In Japan, posters kiss you.

Are we ever going to get any closure on that? I know the big secret revealed in MoM, but we don't see Calvin Scott again afterwards.

That is nothing. There are companies in the world that make life sized "friendly" companion type dolls that people "interact" with and have been for years.

Not surprisingly the Japanese have been at the forefront of many of these particular "innovations".

As soon as they come up with robot companions that actually move/function/have a mute switch, the human race will die out.

DON'T DATE ROBOTS!

LOL, that very well may be true. However, in the case I referred too on HBO in the US it was an American company that made them. Not really a surprise considering the businesses located in the San Fernando Valley and the fact that is the "capital" afterall lol.

One of the dudes on the show "married" his non-human "friend" and openly discussed his "marriage" in detail. It was like I was watching some bad futuristic type movies gone bad. Very disturbing actually.

Yeah I think I've actually seen shows on things like what you're talking about. It is a little weird/freakish at this point, but the closer we get to fully functioning human-like robots there are going to be more cases like this. Heck people are already trying to marry pets and buildings, how much longer will it be considered "strange" to be marrying perfectly modeled human-looking artificial beings?

Again for what it's worth the Japanese will probably be doing that first.

First, it will be strange to me til I die but the newer generations are increasingly into it so not long.

Next, the market here for that kind of "interaction" in the US out strips many other nations combined as it's a multi-billion dollar deal all originating out here in San Fernando Valley, California.

The American 'dolls' are probably leading the way in what they are doing. But it's the Japanese who are not only a world leader in robotics but they already have cultural leanings towards accepting artificial/inanimate objects as things that humans can acceptably "interact" with.

Let's just say I believe that the cultural shift towards accepting these kinds of things will not only be a young/old thing but a societal thing as far as being more easily accepted in Japan before places like North America or Europe.

The Japanese do and are going to continue to make the best dolls no doubt but the Americans are going to dominate the consumers just like they do now. Specifically concerning certain "interactions" with the dolls.

Which I find odd, since not much more than a hundred years ago it was widely believed in Japan that if you kept and properly cared for an umbrella long enough, it would become a helpful ghost that would watch over your family.

Then again, I was just discussing with my roommate a couple hours ago how they went from third-world to first-world nation over the course of World War II, so it's pretty obvious that they can adapt to technology.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

I've been saying it for years, if the Star Trek "Holo Suite/Deck" ever comes to fruition, its gonna be the Japanese who invent it..

We all know what 95% of the usage of those things would be lol. (Adult-Rated Halo Suites are actually mentioned in DS9 if I'm not mistaken)

Yup. The "Goddess Of Rixx" holo-pr0n programme was a running gag on DS9 (and the name of one of my ships on ST:O). They also spoofed the idea of photoshopping someone's head onto someone else's body.