Robots and Romance Fortnight

This fortnight we take a look at robots and romance, starting with a flash review of Heart of Iron and an ICYMI review of Autonomous, which was a finalist for the 2018 best novel Nebula Award. There are stories of true love in human-robot romance He, She and It, A Closed and Common Orbit, A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, with some in a fantasy setting Cinder, The Alchemy of Stone link, Heart of Iron. Robot-robot love is also a topic, see the charming movie Robot Stories. And let’s not forget obsessive love, best captured in movies like Saturn 3 and Eve of Destruction, and the book (which is better than the movie) Demon Seed. And since romance also involves sex, the week will include sexbots and the RTSF slideshow on female robot stereotypes. LGBTQ also shows up, in the interesting Autonomous, chilling Vn, and the dreadful Humans, Bow Down!. If you haven’t seen it, check out the interview with Dr. Aimee Van Wynsberghe a professor at TU Delft and co-director of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics responsiblerobotics.org. But don’t forget Metropolis and original sexbot Maria, HBO Westworld, Ex Machina, Made for Love, or the classic Stepford Wives.