I don't want to alarm you, but society as we know it might be coming to an end. According to Jezebel, a German company that goes by the terrifying name First Androids has created a sex doll that breathes and has a pulse. The writer makes some good points about how the incredibly creepy "Andy" (get it?) is yet another way for men to reduce women to brainless sex objects. And, yes, I agree that the existence of such a realistic sex doll will hopefully keep the creeps out of the dating scene. But I think we're missing the larger picture here: THERE IS NOW A ROBOT THAT CAN BREATHE. It doesn't take an encyclopedic knowledge of the works of James Cameron to know that this means trouble.

First of all, sex with robots of any kind brings up several moral issues. Asylum recently asked if sex with robot hookers is cheating. But what if the robot, or robot sex doll, looks like your wife or girlfriend? Aren't you still sleeping with the person you love, albeit a version of them that can fire lasers from their robot eyes? And, perhaps more importantly, why do sex dolls always end up looking like a drag queen version of Barbie? 

Seeing as how technology is advancing at such an alarming rate these days, it makes sense that our day-to-day lives would begin to resemble a sci-fi movie. (Are video ads in magazines really all that different from the targeted wall-to-wall advertising Tom Cruise encounters in Minority Report?) And with these advances comes more objects that we can have sex with. For instance, the new male sex toy The Fleshlight--all the talk of the blogs lately; Google it if you dare--reduces sex to a cylinder that you can stick your manhood into. Is it that far-fetched to think that robots will become the next hot martial aid?

Sure, at over three grand each the "Andy" sex doll isn't exactly going to fly off shelves. It'll only be purchased by a select group of desperate freaks and perverts, you say. But what if, and I'm just playing devil's advocate here, this breathing robot technology falls into the hands of some shady organization bent on world conquest. And let's say they replace a female (or male, First Androids also makes dude sex dolls) head of state with a robot doppelganger. What if the President, or the Secretary of State, is actually a robot? Or what if one of these sex robots, posing as a hot new intern in the Department of Defense, uses its powers of robot seduction to obtain top-secret nuclear launch codes from military brass? The next White House sex scandal could trigger worldwide Armageddon.   

Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised that we may have brought about our downfall in the pursuit of inventing an inanimate object that will moan during sex.