It's the day of the wedding. The groom smiles as he sees his bride walk down the aisle, and she tears up as her father gives her away. She looks to her groom, then to the priest.
But something's different. For this is no ordinary priest, but a metal robot.
Sound ridiculous? As crazy as it may seem, this is what the world's come to.
Recently I heard about a couple in Japan that had a robot officiate their wedding ceremony. They apparently both work in robotics, so they claim robots brought them together.
Oh, please.
I believe marriage is a sacrament and should be treated as such, so I was appalled when I heard about it. It's hard enough for me to accept the idea of people not having religious ceremonies. But this is just wrong.
Quite frankly, I find it scary. We've all seen movies like WALL-E and I, Robot. Though they're portrayed as being futuristic, people don't seem to realize the ideas portrayed in those movies are happening now.
Don't get me wrong. I love technology, and I can't imagine life without my iPhone. But you have to draw the line somewhere.
As technology advances, people get lazier and lazier. They forget how to do things for themselves, and they replace human interaction with technological devices.
And as if a robot acting as a priest wasn't enough, it gets worse.
When I was looking up information about the aforementioned wedding, an article posted on MSNBC in 2007 came up in my Google search. The title of the article pretty much said it all: "Sex and marriage with robots? It could happen."
The article went on and on about how robots will be made with more human-like qualities. David Levy, and artificial intelligence researcher, was quoted saying scientists have narrowed down reasons why people fall in love, and those reasons may be programmed into robots. He went on to say love and sex with robots was INEVITABLE.
Seriously?
A robot cannot love you back. Being programmed to love you does not mean they actually love you.
We've all seen those silly movies where a love spell is cast on someone, but then the person they are being told to love decides they'd rather have the person love them out of their own free will.
Spontaneous, ridiculous, can't live without the other person kind of love cannot be replicated. Love is what gives life meaning--be it your love of God, love of family or love of friends.
Robots and technology have their place in the world, but they are no substitute for humanity.
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