by David Levy
* See also the section “Attachment and Love,” page 26.
† For those readers with some interest in AI, this is not the John McCarthy from Stanford University who coined the term “artificial intelligence” in 1955 but the applied psychologist from University College, Cork.
* Bill Yeager points out that for masochists enchantment could involve a sense of pain and that many hackers fit into this category, because programming, solving tough problems, and fixing programming bugs are perceived by some as painful yet enjoyable.
* In line with his comment in the previous footnote, Yeager draws a parallel with the “dark side” of computing that attracts some people—those annoyances experienced when your computer hardware misbehaves, when your Internet connection fails for some reason, when pop-up advertisements appear when you least want them to, when your e-mail experience is harassed by spam or disrupted by a virus. These are irritations for most of us but provide a source of masochistic pleasure, thrill, joy, and apprehension for some.
* This was a game of “speed” chess, in which each player has only a few minutes to make all their moves.
* Bill Yeager makes the interesting observation that many of the remarks made about computers, such as Stean’s, are inadvertent (i.e., subconscious) and knee-jerk reactions, and that eventually the dividing line between the human and robot species might become so fine that the idea of anthropomorphism, as it relates to robots, will disappear altogether.
* I find the use of the term “mindless” in their paper to be most unfortunate in the connotations of stupidity that it suggests. The authors adopt “mindlessness” from a 1992 paper by Ellen Langer, where “subconscious” would in my view be far more appropriate. Where I paraphrase extracts of Nass and Moon’s fascinating paper, I have therefore replaced “mindless” with “subconscious.”
* Use of the word “computer” here implies a combination of a computer and its software.
* For example, the dominant/submissive computer experiment discussed in the section “Robot Personalities and Their Influence on Relationships,” page 132.
* They define the anthropomorphism of computers as a belief that computers are essentially human, a considerably stronger connection than that usually implied by the use of the word.
† Evidence for this phenomenon can be found in chapter 1, in the “Similarity” subsection of “Ten Causes of Falling in Love,” page 38.
* See the previous section.
† The games required the human subjects to make a binary choice at each move—for example, zero or one, heads or tails. The computer program would try to guess what choice was coming next. The humans tried to fool the computer program by varying their choosing strategy.
‡ The software “knows” in the sense that you and I know something, by remembering. That the software can readily be perceived by us as knowing something is a prime example of how you and I anthropomorphize computers. I could have written, more precisely, “The software stores the knowledge that…,” but there is no need to be pedantic, since it is already generally accepted that computers “know” whatever it is that is stored in their computer memories. I’m grateful to Bill Yeager for pointing out that I am as guilty as anyone of anthropomorphizing in this way.
* It would perhaps be useful to remind the reader that throughout this book, when discussing any aspect of human-computer interaction, I employ the word “computer” to mean the combination of the computer hardware (the box, screen, keyboard, and mouse) with whatever software it is running. Here, for example, what the user is actually trusting is the software with which the user is interacting. But because the user sees the computer, feels the keyboard and the mouse, and because it is the computer that displays and possibly speaks the output generated by the software, while the software itself is invisible, the user talks about their interaction as being with the computer rather than the computer-software combination.
* Chapter 10.
* See the section “Emotions in Humans and in Robots,” page 118.
† This applies when talking to extroverts, but no effect has been found in conversations with introverts.
‡ “Expert systems” as the name suggests, are computer-based systems that incorporate human expertise, usually in the form of the “rules” that human experts employ when making judgments and recommendations. It has been found that users of such systems place more trust in a system’s decision-making capabilities if the system explains its thinking to the user by referring to or describing the rules it employed when making a particular decision.
* The name is a diminutive form of the Japanese word tamago (egg) and is thus intended to convey the idea of a lovable egg.
† The heyday of the original Tamagotchi was the second half of 1997. A new version was launched in the summer of 2005.
‡ Liquid crystal display.
* Volume 13, page 483.
* Ethology is a study of animals in their natural surroundings.
† At www.aibo.com.
* Chatterbot (or chatbot) is the generic name of the ELIZA-like programs that can carry on a conversation, appearing always to understand the user’s previous utterance while in fact understanding absolutely nothing.
* Emotional intelligence is defined by Daniel Goleman, the originator of the concept, as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.”
* An early form of computer keyboard.
* See also the section “On Anthropomorphism,” page 74.
* Referred to by its designers as a “deliberative layer.”
† Text-to-speech is a speech-synthesis technology that allows the software to say any word, based on its spelling and its assumed pronunciation. It is not therefore limited only to a fixed, preprogrammed vocabulary.
* Philosophers have been debating various arguments on this topic since the 1950s at least. One prominent philosopher, Sidney Hook, observed in 1959 that when robots claim they have feelings, our acceptance of their claims will depend on “whether they look like and behave like other people we know.” This argument is very similar to the one presented here.
† In 1950, Turing asked this question in his famous paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” arguably the most important publication in the history of artificial intelligence.
* This muscle is called zygomaticus major.
† This muscle is corrugator supercilii.
* The sixth emotion proposed by Ekman, disgust, was not felt appropriate for the type of interactions that Feelix’s designers expected humans to have with the robot.
* The autonomic nervous system is that part of the vertebrate nervous system that regulates involuntary action—for example, the actions of the intestines, the heart, and the glands.
* See page 32.
* In the case of a relationship dyad, the word “all” relates, of course, to both partners in the relationship.
* This task requires the participants to imagine themselves as copilots of a plane that has crash-landed in the desert and to decide on the order of importance of twelve objects that might help in their survival, such as a quart of water and a flashlight. Each participant in a pair (in this case one computer and one human) exchanges their initial rankings with the partner and discusses each object. These discussions enable experimental psychologists to measure the assertiveness of each participant.
* The personality of each of the human subjects was tested for dominance and submissiveness using a standard personality test commonly employed by psychologists.
* Among the names most often associated with this research are Christoph Bartneck in the Netherlands at Eindoven University of Technology, Cynthia Brezeal at MIT, Lola Cañamaro at the University of Hertfordshire in England, and Sara Kiesler and Illah Nourbakhsh at Carnegie Mellon University.
†September 1, 2004.
‡ December 20, 2005.
* Jong Hwan-Kim was the origi
nator of the robot soccer competitions that have become enormously popular within the electronics and software communities as an intercollegiate and intercorporate sport.
* For a little more on robot reproduction, see the footnote on page 188.
† Homeostasis is a creature’s ability or tendency to maintain internal equilibrium by adjusting its physiological processes.
* See the section “Robot Personalities and Their Influence on Relationships,” page 132.
* See the section “Designing Robot Personalities,” pages 136–40.
* See the section “Attachment and Relationships with Objects,” page 65.
* The robot’s preset parameters will doubtless include a “polygamy” option, to cater to those religions and cultures in which monogamous relationships are not the norm.
* The Ethnographic Atlas has data on 1,231 societies studied during the period 1960–80, of which only 186 were monogamous societies, while 453 had occasional polygyny (in which a man has more than one female sexual partner simultaneously), 588 had more frequent polygyny, and 4 had polyandry (in which a woman has more than one male sexual partner simultaneously). Since the nonmonogamous societies are in general much smaller than the monogamous ones in terms of population, these statistics do not indicate that monogamy is the status of the minority of the world’s population. Far from it.
† See chapter 8.
* One exception that I do not believe will be eroded, and for very good reasons, is the issue of consent. In my view it should always be an essential prerequisite that the partners in a marriage should agree to it and should be legally considered competent to make such an agreement.
* See the discussion on similarity in chapter 1 (page 38).
* See the section “Robot Recognition of Human Emotions,” page 124.
* DigiScents.
† Trisenx (www.trisenx.com), the French company Exhalia (www.exhalia.com), SAV Products of California (www.savproducts.com), and an (as-yet-anonymous) Israeli company all appear to have similar technology.
* David Cope, at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has developed a program called EMI (Experiments in Musical Intelligence) that composes music in the style of Mozart, Chopin, or Scott Joplin, among others. And another California professor, Harold Cohen, has developed AARON, a drawing and painting program whose talents include controlling a robot that can wield paintbrushes with skill and even knows when the paint pot is running dry.
* “Mainframe” was the term used for large, powerful computers that often served many connected terminals and were usually installed at large organizations.
* An excellent and often updated source on the topic of humanoids is the Web site Historical Android Projects at www.androidworld.com.
* A good way to stay abreast of the latest in robotic achievements and capabilities is to visit the Web site of the American Association of Artificial Intelligence at www.aaai.org/AITopics/html/robots.html and select the “General Index by Topic to AI in the News.”
* This fetish also goes under the name “agalmatophilia.”
* See the introduction, page 3.
* The glands located on either side of the vaginal orifice that secrete a lubricating mucus.
† This translation of pages 247–53 of Schwaeblé’s book is by John Sugden.
* In fact Hoffman and Bolton employed the range 1 to 5, but here the numbers have been converted to the scale 0 to 4 for ease of comparison with Leigh’s results.
* The scores in Table 4 have been converted, for ease of comparison, from the scale of 1 to 9, as used by Deborah Davis and her colleagues, to the scale of 0 to 4 as in Tables 2 and 3. Table 4 is presented in descending order of the mean scores from male and female respondents.
* The idea of human-robot procreation is not as ludicrous as it first appears. In Robots Unlimited, I describe some of the self-reproducing robots that have already been created by scientists at Brandeis University, robots that can design and build other robots, including exact replicas of themselves. My description includes the explanation that in future decades a robot will have the capacity to find certain characteristics in its human owner appealing and to design those characteristics into the next robot that it builds.
* For example, Kim Binsted’s program JAPE, which creates puns.
* See page 163.
* Lars O. Ericsson, in a 1980 article in the journal Ethics 90.
† Die Prostitution in Berlin und ihre Opfer.
* In 1944 and 1948.
† The dust jacket of his memoires, Gentlemen for Rent, proclaims that his service in New York was launched with the blessing of a host of celebrities, including Lucius Beebe, Maury Paul, Walter Winchell, Danton Walker, and Louis Sobol, and that in London he was “sponsored by the Duke of Kent.”
* Shown as part of the BBC’s Under the Sun series on December 15, 1997, watched by an estimated 4.8 million viewers.
* November 8, 2002.
* Sometimes there is indeed a desire to marry, as that will often provide the man with a First World passport and therefore an exit from his Third World poverty, and sometimes the woman will return to the same vacation spot and to the same man, eventually sending him a plane ticket so that she can import him to her own country.
* And for those men who wish to take up heterosexual prostitution as a career, and to learn the tricks of the trade, there is an online gigolo school called Gigolo International that will doubtless teach you everything you need to know. The site advertises membership for $49.95, with the news that “Modern upscale (working) women are always busy and have become more emancipated regarding paid (erotic) company. This could be a dinner-date, a short business-trip or even a fully paid vacation! These women need a man to share quality time without troubles afterwards and they will gladly pay for the right services. Did you ever dream of becoming Gigolo? This could be your first step into a whole new lifestyle! The members-section contains: Gigolo’s tricks of the trade; How to become an independent Gigolo; Independent Gigolo promotional tools; The Ultimate Gigolo; Exclusive discount for members; Increase your female-contact skills; New tips and updates every month; Earn additional TOP$$ with our unique referral-program.”
* The Hanky Panky School inspired a delightful parody of the same idea in India, in a March 31, 2005, article by Sidhi Chadh in the Hindustan Times, entitled “Now Learn Prostitution in School.” It commenced, “A Diploma in Sex Trade? That will be among the several qualifications on offer when a government-sponsored school for prostitutes opens in the capital on Friday. The move to encourage sex workers who are fully trained in their craft comes just days after the U.S. threatened to impose sanctions unless the administration did something to regulate the flesh trade in the country.” The article also explains that “the girls will learn everything from seduction to handling finances. Besides giving the girls useful tips about sex, we will also tell them how to seduce clients and extract maximum money.”
† Of course, there might be robot prostitutes, for johns who lack the resources or the inclination to purchase a sexual robot for use at home, and if there are robot prostitutes, then there will also be robot brothels, staffed by robots for the benefit of humans.
* Attending these programs wipes out the record of the participant’s arrest, thereby ensuring that almost all those who are arrested for attempting to hire prostitutes in these three jurisdictions take up the offer of attending a johns school.
† A survey conducted among 3,422 respondents between February and October 1992 across all fifty states of the United States.
* And given that most men who employ the services of prostitutes do not suffer any loss of self-esteem for doing so, it seems reasonable to assume that most men who use sex robots will similarly not suffer from an undue loss of self-esteem.
* Carmen Caldas-Coulthard.
† The reason given by the tenth woman was that her husband wanted her to do it (while he watched).
‡ The names of the women were, of course, changed for public
ation.
* Other reasons given by Ryan’s clients in these interviews are: “He’s very inventive sexually, and that’s why I keep seeing him—it’s always fun, it’s always something new” (i.e., the variety motive); “I find it quite exciting to pay for it. I find that quite sexy”; and “They’ve got to have something, a spark, and a big penis as well.”
* At www.icasa.co.uk.
† Causes that originate in the mind or in mental or emotional processes, rather than being of a physiological nature.
* “Paroxysm” was a term formerly employed for “orgasm.”
* A second-century Greek physician, the most famous physician in the Roman Empire.
† An eleventh-century Persian physician.
‡ Gradus, also known as Giovanni Matteo Ferrari da Gradi, was a fifteenth-century Italian physician.
* Hammers.
* A hard rubber.
* Granville’s book has an unfortunate typographical error here—the word is printed as “males,” though the text makes it quite clear that he intended it to be “females.”
† “Mimetic disease” (a psychological complaint associated with mimicry) is a term often found linked to “hysteria” in nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century medical writings.
* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration—the body responsible for controlling all things medical that are sold in the United States.
† The entire affidavit is available at http://www.libidomag.com/nakedbrunch/ maines.html.
* See the next section, “The Popularity of Vibrators: Orgasms on Demand.”
* Twenty-seven percent of all those who responded to the 2004 Durex Global Sex Survey and answered its question on the ownership of vibrators said that they did own a vibrator or an intimate massager. The figure was even higher in both the age groups from twenty-five to thirty-four and forty-five-plus, with more than one-third of respondents being owners. The survey also found, not surprisingly, that vibrators are more popular with women than with men but did not address the question of how many of the male owners used their vibrators on themselves and how many reserved their use for female partners. And as to which countries were shown by the survey to have achieved the highest market penetration for this product category, Iceland led the way with 52 percent of those surveyed, followed by Norway with 50 percent, the United Kingdom with 49, the United States and Sweden both 43, Australia 42, Denmark 41, and China 40 percent. (The lowest usage was found to be in Thailand and Vietnam, with 6 percent and 5 percent respectively.) The statistic for the United States is broadly in line with the results of a survey among more than 1,600 American women, conducted by Knowledge Networks, an independent polling and market-research firm in California. Their survey results were published by the Berman Center and indicated that 51 percent of women in the age group twenty-five to thirty-four had used a vibrator, reducing to between 41 and 46 percent in most other age groups and to 32 percent in the fifty-five to sixties.