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Technology is changing every area of our lives, and sex is no exception. Already, people have done enough unusual things that clearly hint that in the future there will be much more options to have fun.
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There is not only sex, but also SexTech
The legendary phrase “we don’t have sex”, uttered by the representative of the public organization “Committee of Soviet Women” Lyudmila Ivanova during a teleconference between the USSR and the USA in 1986, was taken out of context, but very well reflected the taboo of the topic. In our modern country, there are “shops for adults”, exhibitions of sex toys, and Russian actresses regularly occupy leading positions in the rankings of the world’s largest porn sites. Nevertheless, it is still not customary for us to talk openly about sex and the pleasure associated with it, our preferences.
In Western countries, in this regard, everything is also not so simple. But as long as sex education projects appear and develop in our country, and intimate toys go beyond the shops with tinted windows, they are seriously talking about the whole SexTech industry. And this world is not limited to smartphone-controlled vibrators, everything is much more interesting.
SexTech is any product or development that aims to improve or expand a person’s sexual experience. SexTech is closely related to sexual health solutions: it is about the development of relationships between people, safety and education. Experts estimate the size of these markets at $67 billion and $84 billion, respectively, and predict a dramatic growth rate of 20-30% per year over the next few years.
Predictions are similar to the truth: the sex-positive movement changes the perception of people, makes normal those things that society used to consider shameful. Whether this is good or evil is a philosophical question, but one thing is clear: there is now a real boom in SexTech startups abroad, which attract tens of millions of dollars as investments. Not everyone survives, not everyone “shoots”, but it was the same with the dot-com booms, and then with startups and crypto projects. They all changed the world, and from the developments in the SexTech industry, you can imagine in advance how people will enjoy sexual pleasure in the future.
Pleasure at a distance
Remote sex is not so much the future as it is the present. And this is not just about a situation where everyone is locked at home (in Europe, the lockdown was much stricter than in our country), but in general about how people can please each other from a distance. There is even a term for the most obvious solution – “teledildonics”. It was invented by the same person who invented hyperlinks – American programmer Ted Nelson. This is a sex toy that one partner uses, and the second controls it from a distance. Progress does not stand still, and now there are even whole sets for two. For example, Kiiro offers a set of a Pearl vibrator for women and an Onyx masturbator for men, and they can be synchronized with each other. But in theory, these things are not difficult to make to order according to the individual sizes of each …
By the way, teledildonics is widely used in the webcam industry. The model connects special vibrators to the application, and the audience throws off “types” (from the word tips – “tips”, payment for the show). The louder the ringing of “coins”, the more intense the vibration, but this is a story rather not about pleasure, but about acting talent. By the way, with one of the most popular remote-controlled sex toys in webcam – Lovense – there was a big scandal. Suddenly it turned out that vibrators eavesdrop on their customers through the smartphones they are connected to. So far, this is only a violation of privacy, but analogies from science fiction films and games may well come to mind. Scenes when the heroes connected their bodies to the Network, and someone hacked them and overloaded the electronics to harm them, flashed through them more than once. However, in the field of teledildonics there are quite nice and harmless solutions. For example, a Kissenger device connected to a smartphone, which can transmit kisses from a distance to a second such device. Or a Hugshirt that mimics a hug.
But back to “smart” sex toys. Where will they take us next? A very real option is immersive porn, and such projects already exist. VStroker offers to buy one of several masturbators and synchronize with specially recorded videos, the sensations from what is happening in which the toy, as planned, should convey. Interestingly, such stories can not only be watched, but also slowed down and accelerated – gadgets also take this into account.
The future of virtual pleasures
It is quite natural that as the teledildonic develops further, it will be able to bring the experience of virtual contacts to a whole new level. This immediately brings to mind the emerging metaverses and the ability to create very realistic digital avatars for them. The developers of one of the metaprojects, Second Life, are quite open about the fact that their project has a contact simulation function. If everything happens by mutual agreement, then why aren’t the metaverses platforms for the virtual sex of the future? And the devices that transmit sensations can be not only in one place, but throughout the body.
In theory, in such an atmosphere, people will be ready to behave even more liberated than in the real world. And this opens up space for creating virtual communities of interest, which is absolutely wonderful if technology is used for good. For example, apps like Grindr (a social network for dating gay and bisexual men) quickly gained popularity. Why not extend this experience by moving the process to a much more interesting and functional virtual environment?
Thinking about the future of sex in the virtual space, we should not forget about helmets and virtual reality headsets. VR porn will no longer surprise anyone, but there is still the concept of Embodiment VR (EVR), “virtual incarnation”. Mel Slater, Mavi Sanchez Vives and Bernhard Spanlang have been working with VR for many years and created the Virtual Bodyworks project a few years ago. It is social, and its main task is to make people feel with the help of VR what they can only face in theory or what they will never be able to experience in reality.
The founders’ experience shows that placing a racist in the virtual body of a black person or letting a domestic abuser feel like a victim in a VR scenario can greatly change the lives of these people and those around them for the better. It cannot be ruled out that sooner or later these studies will be reflected in the sex industry.
Another example is the BeAnotherLab project, the founders of which since 2012 have been methodically making a reality of a scenario where two people with VR headsets can try to feel in each other’s bodies. And this is not just a look at the world through the eyes of another, these are really different sensations, which was proved by psychiatrists who conducted an experiment with a rubber hand. Under certain conditions, they were able to deceive the subject’s brain so that he began to perceive the artificial limb as real. This is one of the foundations on which the EVR concept is built.
Technology of sex education
Together with the sex of the future, the sex education of the future must also appear. Why can’t technology help us get to know ourselves and our bodies better? For starters, you can use the same virtual reality, and there has already been such a project in the world. Enthusiasts from the Motherlode studio in the Lube River VR world tried to talk about sex toys and masturbation. Immersing in VR, a person becomes not an outside viewer and listener, but a full participant in the process. And with a VR headset on their heads, it will probably be much easier for schoolchildren to take seriously topics that everyone usually giggles about during breaks.
Moreover, in VR scenes, you can practice the essential principle of active consent in practice and in complete safety. The experience of Vitrual Bodyworks suggests that those who have learned to say a strict “no” to a virtual person will then find it easier to do it in real life. And this theory is reinforced in practice in the Vantage Point project, which was created by a girl who survived sexual violence. It was with this scenario that he began, but now there are many more of them.
In the field of sex education, a rather large porn studio once even tried to light up. BaDoinkVR released a series of videos that allegedly “teach” men how to be good lovers. The idea is good, but in reality it still looks like regular VR porn.
At the same time, very good applications are appearing that bring previously “shameful” topics to a new level of understanding, making them more open. For example, the mobile menstruation and ovulation calendar Flo topped the AppStore top in the Health and Fitness category at the beginning of 2022, leaving behind all home workout software and other activity trackers. A little earlier, the creators of the Biem application tried to change the world a little for the better, with the help of which people who plan to have sex could share with each other the results of tests to detect genital infections and, if necessary, order these tests and contact the doctor remotely. Alas, the latest data about him on the Web date back to 2018: apparently, it didn’t fire. The same thing happened with the Russian app Sexual, which had similar functionality. Now it is for sale, and in 2021, in an interview with Rusbase, its creator said that the main users were people from the LGBT community.
Sex, robots and artificial intelligence
Sex of the future is simply impossible without robots, and we have been told about this more than once in films, computer games and books. Of course, this does not mean that such “relationships” will be chosen by everyone, but they will clearly be one of the options. Already, many people are consciously giving up on relationships or opting for quick connections with subsequent disappearance (ghosting) – this has been influenced by the growth of wealth and the prevalence of dating applications. The ability to simply turn off the “partner” that you are tired of will surely intrigue someone.
All this is not a matter of the near future, but some futurists seriously argue that by the 2050s, people will not just have sex with machines, but interact with them on a deeper level thanks to the development of artificial intelligence. Developers have already made attempts to make “emotional” AI for relationships. One example is Gatebox AI, a holographic anime girl who lives in a glass flask, sends cute text messages to her owner and happily greets him when he comes home from work.
At the same time, robots of our time are becoming more and more realistic. To understand this, just look at the faces of the robots of Hiroshi Ishiguro’s laboratory. Its founder made his main project in his own image and likeness. It remains only to teach these androids to move like people, and to provide artificial intelligence. And now they are working on this directly in the sex industry. Realbotix has an advanced Harmony sex doll with a robotic head. She blinks, imitates jaw movements and works as a voice assistant. You can not only have fun with her, but also talk. Let’s say about the COVID-19 epidemic or suicidal thoughts. This is not a joke – here’s a demo.
And it’s also worth considering that with the help of machine and deep learning, dialogues and movements can be made as similar as possible to what we are used to in live communication with other people. It just takes time.
And robots can be improved. Right now, the same Harmony can replace a face or a wig, do something specific at the request of the client to order – this is also not a problem.
Neurosex and “pumping” our own bodies
Will people be able to improve themselves in the future to make sex better? It is likely that yes, because they are striving for this already today. Modern examples, which may lead us to something more, lie at the interface with medicine. For example, this is a thing called Ohnut – a set of three soft rings that a man puts on to limit the depth of penetration. It was made specifically to help women suffering from dyspareunia, pain during intercourse. And then there is a “gadget” called Eddie. It helps men who can achieve an erection, but are not able to maintain it for a long time: it prevents the outflow of blood, but does not squeeze the urethra and important arteries. Or you can think of a device called Bump’n Joystick, which was made for people who lost their hands. You can install both a vibrator and a masturbator in it.
If someone needs more “cyberpunk” examples, then in our real life there are also them. The three-component penile implant Coloplast Titan Touch will allow you to feel a little like a cyborg. In fact, this is a male penis prosthesis. Surgeons insert two rods into the penis, place a pump in the testicles, and a fluid reservoir in the abdomen, all connected by tubes. To start sexual intercourse, you need to press the pump: the cylinders will fill up – you get an erection, the reverse order is the same. At the same time, you do not need to tune in a special way, and the degree of erection can be adjusted. The real owner of such a prosthesis writes that in the United States about 50 thousand such operations are performed per year, in our country – less than 1 thousand, and the customer satisfaction rate is at the level of 95%.
In the field of modifications for sex, even biohackers have managed to make their mark. The concept can be understood in very different ways, but now we will talk about “black” biohacking, when enthusiasts without serious experience and education are engaged in dubious improvements to their own bodies. American Rich Lee, who built headphones into the skin near his ears, was seriously engaged in creating an implant at the base of the male genital organ. As planned, he had to vibrate, adding new sensations during sex and masturbation. But it seems that the real use of augmentation with the harsh name Lovetron 9000 never came.
However, maybe things will turn out so that we don’t even need any sex in the future. Moreover, not someone will help people in this, but, perhaps, Elon Musk himself and his company Neuralink. The essence of the project is to create a connection between the brain and the computer. The developers have already learned how to read information from the brain of pigs and showed a monkey that, thanks to a chip built into its head, could play a computer game. One of the next steps already planned is to help people manage prosthetic arms and legs. It’s certainly a good and right thing, but it’s not far from the instant orgasm button. Is it good or bad? Most likely, we will find out in 15-20 years.