It Had To Be You

That song is stuck in my head. It started last night, after beginning Lifehouse!

Quote: "Lifehouse" by Pete Townshend with Jeff YoungIntroduction, Page 19:
"... I believe that in the future, all machines will be made of flesh.
And for good measure, they will sigh, swoon and sing when polished. In
twenty years a beautiful cyborg with a body of genuine flesh will walk down
Oxford Street with her arms outstretched saying, '... come to the Lifehouse,
your song is here.' "

signed: Pete Townshend, October 8th 1999 (my 43rd birthday!)

Okay, the fact that the page was signed on my birthday drew me in thicker
than fruitflies to soft cantaloupe. It was one of those moments that creates a
banging collision of weird in your head. A little tire screech action, ala Fred
Flintstone and his Rockmobile. I had already been drawn to the Lifehouse
concept long ago, but having the actual book in my hands was dream fruition.

Now, just a few days ago, here is the article that popped up:

from Live Science 12 Oct 2007
Charles Q. Choi
Sex and marriage with robots? It could happen. Robots soon will become more human-like in appearance, researcher says.

"My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots," artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands told LiveScience. Levy recently completed his Ph.D. work on the subject of human-robot relationships, covering many of the privileges and practices that generally come with marriage as well as outside of it...."

"The idea of romance between humanity and our artistic and/or mechanical creations dates back to ancient times, with the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalion falling in love with the ivory statue he made named Galatea, to which the goddess Venus eventually granted life."

"This notion persists in modern times. Not only has science fiction explored this idea, but 40 years ago, scientists noticed that students at times became unusually attracted to ELIZA, a computer program designed to ask questions and mimic a psychotherapist."

"There's a trend of robots becoming more human-like in appearance and coming more in contact with humans," Levy said. "At first robots were used impersonally, in factories where they helped build automobiles, for instance. Then they were used in offices to deliver mail, or to show visitors around museums, or in homes as vacuum cleaners, such as with the Roomba. Now you have robot toys, like Sony's Aibo robot dog, or Tickle Me Elmos, or digital pets like Tamagotchis."

In his thesis, "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," Levy conjectures that robots will become so human-like in appearance, function and personality that many people will fall in love with them, have sex with them and even marry them.

"It may sound a little weird, but it isn't," Levy said. "Love and sex with robots are inevitable."

A little??

"Levy argues that psychologists have identified roughly a dozen basic reasons why people fall in love, "and almost all of them could apply to human-robot relationships. For instance, one thing that prompts people to fall in love are similarities in personality and knowledge, and all of this is programmable. Another reason people are more likely to fall in love is if they know the other person likes them, and that's programmable too."

I'm just gonna let PT do the legwork:

"...There once was a note, listen" ~ Pete Townshend

Scene twenty-eight, pp 126-127

Ray: I think I have to leave you here.
Caretaker: I knew this was coming.
Ray: Maybe we'll meet again.
Caretaker: It was like being in a road movie.
Ray: Which one?
Caretaker: One of the Bing and Bobs.
Ray: You're ridiculous.
Caretaker : Yes...
Ray: Say take care...