Intimacy through sex, love, and touch; for most people this is essential to leading a happy human life. The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated social distancing measures have significantly diminished our options for interpersonal intimacy. But the latest technologies could help fulfill our intimate needs.
The intertwining of technology and sexuality isn’t new, but the current pandemic has accelerated the introduction of new technologies like sex robots, tele-dildonics, and remote touch. These technologies aim to enhance, mimic, or replace intimate human interaction, deeply affecting our experiences of intimacy and sexuality.
Are these technologies a physical and moral threat, or a logical next step in our human and technological evolution? We will debate this hot topic with internationally renowned experts Kate Devlin (author of Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots) and Kathleen Richardson (leader of CASR: Campaign Against Sex Robots). The evening will be moderated by Lily Frank (Center for Human Technology Interaction TU/e).
Dr. Kate Devlin is the author of the book Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots (Bloomsbury, 2018). She is a senior lecturer in Social and Cultural Artificial Intelligence at King’s College London, UK. In her work she investigates how people interact with and react to technology, to understand how emerging and future technologies will affect us and the society in which we live in. Her recent research has focused on cognition, sexuality, and intimacy and how these might be incorporated into cognitive systems.
Prof. dr. Kathleen Richardson is a professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots at De Montfort University in the UK, and founder of the Campaign against Sex Robots – a movement to draw attention to problematic effects on new technologies on human relations, and their potential impact to create new layers of inequalities between men and women and adults and children.
This event is organized in collaboration with the TU/e Center for Humans & Technology.
Dutch Technology Week
This event takes place during the Dutch technology Week (DTW). From 31 May – 6 June, DTW invites you to see, feel and experience how promising and challenging world changing technological inventions can be.
Watch this lecture via livestream
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SG & USE registration
You can only register for SG&USE if you watch the entire program live (so not watching it at a later time) and if you complete an online SG&USE registration form within five minutes after the end of the program. Before the program starts, we will explain where and when you can find the link to the registration form. Keep your student ID number at hand, because you'll need to fill it out in the form.
Please make sure your registration is done properly, otherwise we cannot verify that you were present.
More information about SG & USE can be found here.