WHY KANT I SLEEP WITH A SEXBOT!

WHY KANT I SLEEP WITH A SEXBOT! Traditional ethical theories were created at a time when it was believed that humans were the primary moral actors and moral patients, including utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and Kantian ethics. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate how well these theories can be used in the brand-new field of human-robot interaction (Gordon and Nyholm, 2022). The idea is to apply Kantian moral philosophy to understand the carnal relationship between/among men and women, when a sexbot, an inanimate participant capable of “only” delivering sexual pleasure, is involved in the “relationship”. Sexbots and their origins. Sexbots, short for Sex Robots are artificially designed humanoid robots which can perform or facilitate sexual acts with their users. The popularization of sexual uses of human-like artifacts is a relatively old phenomenon. The usage of and normalisation of so-called sex toys with human body part representations, such as penis-shaped dildos and vibrators, is widespread. For instance, in the United States and Germany, women and men who identify as heterosexual have a prevalent usage of vibrators in almost 50% of their active sexual acts (Döring and Poeschl, 2020; Herbenick et al., 2010). A growing interest can be seen in creating sex toys that are mind-controlled and don't require hand function for older people and those with disabilities (Gomes et al.; Morales et al, 2018). Despite sex toys being socially accepted and more developed and interactive renditions of it, like sex dolls and interactive humanoid sexbots being openly marketed, there exist a raging debate regarding the ethics and social impact of normalising humanoid sex robots (Döring and Pöschl, 2018). In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a character who can be traced back to if we had to start any discussion on intimacy with the inanimate. The version of Pygmalion that is most vividly detailed is Ovid's (Metamorphoses). The young sculptor creates a virginal girl for himself since he finds vulgar real women repulsive. His statue is frequently depicted in the modern mind as marble, but in the myth, it is ivory, a warmer, more organic material. His ivory maiden is so convincingly detailed that Pygmalion "burns with passion for her" at first sight. He caresses her flawless body in admiration and longing, if he pressed hard against her, she would literally bruise. He lavishes the statue with presents and kind remarks (Mayor, 2018). He appeals to the goddess in the Temple of Aphrodite to bring life to his "simulacrum of a daughter". Eventually Pygmalion makes love with the sculpture, and it is brought to life. The most glaring distinction between the mythology and the scenario at hand is the intent behind the action. Pygmalion was driven by social disgust towards women and thus personified his creation in the highest form of beauty and eventually fell in love with her. While Brenner (2017) argues that for most people (mostly young men) today, their proclivity towards owning a sexbot is largely due to avoidance of confronting social interaction. Kantian and Utilitarian Ethics on Sexbots. A good number of thinkers differ with Kant on his moral stance on sex and certain sexual activities (Gordon and Nyholm, 2021). Kant argues that sex is morally permissible only when it has a goal of procreation and thus is heterosexual in nature (Kant, 1997 [1740]). He also approves of sex for pleasure within marriage after cessation of fertility. The utilitarian perspective though argues that the act of sexual activity must produce welfare and happiness for greater number of people. Since both Kantian and utilitarian stance on the morality of sex is determined by the utility of results, it is safe to say that these traditional school of thoughts would strongly oppose the widespread social practice of engaging in a sexual act with an inanimate robot as the intent behind the activity is solely lust while the immediate physical consequence is the sexual pleasure of one individual. Danaher et al. (2017) argues that the relationship between human and sexbots is modelled on sex-worker-client relation and therefore will be ethically problematic. The second criticism, which is connected to the first, emphasises how child robots may someday become either indistinguishable from real children or nearly so, to the point where the similarity becomes morally troubling. The Kantian objection regarding his famous “animal case” (Dennis, 2000) does not rely on similarities but rather on the potential negative impact that harsh treatment of animals may have on a person's character and behaviour toward other humans. According to the likeness thesis, people who engage in child sex robots may begin to dehumanise real children by failing to recognise them as individuals and by treating them more violently (Verde, 2018). A similar analogy can be drawn towards objectification of women. Engaging in a sexual bond with humanoid robots will entail nothing apart from sexual pleasure, which if normalised can propagate the objectification of women with more outreach. Are there any advantages to sexbots? Although Kantian ethics would vigorously oppose the normalisation of sexbots but there are certain advantages to this technology which can benefit some select population groups. Scheutz and Arnold (2017) conducted a survey on discussing possible pros and cons of sexbot usage. Their findings have been tabulated below:

Source : (Scheutz and Arnold, 2017 p.7), Available at: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://hrilab.tufts.edu/publications/scheutz2017intimacy.pdf From the study it seems that a consensus somewhat agrees that sexbots can potentially ruin human relations on a social context. Special population groups such as sexually inadequate, elderly or physically disabled individuals who have an emotionally and sexually unfulfilling life can benefit from the services of a sexbot’s companionship, as suggested by Hoorn (2018). Sexbots may be helpful in treating paedophiles, sexual offenders, and others with sexual dysfunctions, according to some (Tojersen, 2017). It is strongly advised to carefully evaluate the use of sexbots in the treatment of sex offenders, who are likely to have special criminogenic demands that require specific scientific and clinical attention, given the current lack of evidence on the therapeutic effects of sexbots. In Conclusion. Although traditional ethical philosophies are dismissive of the entire technology of sexbots, it can be optimised for selected population categories and the ramifications of an unchecked social usage of sexbots should be more empirically studied. AS 96-99% of the internet being dark web, and child pornography, neo-nazis and ethnic supremacist contents are the most popular material in the dark web (Rosenbach and Kumar, 2019), one should be wary of the implications sexbot usage can have on the entire human psychology and social relations. BIBLIOGRAPHY Brenner G. H. (2017), ‘Are SexBots Here to Stay?’ , Psychology Today, 28 July. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/experimentations/201707/are-sexbots-here-stay (Accessed on: 3rd December 2022) Danaher J., Earp B.D., Sandberg A., (2017), ‘Should we campaign against sex robots?‘. MIT Press. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301892491_Should_We_Campaign_Against_Sex_Robots (Accessed on: 4th December 2022) Denis L., (2000), ‘Kant's conception of duties regarding animals: reconstruction and reconsideration’, History of Philosophy Quarterly, 17(4), pp.405-423. K Döring N., Poeschl S., (2020), ‘Experiences with Diverse Sex Toys Among German Heterosexual Adults: Findings From a National Online Survey’, The Journal of Sex Research, 57(7), pp.885-896. Döring N., Pöschl S. (2018), ‘Sex toys, sex dolls, sex robots: our under-researched bed-fellows’, Sexologies, 27(3), pp51-55. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S115813601830080X (Accessed on: 4th December 2022) Gomes M., Leonardo B., Wu. R., (2018), ‘User Evaluation of the Neurodildo: A Mind-Controlled Sex Toy for People with Disabilities and an Exploration of Its Applications to Sex Robots’, Robotics 7, 3(46). Gordon, J.S. and Nyholm, S. (2022), ’Kantianism and the problem of child sex robots’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 39(1), pp.132-147. Helga V. (2018), ‘Kant on Sex. Reconsidered. -- A Kantian account of sexuality: sexual love, sexual identity, and sexual orientation’, Feminist Philosophy Quarterly 4, (1). Available at: https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/fpq/article/view/3116 (Accessed on: 4th December 2022) Herbenick D., Reece M., Sanders S.A., Dodge B., Ghassemi A., Fortenberry D.J., (2010), ‘Women's Vibrator Use in Sexual Partnerships: Results From a Nationally Representative Survey in the United States’, Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 36(1), pp.49-65. Hoorn J.F., (2018), ‘From lonely to resilient through humanoid robots: building a new framework of resilience’, J Robotics, pp.1-17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/8232487 (Accessed on: 5th December 2022) Kant I., (1997), ‘Lectures on Ethics’, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at : https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/lectures-on-ethics/3165BCC1A91F68ADADBFEC2F4DA4A58E (Accessed on: 4th December 2022) Kumar A., Rosenbach E. (2019), ‘The Truth About the Dark Web’, International Monetary Fund Finance and Development. Available at: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2019/09/the-truth-about-the-dark-web-kumar (Accessed on: 3rd December 2022). Lectures on Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge Mayor A. (2018), ‘The First Sex Robot was Conceived in Ancient Greece’, Gizmodo. Available at: https://gizmodo.com/the-first-sex-robot-was-conceived-in-ancient-greece-1830949647 (Accessed on: 5th December 2022) Morales E., Gauthier V., Edwards G., Courtois F., Lamontagne A., Guerette A. (2018), ‘Co-designing Sex Toys for Adults with Motor Disabilities’, Sexuality and Disability. vol36, pp.47–68 . Torjesen I., (2017), ‘Sixty seconds on… sex with robots’, British Medical Journal. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j3353. (Accessed on : 4th December 2022)