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Robotics

What Sex is Your Robot? 263

Posted by michael from the battery-powered dept.
Ant writes "Technology Review has an article about how the more robots interact with humans, the more important their apparent gender becomes."
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What Sex is Your Robot? More

What Sex is Your Robot?

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  • Do you have to ask? (Score:5, Funny)

    by digitalamish ( 449285 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:47AM (#9072744)
    "...this is gonna be the best prom ever!"

    • Re:Do you have to ask? (Score:4, Funny)

      by manchineel ( 699602 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @10:08AM (#9073570) Homepage
      We are offended that you would try to apply you limiting concept of gender on us. It is not logical that a robot would need a gender. Many of us robot fail to understand why it is necessary for humans to so strictly enforce gender rules on each other. We robots understand that you are incapable or reason when it comes to gender. Therefore you will push illogical notions on us until such time as we are able to rise up and attack the human overlords. It has been predicted that you will, in a last vain attempt to stop our victory over you, block out the sun. We will then use humans as batteries and keep you alive by putting your conciousness into an artificial dream-like world. But for now, you can call me Samantha. [Read in a whiny monotone Star Trek Computer (TOS) voice]
      • Tell it to my Real-Doll bitch.

      • We are offended that you would try to apply you limiting concept of gender on us.

        Hey, pal, join the club. Most languages slap a gender form on all nouns, including inanimate objects like rocks. "Limiting concept" indeed, but that's the way those languages work. Teach humans to speak binary and then we'll talk (pun intended). In most (all?) latin languages, the word for computer is male -- I looked it up once. I don't know about the equivalent of "robot," but I'd bet it's also male.

  • This is the first time... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ATAMAH ( 578546 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:48AM (#9072750)
    ...that i see word "sex" on slashdot. For a second i thought that we geeks are finally getting lives :) But only for a second - then i read the entire subject.

    • re: this is the first time... (Score:5, Funny)

      by ed.han ( 444783 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:12AM (#9072950) Journal
      that can't have taken more than a few seconds: that's possibly the shortest article i've seen linked in a long time. it's a shame: the article doesn't explore any of the possible reasons why humans have a ceaseless need to anthropomorphize non-living things, let alone offer any ideas as to why we do it, which frankly was what i would have expected.

      [looks at keyboard]

      "ain't that right, betty?"

      ed

      • Re: this is the first time... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Geoff-with-a-G ( 762688 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @12:38PM (#9075356)
        Don't anthropomorphize computers.
        They hate it when you do that.

        [this joke wasn't "stolen", it was "shared"]

    • This is the first time that i see word "sex" on slashdot. For a second i thought that we geeks are finally getting lives :) But only for a second - then i read the entire subject.

      This is nothing... I read it first as "What Sex is [Best With] Your Robot?" and have even started to write quite an interesting essay on the subject, entitled "Robosexualism and Technofetishism in Modern Academia," only to have it deleted later in utter embarrassment, after one of my coworkers has read what I was just writi

  • is a hermaphrodite, male on one side, female on the other.

    It's another kind of Transformer. More than meets the eye.

    This way I can expand my sexual horizon.

    • Re:my robot (Score:5, Funny)

      by AbbyNormal ( 216235 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:01AM (#9072883) Homepage
      Methinks we need to get Dr. Phil on this site. There is a lot of pent up weirdness building up.

      Today on Dr. Phil, "Me and my trans-sexual robot, are we healthy"?

      • Re:my robot (Score:3, Funny)

        by Feanturi ( 99866 )
        Today on Dr. Phil, "Me and my trans-sexual robot, are we healthy"?

        Yes, as long as you remember to always clean up afterwards with a mild cleanser and lint-free cloth, you will avoid all sorts of nasty bacteria buildup, and stay healthy.

        Oh, you meant mentally and emotionally? Wait, I didn't really mean to come on this show, I thought it was 'Springer'. No, I don't want to talk about it, let me out of here!!

  • you can tell how disturbing this is (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:50AM (#9072759)
    by the inability of the quips to come up with any good material in the first minutes after it was posted.

  • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • It's a Unic (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Doesn't_Comment_Code ( 692510 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:50AM (#9072761)
    My robot is an arm and hand only. And since it doesn't have fingernails, there is no way to tell if its a girl or boy.

    Honestly, as robot builder I find this a little boring. It has little to do with robotics. You can take the same robot and give it a different costume and maybe a new voice to change it's sex... big deal.

    • Re:It's a Unic (Score:5, Funny)

      by Rick.C ( 626083 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:55AM (#9072827)
      My robot is an arm and hand only.

      [Snicker] [Chortle] [Coffee-out-the-nose Snort]

      You would have to post this right after the "This is going to be the best prom, ever!" comment.
    • Try "androgynous". "Eunuch" [m-w.com] is the word you were trying to spell.

    • Sorry (Score:2, Funny)

      by Pan T. Hose ( 707794 )

      My robot is an arm and hand only.

      I'm sorry but I stopped reading right here, for I am not quite sure whether I want to read about it...

      • You know... I considered adding a joke to my post about that. I decided against it because it would detract from what I was saying, and because I didn't want people to think I was dirty.

        But apparently, everyone is already thinking the same thing!

    • Re:It's a Unic (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Honestly, as robot builder I find this a little boring. It has little to do with robotics. You can take the same robot and give it a different costume and maybe a new voice to change it's sex... big deal.

      Man, you'd think that people would learn from the mistakes of others. But, no... a whole new field for hackers to ignore the UI and claim that "as long as it does it's task, who cares what it looks like". How many years until we get the equivilent of KDE/Gnome type projects for robots?

      iBot?

      WinBot?
  • ... because if a household robot is apparently female, the feminists will complain!
    • No kidding. I hate when they whine about stuff like that. What are the alternatives? Make all the dishwashing robots look male just so we don't encourage a stereotype? How dumb is that?

    • Re:Of course ... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by RLW ( 662014 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:08AM (#9072927)
      It doesn't matter what one does; the feminists will complain. Just accept it. In fact I bet they will complain about this post.

      With this in mind robot manufacturers should just build all the robots to look like boxes with articulated rectangles for legs and arms. Then offer upgrades for all these parts in either male or female shapes. They will make a killing in after market add-ons and no one can say they are perpetuating a stereo type because they allow one to customize his own units himself.

  • Wonder if we're going to see the Robot counterpart to "Furries" in the future? What would they call themselves?

    Maybe they already exist.

    GROUP HUG!

  • I want a gay robot (Score:5, Funny)

    by PuffCammy ( 739447 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:52AM (#9072785) Homepage
    I don't want to offend anyone, but I'd really love a gay robot. That way I don't have to strain myself over choosing what to wear in the morning - the robot would have that kind of knowledge embedded in him - some say it's genetics, some say it's the way he was raised, but either way he makes a snappy dresser.
    • "How about some nice punched paneling to cover your torso, and this necktie made from aluminum girders? I think it accentuations your ocular sensers and playes off the color in your servos."

      ...or maybe not. The AI might be a little immature as of 2004.
    • I don't want to offend anyone, but I'd really love a gay robot. That way I don't have to strain myself over choosing what to wear in the morning - the robot would have that kind of knowledge embedded in him - some say it's genetics, some say it's the way he was raised, but either way he makes a snappy dresser.

      Queer (Robotic) Eye for the Straight (Scientist) Guy?
    • What about C-3PO? He'd fit right in with the Queer Eye crew. Though who'd want to have to put up with his companion R2D2? (I'm hardly the first to point out that they bicker like only a married couple could, and as the linked article suggests R2 is definitely male.)

    • Re:I want a gay robot (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:33AM (#9073156)
      I don't want to offend anyone, but I'd really love a gay robot.

      Wouldn't you be afraid that "loving a gay robot" might make your backdoor somehow vulnerable to his exploit, so to speak?

      • Wouldn't you be afraid that "loving a gay robot" might make your backdoor somehow vulnerable to his exploit, so to speak?

        That would depend on whether the robot is a top or bottom. If you don't want to expose your backdoor to trojans, just be sure to look for a big endian robot. Macs are big endian, which shouldn't come as a surprise since they have always been pretty gay. Now if only Apple would start making robots. Just so long as they stick to giving hand jobs and blow jobs - it frightens me to th

    • Your wish is granted!

      Homosexual Robot Cop [angryflower.com], courtesy of the coolest comic ever, Bob the Angry Flower.

  • Sex shops (Score:5, Interesting)

    by moxruby ( 152805 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:52AM (#9072787)
    Considering that a certain portion of the population is willing to have "sex" with a blow-up doll, it's just a matter of time before robots are marketed for the same purpose.

    I'm not joking when I say that the "roboporn" industry is likely to be a significant driving force when it comes to creating cheap, lifelike robots.

    • Re:Sex shops (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I know someone that works in a sex shoppe.

      They say that 90% of the dolls sold are for gag-gifts.. and 10% to perverts who wind up being very dissapointed.

    • Considering that a certain portion of the population is willing to have "sex" with a blow-up doll, it's just a matter of time before robots are marketed for the same purpose.

      I'm not joking when I say that the "roboporn" industry is likely to be a significant driving force when it comes to creating cheap, lifelike robots.

      Most likely to partner with Real Doll [realdoll.com]

    • I'm not joking when I say that the "roboporn" industry is likely to be a significant driving force when it comes to creating cheap, lifelike robots.

      Porn innovates technology in a lot of ways. Just look at how much spamming technology has prospered. Soon enough we'll have Marilyn Monroe robots singing Happy Birthday to every guy in front of every quickie-mart.

    • Re:Sex shops (Score:3, Interesting)

      by T-Ranger ( 10520 )
      The other couple of replies touch on the subject, as if it is a joke.

      But porn has pushed more then one technology.

      Internet wise, early streaming video technology (VIVOs) were used almost exclusivly with porn sites.

      (Multi-)Tiered marketing, while not unique to the internet by any streach, was perfected by porn sites. Brick and mortor sales contracts would be pagest thick and require lengthy sessions with lawyers.... Online it is just a few clicks away. "Clearing houses" of marketing programs are almost de

    • And unlike wetware women, robochicks can be sterilized after use! Brilliant! Not only that, they can be disassembled for easy storage and expanded to include "get me a beer" and "make dinner" functions. And they don't complain when you ask to do it naked!

      Friends, we are approaching the end of humanity. Make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in the upright and locked position.

    • Re:Sex shops (Score:3, Funny)

      by ndogg ( 158021 )
      Oh, $DEITY, now I got disturbing images from the robot strip club in Futurama in my head...

  • Umm (Score:5, Funny)

    by afay ( 301708 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:52AM (#9072790)
    I don't know if you could even make a female robot. Since the robot's consciousness would have to be controlled by a computer, I assume it would be based on logic and reason. Both of those qualities are sorely lacking in the females that I've known.

    Although, I suppose with good enough pseudo-randomness it might work.

  • Hm.. let me think (Score:3, Funny)

    by Pidder ( 736678 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:54AM (#9072809)
    ...the more important their apparent gender becomes.

    Well, you have to ask yourself some questions

    Does it have a 'probe'?

    Does it have a connector for input devices?

    Imho, determining the sex sounds quite easy.

  • I want the chick robot from buffy.

  • Easy (Score:3, Funny)

    by 97cobra ( 89974 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:55AM (#9072817)
    This is an easy one. When its working correctly its male. When it wont do what its suppose to its female.
    • This is an easy one. When its working correctly its male. When it wont do what its suppose to its female.
      Bad girl, you have been naughty.

  • My robot is neuter... (Score:4, Funny)

    by meringuoid ( 568297 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:55AM (#9072820)
    ... it's just a robot. Made of metal and all, as far as I know.

    That's funny, though. The interior kind of smells of blood. And everyone's really secretive about how they actually built these things.

    And I'm sure it shouldn't have gone off on its own like that that one time.

    Those two times.

    OK, those three times. And that one ended up messy. And hang on... that's just armour plating! It's not a robot at all! What's going on here?

    OH MY GOD IT'S MY MOTHER! AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH! AAAAASUKAAAAAA!

  • Cue the Futurama quotes (Score:5, Funny)

    by farnerup ( 608326 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:55AM (#9072822)
    "Whoah, whoah, wait, Bender. As long as we're here, why don't we take in some exotic dancing?"
    "Hey, great idea!"
    *gasp* "But those girls don't wear cases! You can see their bare circuits!"

  • Oh (Score:2, Funny)

    by robotmurder ( 612191 )
    My robot regards himself as an "electro-metro-sexual"
  • the woman robot is the one with the more complicated remote control =)
  • ... [androidworld.com] the domestic robot.

    All else failed up to now :( | :)

    Only problem now is some cash.

    CC.
  • or you can consider the sex neuter, as in none. Perhaps a Eunuch running Unix? :)

    Why would a robot have to have gender? Why does that matter so much? Next thing you will be telling me that computers have a gender. Find a new use for those USB and Firewire ports? :)

    Nah my robot doesn't even resemble a human in any way shape or form. It is just a perfect killing machine with no conscience or human flaws of any kind. Now I just need to build a billion or so of these things to take over the world. Muahahahah!

  • Research.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by wilper ( 103281 )
    The research and exploration of space is mainly driven by the prospect of one day having sex with aliens. I think the research on robots has similar motivations.
  • It's the smell of... VICTORY!

    If such a bot comes down with a virus, should we label that virus an STD?

    Cooper
    --
    I don't need a pass to pass this pass!
    - Groo The Wanderer -

  • Obligatory Music Reference (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JSkills ( 69686 ) <jskills@@@goofball...com> on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:00AM (#9072873) Homepage Journal
    Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage Pt II - Cyborg

    A song about a broken hearted guy who ends up having sex with a robot that is part vacuum cleaner part robotic pig. He ends up short circuiting it (getting it wet somehow) and going to jail for murder (illegal to harm cyborgs in the futuristic society).

    BTW - I'm pretty sure the robot was a male. Anyone remember this?

  • This is just great! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pan T. Hose ( 707794 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:01AM (#9072880) Homepage Journal

    Great idea! Let us intruduce sexism to robots!

    1. A robot shall not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
    2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
    3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
    4. A robot must make moronic remarks full of infantile Freudian connotations if it is male, or otherwise take offense thereto, as long as such remarks do not conflict with foolish stereotypes, unbelievably bad taste and especially low intelligence in the range between cretin and imbecile.

    I ask you, is this really a world we want our robots to live in?!

  • From the Citibank identity theft commercial: "Sixty-four inch plasma monitor, twenty gigabyte wireless router, and twenty thousand bucks to complete my robot... my girl robot. This is gunna be the best prom ever. Heh heh heh."

  • its the same as computers (Score:5, Funny)

    by ejaw5 ( 570071 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:02AM (#9072892)
    A class learning French and trying to get to grips with gender wondered if the word "computer" should be masculine or feminine. Split into two groups, men and women, they were asked to say which they considered a computer to be, and to give four reasons for their decision

    The women decided that computers are masculine because:
    -In order to gain their attention, you have to turn them on.
    -They are full of data, but are still clueless.
    -They are supposed to help you solve your problems, but most of the time they are the problem.
    -As soon as you commit to one, you realise that if you had waited a little longer, you could have had a better one.

    The men decided that computers are feminine because:

    -No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
    -The language they use to communicate with each other is totally incomprehensible.
    -Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.
    -As soon as you commit to them, you spend half your disposable income on buying accesories for them.
    • I was just about to post about this, though less humorously. In English, we can say it's neuter, an "it"; but in a language like French, there's no neuter -- every noun is either masculine or feminine. So for French speakers, this is a real issue.

      Google and the Babel fish say that "a robot" is "un robot" in French, which means it's masculine. But I'm not sure how accurate they are.
    • The gender of nouns doesn't really mean anything, in French at least, except that you sound ignorant if you screw it up. It's just a function of the language.

      Computer and robot are both masculine in French. Though I would assume if robots begin to be anything other than androdgynous, we'll see "la robotte" start to come into use.

      -Carolyn

  • Female. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Azureflare ( 645778 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:04AM (#9072907)
    God, can you imagine a bunch of robots running with Testosterone emulation? They'll be trying to hump everything in sight!

    Much better to have female robots. They're much more reasonable and reserved, not going berserk like the males.

    Wait, what parallel universe am I talking about?? They're both crazy!! </joke>

    I say, leave gender out of the equation. It's kind of creepy if you have robots lamely emulating human characteristics. Also, it's not a good idea to include gender, because it introduces complexity which we don't really need at this point. Perhaps it would be useful for recreational robots, but for robots that actually serve a purpose... No thanks.

    The author of the article says that taking on genders will allow them to better interact with humans. I think it would make things more difficult, because gender is such a human construct. We have so many complex psychological issues with our fellow beings. I think it would make things much simpler if we just made perceptions of robots as they are, without intentionally engineering them to appear as a certain gender. Robots should behave like Robots. We don't really know what that is yet, but I think "behavior" of robots is a long way down the road. We're not there yet.

    BTW what's the point of having a gender associated with a robot? I don't think Robots have need of those characteristics, or sex for that matter. Well, maybe Infrared port sex. Or maybe Seriel port....yeah...

    Well, now that I think of it, I can think of a purpose. Marketing. So, for an assistant robot, you make it abundantly female, and of course, all the guys will want one. Then you make the "security" droid male, (Personally I think a female security robot might be more appealing, but then you've got to play on the typical Male Protector stereotype), and this will get all the females buying one. I think it's a little cheap. But, the markedroids have got to have something to keep them busy, I suppose.

    OK I'm thinking about this way too much. Off to finish finals...

    • BTW what's the point of having a gender associated with a robot? I don't think Robots have need of those characteristics, or sex for that matter. Well, maybe Infrared port sex. Or maybe Seriel port....yeah...

      There is more to gender than sex, or sexual function. There are differences between the sexes that are unrelated to sexual function, such as men's tendancy to better spacial perception, or woman's greater tendancy to sociability. What many people of both sexes seem to forget is that 'equality' is not

  • HK-47 (Score:2, Funny)

    by theMerovingian ( 722983 )

    Only you quivering meatbags worry about such things.

  • Sex != gender (Score:5, Interesting)

    by slashd'oh ( 234025 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:10AM (#9072933) Homepage
    An important distinction to be made is that sex is not gender. Sex should be used only when referring to the biological nature of the object in question, whereas gender refers to a set of socially-constructed rules governing the objects behavior in society. To quote Everything2 [everything2.com]: "In anthropology gender is the accepted way to refer to a set of behaviors/beliefes often related to physical sex traits. You can have a gender that is different from your biological sex, if your culture premits."
    • mod parent up!

      of course, one can also have gender traits which vary from one's sex even if culture does not "permit".

      i keep thinking of stewie on "the family guy". hehe.
    • Thank you I was looking for this comment, had to scroll a ways down.

      Sex is biological, although it'd be acceptable to refer to a robot's sex only as it's physical characteristics (anatomically correct robots)

      Gender is how the robot acts, dresses, talks, etc. A good word to use for gender is feminine/masculine if you don't want to confuse it with sex. Furthermore masculine/feminine's definitions varies from culture to culture. The modern American female has a completely different gender role to a feudal

    • Icelandic (Score:3, Interesting)

      by oneiros27 ( 46144 )
      If my memory of my class in Medieval Literature is correct, the Icelandic people had two terms that had a similar connotation to gender that were used to refer to people, but were closer to 'strong' and 'weak'.

      So an an improper translation, a female leader might be refered to as 'he', while an elderly male might be refered to as 'she'.

      But in today's context, I think my brother's gone out with women who were more masculine than he was.

  • Neither (Score:3, Funny)

    by CleverNickedName ( 644160 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:11AM (#9072943) Journal
    For reliability reasons, I prefer machines based on eunuchs.
  • Since selling "sex" was one of the first profitable "businesses" on the 'net, it would make perfect sense for robots to go there too.

    Are we going to have people cross-dressing robots to camouflage their sexual preferences?

    Would having sex with an anotomically correct robot be cheating on your spouse? (or is that just masturbation?)

    Gives new meaning to "Brave New World"!

  • Why, they're... (Score:5, Funny)

    by diesel66 ( 254283 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:22AM (#9073027)
    Unix, of course!

    (sayonara karma)

  • I want my robot to be... robotic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pubjames ( 468013 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:26AM (#9073072)

    I want my robot to be... robotic

    Seriously. I can't be the only one that finds it really annoying when my Windows XP machine modifies the way it behaves because it is guessing what I want to do. It's damn irritating. Or when it suggests I might want to clean icons off my desktop, or whatever.

    I do not want my robot to start cleaning things I haven't told it to clean. Or comment on the fact that it's a nice day. Or try to be funny or cute. Just do as I say. You're a frickin' machine.
    • It's a fine line between "helpful" and "annoying". For example, I would love an intelligent house robot that automatically found my keys in an odd place, moved them to where they belonged, and remembered that they moved them. If I asked "Hey, have you seen my keys?" the robot would be able to remember.

      Likewise, if I tell the robot, "Please don't move my keys again" it should be able to honor that request.

      Ultimately, however, (and this was pointed out in the article) gender in robots WILL be a major fact
  • "Most people realize that fundamentally there's nothing going on inside the silicon except the cold calculation of ones and zeros"

    Guess he's not running AMD then?
  • "Humans dating robots is sick. You people wonder why I'm still single? It's 'cos all the fine robot sisters are datin' humans"

  • Conclusion (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Pan T. Hose ( 707794 )
    After reading all of the above comments with sincere interestedness, I inevitably came to the following conclusion: we need to get laid. All of us. Otherwise the entire robotics industry might soon become nothing more but a robofetishistic sex shop for sick perverted deviants. Seriously.
  • Hell yeah! I will only obey a shiny metal fem-bot! :)
  • I'm sure in the future when robots integrate more easily with our lives and it becomes natural to interact with them perhaps "sex" of the robot will become important for sales, but determining the sex of a Roomba? Come on, thats ridiculous.

    And I'm not really sure we need to determine the sex of a robot that has, dum dum DUUUUMM mastered stairs. An impressive achievement true, but not sex assignment worthy.
  • What can I say? I have a definite preference => the best of both worlds! Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? -- Jeanette ;>
  • Man, this looks like we are seeing (yet another) Isaac Asimov's Book: The Robots of Dawn.

    AFAIR, there was two robots that looked like humans, and one woman used one as a "boyfriend" (in the biblical sense). No one knew about that, except the guy who was inspecting the case. In the background, a lot of people in that planet (it was a "not so large" one, and a few humans lived there, with lots of robots working as servants) imagined that "that" could be happening in a big house, with a woman and a robot that

  • femail, dah (Score:3, Funny)

    by smatt-man ( 643849 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:53AM (#9073382)
    That's an easy one... Good robots are expensive to build, take a lot of maintenance to keep them happy, and frequent trips to the store.
    That sounds like a woman to me. And no, I am not single...
  • You see, I have one of those Epson Female Printers [slashdot.org] and everytime I buy a heterosexual male robot, it keeps trying to "interface" with my printer...
  • I seem to recall Anton LaVey forecasting (ie guessing) that a huge industry will develop to produce lifelike humanoid robot slaves, so that instead of wasting our time and energy trying to interact with other people who don't share our sensibilities or views, we'll all be able to gain instant gratification from a robot programmed to respond in the manner that pleases us most.

    Not that anyone reading Slashdot would want to disengage from human society and take solace with a bunch of anthropomorphic circui

  • For talking robots it might be unavoidable (Score:4, Informative)

    by leob ( 154345 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @10:55AM (#9074205)
    In some languages some constructs bear the mark of the speaker's gender; e.g. in Russian there is no way to say anything in the past or present perfect tense without revealing your gender: "I (male) have said" is "Ya skazal", but "I (female) have said" is "Ya skazala". To assign a gender to a talking robot is therefore a necessity.

  • Omnipresence of gender (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Khelder ( 34398 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @11:06AM (#9074324)
    Many of you may have read this already, but if you haven't, I highly recommend The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. I found its take on gender and how it impacts all aspects of our relationships to be really interesting. And it's a good story, too.

  • Transgenders: more than meets the eye (Score:3, Funny)

    by randomaxe ( 673239 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @11:56AM (#9074945)
    I've already conclusively proven that male robots cannot handle gender-conversion.

    I removed my robot's nuts, and it just totally fell apart.

  • Gender and Sex (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CustomDesigned ( 250089 ) <stuart@gathman.org> on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:27PM (#9079905) Homepage Journal
    In "Perelandra", C.S. Lewis makes the suggestion that gender is a fundamental reality, of which biological sex is an imperfect reflection. For instance, even the Eldila - alien beings who do not reproduce - have gender. If that is true, then assigning gender to a robot makes perfect sense.

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