I've just a thought.
Is this topic even appropriate? My feeling is that it is not; I would find it unacceptable if someone asked in open forum what my sexual orientation was, so how is asking about Bubbles sexual orientation acceptable?
Now, I am as guilty as the rest of the posters here. My apologies to Bubbles and to those others that my contribution to this discussion might have offended.
On this point, I agree with you. As someone who needs a handbag to carry all of my labels, I do get frustrated when my coworkers speculate about my orientation when all they have to go on is my pink phone case (I am not out at work). That is why my initial response to this thread was to reject the premise as pure fancy. The broader conversation about AI sexuality that emerged from that premise, however, is an interesting and valid one.
@pecoros7
As I said,
This is not the discussion I want to contribute here.
My thesis remains:
I think that you need a new terminology for the relationships that include AIs. Certainly the terminology of human-to-human relationships is complex enough, but (in Jeph's universe) AIs add another layer to the dynamic.
There's no need to classify Bubbles partnership (romantic or otherwise) with a human-to-human label, as the relationship is not one that a human can have with another human. Indeed, it may be a relationship (from Bubbles standpoint) that only exists as an AI-to-human relationship.
And, again, I ask
How would you describe a partner for a "straight" Bubbles? How about "gay", with respect to Bubbles? Or "Bi"?
In other words, what do you mean when you ask about a "straight" Bubbles vs a "gay" or "bi" Bubbles?
It appears that some here make the assumption (I've not seen it stated as canon) that AI sexuality
is human sexuality. My thesis is that it
may not be. My thesis is that AI-human sexuality
is not necessarily AI-AI sexuality or human-human sexuality. It may be something more, something different, something else.
As a (very poor) analogy, some people have more than just a master-pet relationship with their animals. Indeed, such an expanded relationship is encouraged among certain groups. So, how would you classify
those relationships? Is a dog handler-dog relationship something that you can classify in human terms ("friend"? "colleague"?), or is it something else, outside the terminology that we use to describe human-to-human relationships?
If that analogy doesn't do it for you, then how about Wookie-Human relationships? Human-Vulcan relationships? Is the joining of two sentient individuals of different species "hetero" or "gay" or "bi"? Well?
Fair enough. While I still think conversation will be complicated if we start with different ideas about how we define sexuality, perhaps we can work around it.
The problem with the sci-fi analogies you offered is that they present the various alien species as having fundamentally human properties pertaining to sex and sexuality. They are presented to us as male or female and inter-species romances are couched in the same terms as intra-species romances. Rarely are we presented with romance between humans and a true other. Perhaps a slightly better analogy might be the Asari from Mass Effect since they are stated to be a non-gendered race, but the narrative clearly
codes them as women and the relationships in ME are generally presented in those terms.
Generally, the AI in QC are presented in the same way; they have genders and identities that mirror our own. Bubbles, Momo, and May are women. Pintsize, Winslow, and Punchbot are men. That gender expression allows us to rather neatly present relationships in the same terms we use to describe relationships between human characters. Even relationships with AI who don't have a sense of gender can be talked about in the same terms as we discuss relationships with nonbinary people (like me). That same language still works just as well with AI as it does with humans.
But that's another point worth mentioning; that language doesn't always work for humans. Bisexual clearly works as a label for Dora, but does it work for Faye now that she's found herself attracted to Bubbles? Faye might not think so. Erika Moen of "Oh Joy, Sex Toy!" and "DAR" considered herself a lesbian until she met her husband, Matt. Her attraction to Matt seemed to be incidental and not in line with her usual attraction. Is she bi? Or is Matt an exception?
Just look at how the LGBTQ+ community uses its own initialism. Some stick with "LGBT", but you'll also see "LGBTQ", "LGBT+", "LGBTQIA", "LGBTQ+" (as I use), and others. Some people feel left out from the "LGBT" label and add other initials to foster more inclusion. Some people feel comfortable with using "queer" as an umbrella term, others do not. Some people see "queer" as an acceptable umbrella for non-heterosexual orientation only, others see it as an umbrella for all non-cis-het people. I use "LGBTQ+" to include people who feel comfortable with queer as an identifier and also + for people who don't.
Human sexuality is just
so dang complicated that no set of labels will adequately describe everyone. Even if you cover the major categories, you still end up leaving a lot of nuance on the table. So we might very well need new labels for understanding human/AI relationships, but I think the appropriate thing to do is to let those labels emerge naturally from those relationships and the people who identify with them
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Topic: What is Bubbles' sexual orientation? (Read 49703 times)