In an era where people have computer generated wives and acquire emotional attachment to their iPhones, maybe - for some people out their - this weird blob of unrequited love is just the thing to keep them from the deep end. That might be so. But I'd like to think that technology will tend to satisfy our needs in ways that bring us together more easily, rather than console us in isolation. But, I don't know... You are right that these are going to be complicated issues when we have sentient non-biological beings that we are interacting with in meaningful ways. I think this beanbag thing succeeds in evoking feelings related to these issues. But, hell if I am going to have one of these things slinking around my house. It doesn't need to pulsate. Can you imagine if R2D2 pulsated? He would be totally ruined.