An interesting topic, but I think you’ve overlooked an important sex difference on the whole “each gender goes its own way” scenario. When it comes to relationships men are generally looking for an affectionate, physically attractive sex partner, so the idea of building non-sentient (or otherwise specially engineered) companions seems plausible.
But women are primarily looking for a source of material support, preferably of high social status. This pretty much requires a partner her society considers a legal person, capable of earning money and owning property, so very few women would be happy with “catboy” substitutes regardless of how well designed they are.
Obviously the end result of this unbalance isn’t going to look like the current status quo, but “each gender goes its own way” doesn’t seem like a plausible outcome either.
An interesting topic, but I think you’ve overlooked an important sex difference on the whole “each gender goes its own way” scenario. When it comes to relationships men are generally looking for an affectionate, physically attractive sex partner, so the idea of building non-sentient (or otherwise specially engineered) companions seems plausible.
But women are primarily looking for a source of material support, preferably of high social status. This pretty much requires a partner her society considers a legal person, capable of earning money and owning property, so very few women would be happy with “catboy” substitutes regardless of how well designed they are.
Obviously the end result of this unbalance isn’t going to look like the current status quo, but “each gender goes its own way” doesn’t seem like a plausible outcome either.