Maybe you remember the SF movie Blade Runner from 1982 with Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer, directed by Ridley Scott. Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick, the action of the movie was set in a 2019 Los Angeles in a period in which the scientists have created human androids, called “replicants”, used for dirty work and sexual pleasure.

It seems Dick only got the year wrong, because according to David Levy of Maastricht University, in his doctorate thesis titled “Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners,” sexual relations with a robot could become reality by 2050. Perhaps even earlier.

In fact, speaking for LiveScience.com, David Levy predicted that in 2050 Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots.

At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, "but once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon," Levy said.

Levy is basing his conclusions on the fact that the psychologists concluded there are 12 reasons why people fall in love and all of them could be applied to the robots.

“For instance, one thing that prompts people to fall in love are similarities in personality and knowledge, and all of this is programmable. Another reason people are more likely to fall in love is if they know the other person likes them, and that’s programmable too.” said Levy for LiveScience.com.

Maybe Levy is right after all. Why searching for the perfect partner when everything may be created through software and little robotic science?

The Dutch scientist is currently working on a paper about the ethical treatment of robots. When it comes to sex and love with robots, "the ethical issues on how to treat them are something we'll have to consider very seriously, and they're very complicated issues," Levy said. Like in real life, no?