More Young People Than You'd Think Would Date Robots — Are We Really That Surprised?

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The word "technophile" finds new meaning in the wake of a recent survey.  

As USA Today reported, 25% of young people — ages 13 to 34 — would be down to date a robot, provided said robot was a "perfect match" and sufficiently human-looking. That's not a majority, nor is it inconsequential — it is, apparently, an age thing. Only 17% of people older than 34 were open to the idea. 

Read more: China Introduces Legless Robocop to Police Terrorists and Rioters on Flat Terrain
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These brow-raising findings came out of FutureFest, a weekend-long festival of forward-looking ideas held in London. A U.K.-based research group called ComRes asked 1,000 Brits about their feels on bot-human relationships. The data isn't actually all that surprising, considering that touching robots' private places is a turn-on for some people, perhaps especially in those instances where the robots in question look suspiciously like Scarlett Johansson. Bots can be our friends, bring us food and take us for long walks on the beach. This is what romance means, yes?

As far as what that romance looks like, though, all we can say is: bleak.

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