Okay, this isn't strictly relevant, but it's clearly the hottest technology story of the week: artificial intelligence researcher David Levy has told Live Science that humans will be having sex with robots within 45 years. And it won't just be about sex - from the news piece:
My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots.
Levy and other AI experts draw our attention to current robot companions such as Aibo, as well as lifesize realistic sex-dolls positing that these two factors will one day merge in the form of authentic humanoid simulcrums, both amiable and shaggable.
It made me wonder what the games of 2050 will be like (there, I sort of made it relevant in the end). I mean, in a world where you're able to form intimate relationships with a presumably programmable entity, it is utterly unlikely you'll be using a physical peripheral to control an interactive experience on a 2D screen.
My money's on biomechanical interfacing (a la Existenz or Strange Days). Or nanobot-manipulated reality. Any ideas?
