The lifetime prevalence of vibrator use, for example, is approximately 50% for heterosexual-identified women and men in the United States and Germany. So-called sex toys representing human body parts (eg, penis-shaped dildos and vibrators) are widely used and normalized. Embodied technologies such as sex dolls and sex robots should not be overlooked in this context, especially as the popularization of the sexual uses of human-like material artifacts has long since begun. Significant changes in sexual behavior because of digital media and technologies are already well established. One may question the validity of these predictions, but there is no doubt that technological change affecting all areas of life will not leave human sexualities unaffected.
Futurologist Ian Pearson went further by predicting that by 2050, women and men will have more sex with robots than with their conspecifics.
This bold prediction from roboticist David Levy started a debate, now more than a decade after, on the ethics, design, use, and effects of human-like, anatomically correct sex robots and of sex dolls, their noninteractive, immobile precursors. In 2050, it will be perfectly normal for women and men to experience love and sex with robots.
