Humans Could Marry Robots By 2050 — But What About Other Humans?

Marriage equality first. Robot wedlock second.

December 27, 2016 9:00 am

We know lots of people would be down for robot sex, even before Evan Rachel Wood and Alicia Vikander replaced C-3PO as your garden-variety automatons.

But what about robot marriage?

Because it could be legal by 2050.

So asserts David Levy, author of the book Love and Sex with Robots, who recently spoke at a conference of the same name at Goldsmith University in London.

“That might seem outrageous because it’s only 35 years away. But 35 years ago people thought homosexual marriage was outrageous,” said Adrian Cheok, a computing professor at City University London and director of the Mixed Reality Lab in Singapore who also spoke at the conference, according to Quartz. “Until the 1970s, some states didn’t allow white and black people to marry each other. Society does progress and change very rapidly.”

Reality check, Dr. Cheok: some people still believe homosexual and interracial marriage are outrageous, and anyone who denies that is hiding in a liberal bubble or an internet echo chamber.

Collectively, we need to listen to the grievances of those who oppose marriage equality — whether we’re talking about the LGBTQ+ community who have adopted that term or marriages across races and religions — and work to help them understand that the matrimony of two people is not something for one specific religion or political party should get to dictate for an entire nation.

So before we think about the logistics of human-robot marriage, let’s make real, living, breathing, loving humans a priority.

Of course, 50 years from now, don’t be surprised if your grandchildren are similarly lecturing you about some robot friend’s lifestyle choices.  

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