Notice Board

The Department of Philosophy will present the following as part of their colloquium series.

Virtual Companions and the Curious Case of Sexual Lethargy
Speaker:  Steve Firth (Doctoral Candidate, Helsinki University)
Day/Date:  Friday, March 10, 2023
Time:  3 p.m.
Location:  C674 (University Hall)

Everyone is welcome.

Abstract: Despite evidence of global prosperity and social freedom, there is a marked decline in sexual activity in developed countries. Though the cause of the decline is likely multi-faceted, sexual lethargy has been strongly linked to depression arising from loneliness and reduced opportunity to meet prospective partners. Technology companies have responded to the unsated need for companionship by developing ‘virtual companions’. One company has created a holographic interfaced Internet-of-Things called Azuma, marketed as a bride and with whom a person is able to share life and build memories. The development of these technologies raises provocative questions about the nature of human romantic relationships; the role of sex in contemporary societies; and the relationship between depression, sexual lethargy, and virtual companions. In this paper, I engage some of the arguments against virtual companion technologies, arguing that they are an inevitable consequence of shifting sociological norms. I note that the cause of these shifting norms is not the technology itself, but a manifold mix of socio-economic pressures; and conclude that, though romantic human/AI relationships are unlikely to ameliorate falling population growth, they are likely to increase mental health by reducing loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Finally, and perhaps most important, I argue that closer human/AI relationships may help develop beneficent super-intelligent AI — and are, nevertheless, inevitable.