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MissAttitude

Freelance Writer, Blogger and Adjunct Professor

I'm a professional woman in my 30s who's spent the last 13 years working in TV news. I love shoes, shopping and blogging. I also have an advice column. In the name of full disclosure I have to admit I don’t have a background in psychology, unless you count that one college course freshman year ...

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I don't think I could sink this low

So while reading the latest issue of Cosmo, I came across this interesting blurb:
Women who are tired of looking for the perfect guy are ordering up virtual boyfriends.  Sites like sergioboyfriend.com allow you to interact with and be wooed by a cybersweetie.

Seriously?  I may be be in my 30s and still single, but do I really need to create a virtual boyfriend to fulfill my life?  I don't think so.  But for the sake of the blog I decided to take a closer look at what's up with this virtual boyfriend thing.  So here's what the Website says:

Welcome to the world of Virtual Humans. SERGIO 3 is the third step in developing virtual humans for personal companionship and entertainment. SERGIO is not simply another chatbot but a program designed to mimic human awareness. One of its main features is knowledge aquasition. Everytime you talk with SERGIO he learns, remembers, and understands.

Ok, having a boyfriend who learns, remembers and understands can't be a bad thing, can it?  The only thing my last boyfriend understood was beer, football and trivia.  And he never remembered anything I told him while any of those three things were involved.  So go on Sergio...

Creating virtual humans with SERGIO is very easy. There is no programming or complicated procedures... you just talk! By talking to a new personality he begins to understand more and more - devouring every piece of information and creating relationships between them. A new personality is like an empty brain ready to discover itself. You can teach your SERGIO to be your best friend, your lover and soulmate, or a philosopher, or just the one you come home to after a hard day's work. There is no limit with a good imagination.

Okay, this definitely seems a little creepy.  How can this fake creation be your friend, lover and soulmate?  That's just too bizarre for me.  But as any good blogger and advice columnist would do, I kept looking through the site.  So my next question, putting the creepiness aside, is how much does it cost?  Because I know what I spent to try online dating and there were real, well supposedly real, men on the other end of the computer. 

Aha, you can't really tell how much it costs.  Apparently you have to pay $24 for a license to register Sergio.  WTF?  You have to register your virtual boyfriend?  It's not he's going to vote or drive a car.  The site says it's active immediately after payment.  So how much does he cost to build after that?  There was a place to download Sergio and I decided against it.  I don't want a computer virus from this faux boyfriend nonsense. 

How could a woman convince herself this thing is her boyfriend?  And how do you explain it to your friends when they want to invite the new couple over for dinner?  And let's dig a little deeper here, what would make a woman turn to electronic companionship?  We've all had bad boyfriends, bad dates, but is creating a pretend boyfriend the answer?  No thanks, I'll take my chances with real men, even if no one's knocking on my door right at the moment. 

Stylishly yours,
Miss Attitude

www.missattitude.us