How to Apply Asimov's First Law to Sex Robots

Description

Sex robots may be surfacing in recent controversy, but they are certainly not a novelty.
In the last years, the trend towards their manufacture and trade has sparked off a lively academic debate, where David Levy’s generally positive perspective on their effects upon society have been challenged by the precautionary prohibition supported by prof. Kathleen Richardson, who rather envisages the perpetuation of gender inequalities.
At present, both lines of argumentation seem unsatisfactory because, while being grounded on matters of principle, they disregard any legal reasoning based on fundamental rights, which must be considered as the cornerstone of every inquiry, given their role of society’s essence and foundation.
As a result, the paper aims at examining the balancing of the fundamental rights involved in the sex robots’ manufacture and usage, taking Asimov’s first law as the main starting point and with an eye to a future law-making process.
Given the lack of legal literature in this field, the paper firstly opts for a multidisciplinary approach, where up-to-date findings from ethics, psychology and sociology are chosen to better understand and define the sex robots’ phenomenon and the following legal implications. Later, the ethical dilemma enshrined in Asimov’s first law is developed on grounds of the equality principle and the legal notions of moral and existential damages. Finally, a desk research is carried out by analogy with similar thorny issues - such as the regulation of pornography, sex toys and violent games – to further develop the meaning and content of the involved fundamental rights, i.e. the user’s sexual freedom, as well as his right to privacy and health v. the women’s human dignity and right to equality.
All these analyses are actually meant to support the balancing mechanism, which attributes values to these competing fundamental rights, while limiting their content and respecting their essence. Despite its traditional use by constitutional and supranational courts, the balancing mechanism is used in this field as an innovative tool, able respect the underpinning precautionary principle and to address the current societal concerns.
In conclusion, opposing the user’s claims to the women’s entitlements, the balancing result effectively limits the former and is utterly contrary to David Levy’s stand. Nonetheless, this restriction does not amount to a denial through administrative or criminal prohibitions, as envisaged by prof. Kathleen Richardson; rather, such findings will usher sex robots in a new era, where policy makers might decide to step in and take them as a starting point for further regulation grounded on fundamental rights. Furthermore, the same reasoning could be used to relaunch sex robots on the market, following a counternarrative which places in the women’s hands their sexuality and representation.

Period	2 Jul 2019
Event title	4th International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots
Event type	Conference
Location	Brussels, BelgiumShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International