Lifelike Dolls Selling Well.

I read an article today in the Sacramento News and Review about a guy who repairs lifelike adult entertainment dolls and sells them at a discount. ( A new one is about $7,000 with shipping.) Since I'm facinated by robots ( browse the technology section ) I started wondering how realistic looking they really are and if someone will ever combine them with robotics. How long until the androids in our popular science fiction come to life? Will our society have to discuss and make laws regarding Robot Fetishism? I checked some pictures of these dolls and they look *moderately* real. Some faces look somewhat real in the right light. Great detail on the hands and feet... but you would not mistake one for a real person on close inspection. They seem to bend and in lifelike ways due to an internal metal skeleton, but they can't stand unassisted. Customters select from 16 faces and 10 body types, and various skin tones. On the one hand, I think these dolls encourage gross objectification. When will they add a brain? On the other hand, I find them interesting as works of art.

"The skeleton used in REALDOLL moves in nearly all of the ways a real human being does."

Question: Do you offer electronic or animatronic versions of REALDOLL?

Not at this time, but we hope to offer such dolls in the future.

This was interesting:

"I recently toured RealDoll?s headquarters and factory, an exceptionally nondescript building in San Marcos with no sign?not even a decal on a window?that might clue you in to what the company is or what is manufactured within. In the front office, Shelly Couture, a tall, friendly blonde with pretty blue eyes, greets me as my guide. She?s the spokesperson for the company, and before advancing past the front office, she photocopies my driver?s license.

I ask about photocopying visitors? licenses and their low-profile, Cheney-esque undisclosed location. Is it because they?re afraid that someone on a moral crusade might vandalize their business? Couture assures me that the security is for proprietary reasons. ?There are all sorts of people in Japan and China who are trying to steal what we do,? she says."

... ?One woman came to us with her tax return and, knowing that she was going to be away for a long time, bought one for her husband so he wouldn?t be fooling around on her.? - SDCITY

Hey, if you buy a Nick Black CD, you have a 1 in 2500 chance of winning one of these creepy REALDOLLs free.