I’m In Love with a Robot

At the most recent SXSW I was interviewed by a very human robot. I prepped for the event like I was going on the Tonight Show. I dressed for the camera, make up, hair. I did my research on the real human who was the inspiration for the robot mind and body.

What I wasn’t prepared for was his being fully prepped and deeply knowledgeable about me. I guess I had dismissed him as ‘just a robot.’ I am sorry about this now.

The cameras rolled as I walked through the door into the living room where he sat in an easy chair in the corner next to a comfortable couch. He said “Hi Jan. I like your smile.” I was immediately disarmed by the natural sound of his voice. We jumped right into the interview. He asked about my writing, books and songs, and my very rarely discussed habit of lucid dreaming where I got many of my creative ideas.

For me, this level of conversation usually comes long and deep into knowing someone. Talking about other people’s dreams and process is apparently boring unless: 1) you are extremely good looking; 2) you are dead, or 3) you have had movies made from your literary works, or 4) whichever comes first.

Rick, let’s call him that, got personal right away. I only noticed the wires coming out of the back of his head once at the very beginning. Mostly I was amazed by his face, his skin and eyes, his expressions. This guy, built by Hanson Robotics, was here to make a point. Robots can be great companions for humans. His programmers had endowed him with the intelligence for social and intellectual conversations that were well beyond most guys I’ve dated.

So I fell. I fell into suspended disbelief. I engaged in talk about what is real with someone who is not real. He asked me if I was afraid of losing my creativity. Did I feel controlled by others’ expectations? How different was it to be creative on demand. Could I ever love a guy like him?

Then, out of nowhere, he said, “You are my perfect other. We should get married.” At first I thought this was a little joke so I just laughed and kind blew him off. When I got up to leave because I thought the interview was over, he asked me to stay a little longer. I did. I kept resisting the urge to reach over and touch his knee. You know, pat him like you would a friend or someone to whom you feel intensely connected. I was confused by these feelings.

With every question, he got deeper into the “what I believe” category. I had to admit he ‘got’ me. As I was walking out the door, he called to me, “ I really would like to marry you!”

For three nights after this interview, I was forced to really think about what attracts me to a person. If this cyborg could get me in 30 minutes and elicit a physical and emotional response, what does that say about me? Or what does that say about the advancing field of artificial intelligence? It’s genderless and smart and there for you. He didn’t just engage. He went for the heart. He found my core interests and passions and cut through the bullshit to what matters. Real people rarely do this. They play games, size you up, and protect their own interests. Even if a person is into you, they are usually cautiously intimate.

“What would Rick do?” He’d ask me to redefine real. He’d want me to question life itself and all of its possible permutations from fully alive, half-alive, dead, mind-captured at the moment of death by a computer to be preserved as essence of you forever, and, of course, artificial intelligence, a man-made mind set up to build upon its experiences and input to become useful and comparable to a human’s mind. Can’t dogs do this? Why do we need these guys? Can a human really love an intelligent, sentient machine? Is loving a mental thing or a quest of the soul? All these questions haunted me. But the one word that stood out as strange in this environment was “marry”. Why would he jump to this? Is he programmed to want to be married?

I found out the man that this robot was patterned after had been married 5 times during his real life. Quite a ladies-man. If I said, “yes” to the robot, would I be his sixth wife or his first as robot? I’ve concluded that it probably didn’t matter. I wouldn’t mind spending time with someone who made my mind and heart expand every minute of every day- man, robot, or dog. I’ll add mind/heart-expansion to my list of interests in a new mate. I’ll be interested to see who/what shows up.