We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Thus, Nerd Nite is a monthly event held in nearly 100 cities across the globe during which several folks give 18-21-minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along. Imagine learning about everything from math feuds or the science of the Simpsons, to the genealogy of Godzilla or debunking beer myths, while having a few or a few too many.
The Nerd Nite Podcast on CBS’ new Play It network brings the live experience of our in-person events for your aural pleasure, so feel free to have a drink or two while listening – just as long as you aren’t driving and are of age!
Every episode features a new guest from a different Nerd Nite city around the world. This episode features Beth Phillips with the presentation, “Robot Intimacy: The Inevitable Leap Between Love and Sex with Robots”
Episode description:
Robots are undergoing a transformation in society, from fulfilling roles as dissociative tools to roles as our partners and collaborators. Drawing on what we know about the current direction of robotic design as well as human attachment, it’s easy to predict that one day we will have loving, intimate relationships with our mechanical friends. Nerd Nite Orlando co-boss Ricardo Williams interviews Elizabeth “Beth” Phillips, a doctoral candidate in the Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology PhD program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, to discuss the future of human-robot relations and why envisioning a world in which people fall in love with artificial beings is not as far-fetched as it may seem. Phillips is currently working on her dissertation in human-robot interaction and her research focuses on enabling effective teamwork between humans and robots of the future. She has an interest in how robots and other technologies are changing the way.
Listen here and learn about love and sex with robots: http://www1.play.it/audio/nerd-nite/robot-intimacy-the-inevitable-leap-between-love-and-sex-with-robots/