"Because there's this fascination with all things technological I think people could buy into these objects if they're not regulated and they could become more normalised in our culture - and I think once that happens that will really be the end of humanity, I tell you."
Professor Kathleen Richardson is one of the main interviewees in the project who provides a strong opposition to sex robot production.
Kathleen Richardson is a Professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI at Demontfort University, and her research mainly focuses on humanistic anthropology. Kathleen Richardson set up the Campaign Against Sex Robots in 2015.
The Campaign Against Sex Robots is a non-for-profit organisation which is actively against the development of robotic technologies that objectify women.
Kathleen Richardson is hoping that by the year 2050 the commercial sex trade (including the sales of sex robots) is abolished, and that we are living in a society "that's organised around cicil relations between human beings."
Although my entire interview with Kathleen Richardson was fascinating, she touched on various topics and ethical viewpoints that were not able to make the final edit. Hear them all below:
Alienated men in society
Here Kathleen Richardson discredits Dr Ian Pearson's future predictions. Kathleen Richardson states that no extraordinary technology has to exist within a machine in order for it to be called a 'robot', therefore what will be arriving in stores will be a "vulgar, crude, mechanical puppetry."
Kathleen Richardson not only believes that sex robots are objectifying women, but that sex robots feed into the notion that the commercial sex trade industry alienates men and deeply affects the interpersonal relationships between human beings.
A look to the future...
Looking ahead to the future, Kathleen Richardson calls for the abolishment of the sex trade industry, and hopes to see a society that thrives of civil relationships.
Through open letters that have been written by The Campaign Against Sex Robots, there is the hope that grassroots organisations will offer their support to see the regulation of sex robots within the law. The open letters are soon to be translated into various other languages and so far 20 organisations have already signed the open letter.
Kathleen Richardson, however, goes a step further by stating that she wishes to see the complete abolishment of sex robots within the law.
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