Is it ethical to have sex with a robot?

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@mcepl is it?

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@willow @Blort almost definitely not a living being, unless it's a special bio-robot, but possibly a conscious being.

[trwnh@mastodon.social]

@cwebber @Blort @evan before asking “is it ethical to have sex with robots”, we must first ask: is it ethical to have sex

[blort@social.tchncs.de]

@evan @willow

Which gets in to two more ol' philosophical chestnuts:

What is life?

and...

What is consciousness.

Wow. We almost have a philosophical "bingo" here!

[mxverda@lgbtqia.space]

@trwnh @cwebber @Blort @evan

[insert anti-AGAB joke here?]

[dpflug@hachyderm.io]

@trwnh @cwebber @Blort @evan At least one answer is the Harkness Test.

[trwnh@mastodon.social]

@MxVerda more of an anti-sex joke

[trwnh@mastodon.social]

@dpflug @cwebber @Blort @evan this only works if you assume that consent is all you need for sex to be ethical

[trwnh@mastodon.social]

@dpflug @cwebber @Blort @evan of course caveats:

1) how you define "consent" matters. this is where the Harkness test could apply.

2) how you define "ethical" matters. for example, philosophical, religious, legal, etc.

3) how you define "sex" matters. which sex acts "count" here? how far does it categorically extend? we can say "oral counts" but then extend that to "kissing is oral" or go really broad and say "all intimate body contact" including handholding

[blort@social.tchncs.de]

@trwnh @dpflug @cwebber @evan

Handholding? How do you define "hand"? If an apendage with 5 finger like extremities is a machine and not human tissue, is it really a "hand"?

[trwnh@mastodon.social]

@Blort @dpflug @cwebber @evan it's more of a concept really

anyway, turtles all the way down,

[evan@cosocial.ca]

Thanks everyone who replied!

I think it's complex. Qualified no. Fine up until the device has consciousness. Not fine without consent. An entity that cannot withhold consent cannot meaningfully give consent. Probably lots of other problems. I say, mostly not great.

[randomcanuck@cosocial.ca]

@evan what makes you think that a sentient robot wouldn’t be able to withhold consent? Are you assuming that said robot was programmed a la WestWorld? If that is the case I agree with you. However, once robots achieve sentience, any claim we have of control likely dies with the awaking of their minds. Then everything changes.