Cure for love: Should people be able to marry robots?

[Nipuna]

ONE of the more outlandish objections to same-sex marriage is that it will open the door to people marrying animals or inanimate objects. This is, of course, nonsense: a marriage is between two adults who want to get hitched, end of story.

In the not-too-distant future, however, the moral anxieties that underpin this claim are likely to resurface in a more realistic form: should people be allowed to marry robots? Technology is improving all the time, and the implications of human-robot relationships are already being fretted over by fundamentalist Christians (see "Creationists turn to robot for ethical guidance" and "Cure for love: Fall for a robot to fend off heartache").

You might argue that the same rule applies: marriage should be between consenting human adults only. But that won't stop people from forming relationships with robots, or cohabiting with them.

It is hard to see wider society accepting such relationships as valid. Perhaps our evolving knowledge of the biology of love – as a brain state mediated by neurochemicals that evolved to increase reproductive success (see "Cure for love: Chemical cures for the lovesick") – will make society more understanding. But the love for a robot may become a love that dare not speak its name.

Read more: "Cure for love: How to fix a broken heart"

This article appeared in print under the headline "Roses are red, robots are...?"