The verdict is in.
The “Love and Sex with Robots” (LSR 2015) conference, that was slated to be held on 16th November in the Black Box and White Box arts complex in Medini Mall, Johor (right next door to Legoland Malaysia) is illegal.
This was confirmed by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who said that the organiser of the event has been warned not to proceed with it.
A report by The Star Online quotes the IGP as saying that there was nothing scientific about having sex with machines. “It is not our culture. We can take action against the organiser if they choose to hold the event,” he added.
Meanwhile, the LSR 2015 conference’s website has been updated to exclude the “Love and Sex with Robots” title, instead replacing it with simply “LSR”. The previously used logo of Tourism Malaysia’s “Malaysia Year of Festivals 2015” (MYFEST) campaign has also been removed from the front page.
But apparently, the event is still on as they’re still “calling” for registrations:
The previously listed topics (sessions to cover robot emotions, humanoid robots, clone robots, entertainment robots, robot personalities, teledildonics, intelligent electronic sex hardware, robot personalities, roboethics, and more) have also been removed.
Meanwhile, co-chair of the event, City University London Prof Adrian David had on Saturday clarified that the workshop was not intended to promote any form of sexual relationship between humans and machines.
He was also quoted saying that the workshop was 1/4 that were scheduled to be held during the Advances in Computer Entertainment Conference (ACE 2015).
Source: The Star Online.
