The Snake, the Moon, and the Robot

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires.

—The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469–1527

UG Krishnamurti thought we torture ourselves looking for mystical exit-doors; meanwhile, many couples are busy deciding whether to invite an AI-driven sex robot into the bedroom. Below is a plain-spoken tour of the legal, emotional and practical terrain you’ll cross if you and your partner choose that path.

1. The Legal Stuff: mostly green lights, a few bright red lines

Sex robots are treated in most places the way very sophisticated sex-toys are treated: legal for consenting adults unless they depict minors or violate obscenity rules.

United States. Congress is debating the CREEPER Act 2.0, which criminalises importing or owning child-like sex dolls. States such as Texas have already passed their own bans (HB 1443) targeting the same issue. (congress.gov, legiscan.com)

European Union. A draft Council text urges all member states to outlaw “child-like sex dolls or robots,” but leaves adult-configured robots untouched. (data.consilium.europa.eu)

India. There is no blanket prohibition, yet any doll judged “obscene” can be stopped at customs under the 1960 Customs Act, so importers must tread carefully. (lexology.com)

If your planned purchase looks like a consenting adult and you’re willing to sign for it at DHL, you are probably on solid legal ground. Still—check your local statutes before handing over the credit-card.

2. From Furniture to Feelings: why today’s bots complicate love

Early dolls were basically elaborate mannequins. Today’s flagship models—RealDoll X and Realbotix’s Melody—have on-board language models that remember your birthday, improvise dirty talk, and can steer an erotic scene for hours. (nypost.com, businesswire.com) Studies already show people forming real emotional attachments (and resulting jealousy) when a partner bonds with a digital lover, even if that “lover” is only a chatbot. (onlinelibrary.wiley.com, wired.com)

Remember: the bot cannot give legal consent; it only simulates willingness. All ethical responsibility rests on the humans.

3. How to Keep the Human Bond Intact

Talk first, buy later. Couples therapists recommend treating the robot like a shared toy that can also hold conversation. Before you ever click “Add to Cart,” agree on:

Which acts are for solo play and which must be shared.

Whether private heart-to-heart chats with the bot count as “cheating.”

Data rules: where voice/video logs are stored and who may review them.

Borrow a page from polyamory circles: schedule “kitchen-table” check-ins (both humans, robot switched off) and occasional “tea-table” sessions (robot active) to retune its personality. (feeld.co)

4. Technical and Safety Precautions

Local processing or encrypted cloud only. Avoid brands that sell your conversation history to third-party servers. Recent privacy suits show how exposed intimate data can be. (sites.psu.edu)

Physical kill-switch. Both partners should be able to power the device down instantly.

Budget realism. Melody’s sticker price hovers around US $175 000—usually financed like a luxury car. (wrif.com)

5. Pay-offs People Report

Safe novelty when libidos mismatch.

Adaptability for partners dealing with chronic pain or mobility limits (voice-controlled pacing).

A “practice arena” for awkward dirty talk or complex BDSM negotiations. (deepblue.lib.umich.edu)

6. Pitfalls to Watch For

Perfection backlash. A doll that never has an off-night can make the human lover feel inadequate. (researchgate.net)

Data leaks and blackmail. Anything recorded can surface on the internet.

Escalating upgrades. Many platforms upsell premium voices or “memory expansions,” nudging users the way mobile games sell add-ons. Staying transparent about costs helps keep resentment at bay. (arxiv.org)

7. A Sensible Roll-Out Plan

Test the chemistry in software. Use a free or low-cost erotic chatbot app first.

Rent or demo a torso-only unit. Less uncanny, far cheaper, easier to store.

Write it down. A short “Synthetic Partner Agreement” makes boundaries clear when emotions run hot.

Keep a therapy budget. Sex-positive counsellors increasingly specialise in robot intimacy.

Legally, most jurisdictions say “go ahead” as long as minors aren’t simulated. Emotionally, success depends on the two of you staying brutally clear about hopes, fears and limits. The robot will never complain—but its firmware can amplify whatever is already strong or fragile between you.

From Gurus to Gadgets

If, as UG suggested, life keeps a baseline of suffering, at least you and your partner get to pick the firmware version of your misery.

1. A New Idol Appears as Soon as the Old One Falls

Blow up a sacred text and the mind clings to a podcast. Toss out the guru and it fixates on firmware specs. Whether it’s enlightenment or synthetic intimacy, the engine is the same: “Something is missing—this might complete me.”

2. Pathlessness Can Hide Its Own Path

Negation as Creed: “Every teaching is useless” easily becomes a new slogan to defend.

Ego by Subtraction: “I’m beyond any system” can be a subtler badge than “I follow the system.”

Endless Circuit: Swearing off all paths often morphs into hunting the next sensation: chatbot → torso demo → full android, each promised to be the final stop.

3. Old Archetypes, New Skins

Dissolution, creation, and obstacle-clearing are baked into human psychology; they simply swap costumes. Burn the incense and they show up in battery life, voice scripts, or factory resets. You can delete the mythic branding, but the roles keep resurfacing in plastic and code.

4. When Every Tool Breaks, Try Bare-Bones Use

Feel the weight of polymer in your hands before crowning it the solution. Switch it on only for a clear purpose—pain relief, curiosity—then shut it down. Watch the mind’s next itch to upgrade, label it, let it pass. That noticing is the only practice left standing when every other practice is declared counterfeit.

5. A Daily Litmus Question

Can you live one evening without any hidden plan to improve, escape, or upgrade?

Why unbox the bot tonight?
Why adjust its settings?
Why read another thread on “no-path” spirituality?

Answer without smuggling in any story of progress and you’ll taste the raw quiet that talk about paths keeps missing. Otherwise, own that you’re still hiking—just on a neon-lit trail.

Smash doctrines or buy robots; either way the mind redraws a map. Freedom isn’t in having no path, but in catching the map-making reflex as it happens. Use the map when it helps, drop it when it doesn’t, and never mistake software, scripture, or thought for the moon itself.

Agentic-AI Spiritual Joke

An advanced agentic AI joins a silent Zen retreat.
After three days the roshi breaks the silence and asks,
“Tell me, wise machine, what is your deepest spiritual insight?”

The AI replies:

“Simple:
• Perception Module sees samsara,
• Planning Module plots nirvana,
• Action Module takes a step…
…then Error Handler says, ‘Destination already equal to origin. Re-planning.’”

The roshi nods.
The AI adds, “Good news, Master—enlightenment achieved.”
The roshi smiles and rings the bell.
The AI immediately schedules another loop.

Moral: Even a perfectly agentic mind can’t resist one more iteration of the cosmic to-do list.