Dating A Robot

When I was a young man and pursuing dates with "suitable females" used to think the dating pool was thin. But after reading a British survey article today about the same subject I think that I may have been lucky compared to today's young mate seekers. New research has found that one in four young people in the UK would happily date a robot. Wow! Technology is even more addictive than even I suspected. But then, I can remember some dates I had who were colder than a robot and about as bright as the light in those automatic light switches.  Oh...and some dates I had looked worse than Rosie the Robot on those old Jetson TV shows.

The only caveats the respondents in that survey gave, was the robot they dated must look like a real live human being.  According to that survey of 18- to 34-year-olds their android beau must also a "perfect match". Hmmm What is a "perfect match" anyway? Anyway, the role of technology shows in the survey because the proportion of young people who are willing to go on a date with a robot is significantly higher than the overall proportion of British adults. Only 17% of whom were willing. In the millennial world it seems their their identities are more and more defined by their reliance on their technological communication.

The real story of this is not that so many young are disillusioned with real members of the opposite sex, but rather that so many say they are willing to find romance with the virtual. For that segment of the population intimacy as we know it is expanding its boundaries into to the non human, non breathing realm. It's frightening to me how easily humans will abandon the concrete for the imaginary.  But the our technology has already shown us that some humans prefer to live in a virtual world.

But wait! The answer to my observation is what those who want robot romance say. They claim  that robot dating is just another opportunity to experience love and affection beyond the physical and into the virtual.  I don't buy it. What about you?