Robot Sex.
    ----------------

    On the face of it, cloning looks like the way to have "kids". 
All of your brilliant genes passed on to the next generation 
without letting some other persons poor genes in on the deal? 
A perfect copy.
    Except for bacteria (and alike) nature apparently doesn't think so.
Instead, Nature is all for giving it a good mix. 
So, males and females are created, with different jobs to do, 
in order to create these new and exciting creatures of the future.

    So, you kind of ask yourself, how are we going to design 
the robots that are supposed to go out there in the universe 
on our behalf and figure it all out? What little trick is to 
be built into them so that they keep evolving and striving 
like hell to become better and better? 
    What are we going to do, to make absolutely sure that they 
don't just one day call it quits and sit down and decide to 
become immortal or begin to make robot clones 
(which won't bring much new to the universe).

    Somehow, I imagine that Charles Darwin would have said 
that sex would be the answer!
    This follows not from the 1859 classic: 
"On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 
or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". 
Which is "just" about natural selection. I.e. given variation the 
most fit are most likely to survive. 
   No, its follows from his 1871 classic "The Descent of Man And 
Selection in Relation to Sex". Its here that one could hope 
to find some good answers.

   In its time it caused great controversy by indicating 
that man decented from more primitive beings (the ape thing). 
But even more controversial was of course the part of sexual selection - 
that (in most species) females selects males to mate with, 
and that these males most put on some sort of display 
in order to be selected. 
   Write a symphony, figure out how the universe works or 
be good at playing football - and you will get a mate, 
otherwise not only you, but everything about you, 
will die and be removed from the universe.

   Something like this would be a wonderful wakeup call for 
complacent robots of the future! 

   Yes, death to complacent robots! Lets not give them an easy 
ride like bacteria (Bacteria doesn't die. They just split into 
two identical new daughter cells). No, lets try natures cool 
invention "death" on them. Lets try out sexuality on them. 
A sexuality that produces unique organisms - 
a uniqueness that doesn't last, but creates the engine 
that makes the whole thing go around.
Sexuality as the great engine for creating stuff.
   Where natural selection optimizes, economizes, rationalize 
and makes an organism robust in order to secure survivability.  
Sexual selection does in principle the opposite. 
   It introduces a handicap to an animal. If the animal can 
survive with this handicap, it must have good genes - 
it take resources to make a good bird song or a good peacock tail. 
And females just love such display of good genes that can do all of this.  
   
   According to Darwin humans are of course no different. 
Humans also wants to impress the opposite sex, and as collecting 
food is becoming increasingly trivial for humans, 
humans must do something else. 
   And there is lots of stuff to do. If writing that symphony 
is not your line of work, then what about trying out stuff like 
charity, social behaviour or love of your fellow human? 
Surely it is a definite sign of strength - an allowed handicap. 
It is difficult and cost us something, so we show strength and 
obtains social prestige and acquires better mating possibilities!

   In human terms - natural selection is about survival, 
adaption to ones environment. Efficientcy. So an even stronger individual, 
in human terms, tries to be anti-adapted. If succesful this is an 
important sign of strength. 
And so with the rest of our brave human world. The virtues of wisdom, 
justice, bravery, selfcontrol, belief, hope and love are but other handicaps. 
If you display these (handicaps) then you are a strong individual 
and will acquire a good mate.

   ---

   And surely, the robots will love it. The female robots get to pick 
who lives and who dies - and the male robots must run around all day long 
in order to be picked. Ok, we will allow for that the robots can decide 
to switch jobs from time to time (as humans sometimes do. 
If you have been picking all day long, its fun to do a little running 
and vice versa). But it will not be ok, if the robot starts thinking 
about cloning, complacency and immortality.
   Tinkering with the system must mean instant and certain death?

   After we have introduced robot sex, the robots will probably be very unhappy, 
and be on constant look out for ways to make the pain go away.
   According to many surveys human women and human men are looking 
for the same things in a mate. Friendliness and understanding, 
intelligence, an interesting personality and good health 
(Why you ask, they are going to die anyway?) tops the list. 
Below this men find looks a bit more important that women, 
whereas women find money a little more important than men do. 
In the end the mate choice is all about human (emotional) and 
financial security. What ever security you can get inside 
this run amok (sex) machine, that is.
   We hope the robots must find a little friendship in 
their world as well, as we give them death and sex. 

   Then, what about pleasure?
   ---------------------------

   Obviously, the robots must feel something immediately 
for every action. It will be no good, if they should go 
into enormous calculations on the future state of the entire 
universe for every minor little thing they do. 
   So, sure we will root out bad robots with sex, 
but still there must be some sort of pleasure system onboard all robots.
   In humans we have this wonderful reward system, "the dopamine system" 
(or whatever it will finally be called), that rewards us for doing 
things with survival value - eating or having sex, for example. 
A system that work overtime whenever you are enjoying something, 
sex, chocolate, drugs or music.
   This is good for guiding actions. To choose between all of 
these conflicting requirements, like: Eat, drink, stay safe, mate, get warm. 
Surely, the robots must get something like this as well.

   Pleasure by definition cannot be long lasting. It must switch 
of so that we can move on to the next task. And therefore 
we can never be truly happy seeking pleasure. If we experience pleasure 
thats because we need something. If we are in no danger or no need of 
any kind, we are in a comfortable, but indifferent state. 
This state of indiference is what we call happiness. 
And for humans that state never last long. At the very least, 
eventually sex or death will catch up.

   I am certain the robots will love it as well! 
We, in return, might get some very impressive exploration of what 
is possible in the universe.

-Simon

Simon Laub.
silanian.tripod.com