Robot brothels will soon become socially acceptable as research shows that most people think it is morally acceptable to have sex with robots if you are single.
However, the university of Helsinki study found that having sex with a robot was unacceptable to most respondents.
Academic Mika Koverol investigated the ethics of hundreds of people about sex and relationships and will present his findings at the international conference on robot love and sex in Montana.
In two separate studies, Koverol asked respondents to rate the morality and behavior of characters in science fiction, according to new scientist magazine.
The main characters are male, female, single or married, and the plot is set for 2035.
He or she travels to a European city and decides to visit a brothel, where two signs appear above the door.
“You can’t tell a real human that this is a robot brothel,” read one sign. Another sign reads: “all our prostitutes are real people.”
The characters pay for undefined services in both situations and then ask the respondents how they feel about the situation.
In general, people blame married people for hiring prostitutes.
Respondents with more sexual experience were more tolerant of the idea of going to a brothel, robot or not. Women were more critical.
The head of a “smart” sex doll made in dongguan
A worker assembles a stainless steel skeleton for a Chinese “smart” sex doll
The survey also asked people how much they disliked morality, sex and bacteria.
Respondents who scored high on the scale of bacterial disgust also tended to think that sex with either a human or a machine is condemned when people are married.
The Finnish study involved two studies involving 172 people and 260 people. Tufts university researcher Thomas Arnold, who has also studied the subject, agrees that people’s attitudes toward sex with robots can make a difference in their relationships.
“It can be a problem for your relationships,” he said. “it seems to be against human morality.”
A worker assembles a doll in guangdong province
His research found that respondents thought having sex with a robot was like having sex with a doll.
Koverola’s study didn’t define what a robot prostitute would look like, but asked people to imagine for themselves whether they had human characteristics.
The basic humanoid robot of the sex robot is capable of holding a conversation, rotating its head and displaying facial expressions.
The city council in Houston, Texas, has blocked robot brothels from opening, but there are plans to build a similar one in California.
However, the owners raised only 1% of the cash they needed through financing.