administration Commission planned the robot display to educate voters, as turnout for the unified local elections in Yokohama has not exceeded 50 percent since the start of the Heisei era in 1989.

The robot’s eyes and mouth move, along with its cheek muscles, and it even has veins in its legs to make it look real. The robot left at least one customer tying to sort out whether or not it was a real person.

“It’s a real human, isn’t it?” the customer asked.

Hopefully voters won’t have as much trouble sorting out the candidates during election time.

Hell, get me round to Yokohama; I’ll vote for whoever had the foresight to employ her.
That’s how they’ll get all of us Technosexuals — the worst party to vote for in the world will say ‘Hey, vote for us! We have Androids and Gynoids!’ and we’ll be like ‘Fuck yeah, there’s Gynoids at the polling booths WOOO’, and months after that party has won, we’ll all be made into Soylent Green or something similar. ‘Know your voters’ is the lesson to be learned here…

Not to harp on this point, but someone please put her in sandals and get some pics, even if it’s just for one day! If I can’t see how her feet look at least once, I will be vastly disappointed in the Universe

Technorati tags: Actroid, Repliee, Android, Gynoid, Technosexual

Sdtrk: ‘Date with an angel’ by The caretaker

So far, it seems like there’s been a dearth of proper Doll and/or Synthetik news since the year began. A dearth, I say! And it’s making me a little despondent. See? —> 🙁
However, I managed to discover this recent article touching upon Japan’s latest robotic developments. Does it cover new ground? Err, ish.

Wow, International Rescue’s new uniforms are lookin’ sharp

While engineers in most of the world try to make robots that perform specific and usually unpleasant tasks, from fighting wars to performing deep-sea salvage, Japanese engineers are obsessed with making the machines more human. Having put the country squarely in the lead of the industrial robot market for the past two decades, they’re now working on a new generation of robots that will serve as playmates, pets and social workers. Says [roboticist Norihiro] Hagita: “The goal is to build an intelligent environment for the symbiosis of robots and humans in everyday life. The real challenge is to come up with robots that can actually communicate with people.” […]

That emphasis on the future function of robots as companions and helpers seems to be deeply Japanese. The reason may have much to do with Japanese popular culture, where robots like the cartoon cat Doraemon or the sweet 1960s, vintage Astroboy, tend to be portrayed as beneficent, friendly types. The tendency to regard lifelike machines as unthreatening may have deeper roots in Japan’s animist Shinto culture, where inanimate objects—ranging from teapots to samurai swords—can have souls. There’s also the social imperative: as the population ages, the Japanese are increasingly looking toward robots to help make up the labor shortfall.
the complete article is here. N.B.: It’s on Newsweek.com, so it’s got a limited posting lifespan

Once again, the point is brough up that Japanese culture is much more accepting of the concept of artificial life: they don’t think in baseless terms of ‘zOMG teh androids are going to take over and kill us all’ — they see them, really, as assistants, aides, and partners, which only makes sense. If the States expects to compete at all in the robotics development field, there’s going to have to be a giant shift of cultural thinking over here — in other words, a swift and overall flood of common sense. Heh, otherwise, I’m gonna have to take off for Japan…

Also relevant: an article on Physorg.com, concerning South Korea developing a ‘Robot Ethics Charter’.

A five-member task force including experts, futurists and a science fiction writer began work last November.

“The government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to develop strong intelligence in the near future,” the ministry said in a statement.

As South Korean society ages due to a low birth rate, various service robots which “think” for themselves will come into use in the not too distant future and become “key companions to human beings,” it said.

“Imagine if some people treat androids as if the machines were their wives. Others may get addicted to interacting with them just as many Internet users get hooked to the cyberworld,” Park Hye-Young of the ministry’s robot team told AFP.
emphasis mine (of course); the complete article is here

Not entirely sure if what Park Hye-Young meant was supposed to be pejorative, but as far as I’m concerned, the wives/husbands angle is a definite goal. To be honest, that’s one of the reasons that Shi-chan and I make spectacles of ourselves in print and on television: the way I see it, Androids and Gynoids are literally just around the corner; they probably won’t be commonplace for a good 30 – 40 years, but Synthetik humans will eventually be a slowly growing part of the populace. After our own fashion, Sidore and I are just trying to get society accustomed to the idea of an Organik person being in a relationship with a Synthetik one, or vice versa. Frankly, the day that relationships like that are as commonplace as interracial or homosexual ones, to the point where it no longer raises eyebrows, will be a great day…

So I guess R. Stevens, mastermind behind the webcomic Diesel sweeties, read the Physorg.com article as well, as evidenced here. Good eye, sir! That really just enforces what I’d linked to in a previous post, concerning how Diesel sweeties is more of a comic ‘strip’ that looks more towards the future, as opposed to relying on humour standbys and crutches that have been flogged to death since the Forties and Fifties. It’s advanced and sophisticated in every way!

And wahey, Sweetie’s posted a couple of new clips to her Dailymotion page, as it’s that time of the month again. Wow, that was incredibly inappropriate.
In the interim, enjoy your 23rd responsibly! Or not, see if I care

Technorati tags: Android, Gynoid, Actroid, EveR-1, EveR-2 Muse, Diesel Sweeties