Wired for romance

THE title says it all: By 2050, David Levy predicts, ordinary people will routinely fall in love with robots and have sex with them. Well, I know students whose most intimate companion is their laptop, and I have no doubt that some people are already having sex with robots, for the simple reason that some people will have sex with anything.

Levy, however, goes further: He suggests that, by midcentury, intimate relations with humanoid robots will be a commonplace, accepted feature of society. Fortunately, 2050 is still reasonably far away; in 2050, I intend to be either (a) dead or (b) 90 years old. In either case, it will take one heck of a sexy robot to get me aroused. Other, more youthful folks may not be so lucky. Do future tourists in Times Square run the risk of being accosted by lusty automata?

Levy musters some serious arguments for his claim. His chapter on blow-up rubber sex dolls and the like will surely rank as the definitive study of such phenomena for years to come. Because of the thoroughness of his research and the care with which he sets out his arguments, his thesis deserves a hearing. He begins by discussing why people fall in love with other people. One could say a great deal about this topic, or little, and Levy opts for little. People are attracted to each other emotionally and sexually, and one thing leads to another. Technology allows love to blossom into strange and new flowers, Levy argues; witness love on the Internet between two people who have never met. His point is that falling in love is natural and that people fall in love in many ways for many reasons. Fair enough. He then devotes considerably more space to exploring the love people feel for their pets. People love their pets a lot and frequently regard them as family members. Pet love is important for Levy, as he wishes to emphasize that the object of our strong love need not be human.

So far, so good. When I was a child, I loved my cat. Now, as an adult, I am fond of the family guinea pig. If Levy is attempting to persuade us that familial pet love can be extrapolated to romantic robot love, however, he is overreaching. Most people's feelings for their pets have never verged on the romantic or sexual. There is another word for that sort of love, and it is not a pretty one. (The love that dare not squeak its name.)