sexbots – DIANAVERSE

The funnest conference I have ever attended was the Zombie Apocalypse Medicine meeting (ZAMM) back in 2018. Spearheaded by Athena Aktipis, there were talks on everything from first aid to Vodou. Baba Brinkman did a rap incorporating ideas from each and every one of the talks at the end of the day and Max Brooks, author of World War Z (the book, and especially the audiobook are spectacular and highly recommended, the movie, not so much) gave a keynote. I gave a plenary on manipulation in interpersonal relationships called “They all want your brainz: Zombification and Manipulation” .

This year’s virtual ZAMM was on Sex and Tech. I helped to put together a featured symposium with Brian Earp, Francesca Minerva, Jonny Anomaly and Ewen Lavoie on the Vexing Tech of Sex. The session was hosted and chaired by Athena Aktipis and Jason Robert.

My talk was based around sex robots and the idea of “counterfeit fitness” that I discussed in my article, Uncanny Vulvas. But rather than just giving a normal talk, I gave the talk as the robot, Diana5. Read my download and see the video of the vexing tech of sex session after the jump.

This is a lightly edited version of an article I wrote that first appeared in Jacobite. I had a great conversation about this article and evolutionary psychology more generally (link here) with John Danaher, who edited a book about sex robots. Most recently, I gave a presentation as a damaged android for the Zombie Apocalypse Medicine meeting about the dangers of counterfeit fitness.

Uncanny Vulvas- Diana Fleischman

Sex is consistently underrated as a driver of innovation. Yes, space exploration helped us develop the technology for things like cochlear implants, powdered (machine) lubricants and scratch resistant lenses. Lust has furthered the development of cash transfers, point-of-view filming and video chat. I predict that historians of the development of artificial intelligence are going to see sexual gratification as one of the phenomenon’s great motivators. Evolutionary psychology can give us insight into how sex robots are going to develop and the ramifications they’ll have on society.