Deconstructing the model: Black Velveteen

Lenny Kravitz on his song, Black Velveteen:

"Black Velveteen is about technology, and we're getting so pulled in by computers and technology and our kids have their face in the computers all day. We have our face in computers all day and the human relationship is being diminished by this so I figure...why not just create your own mate? And synthesize a human being. You get tired of it, you turn it off and put it in the closet, you know, like the vacuum cleaner. (laughs) You pull it out when you want it. Oh you don't want this one, and then you want, you start, it's probably going to happen one day."

For those of you who aren't familiar with Lenny Kravitz music, "Black Velveteen" was a single off of his 5 album released in 1999. Above is his idea of a black velveteen, the idea of "creating your own mate". I shudder to think that this might actually come true one day, but with technology moving as fast as it does, it seems like this is just around the corner.

What if we could do this?? What would happen to the basis of relationships between a man and a woman?

A few thoughts:

1. The foundation/basis for relationships would be destroyed. There would be no need to have any relationship aside from friendship as you would be able to create you own person to satisfy yourself. And sex is a huge part of a commited relationship, though the "love" aspect would still be there, cheating would probably be inevitable.

2. On the subject of monogamy. What would happen to men? What would happen to women? The argument still stands that being monogamous is going against your bodies natural tendencies. The whole "God didn't put us on this Earth to just be with one" idea. Not to make assumptions, but most men would probably be ok, their dominating and conquering nature might make it easy for them to adjust more than a female. Women on the other hand, we tend to be more emotional, not that we couldn't easily fall in love with the fact that we could choose any man to be with, but once we get emotionally attached, it's a bit harder for us.

3. How does religion play a role? What about the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman? There is really no easy answer to this, but my idea would be that there could be marriage between the two IF they agree to be faithful to each other. But how much harder would that be, if you could have your "black velveteen" at your beck and call. What about if you chose to practice polygamy? Polygamy involves two consenting individuals into taking on more than one mate, and if this practiced, then there would be no need for robotics.

4. We might actually all get along. An up side to having a "black velveteen" is there would probably be less marital disputes, less "hatin" on others, less having to worry about trusting your partner, and more acceptance for everyone's situation.

Bottom line. This is not an easy question to answer. There is always a lot of gray area when dealing with the opposite sex. I would love your opinion on this, as there is no easy answer...

Check out Lenny Kravitz's Black Velveteen video below:

Lenny Kravitz - Black Velveteen
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