Technology is powerful, and that’s an understatement. Obviously, it has been a benefit to the world in terms of information, communication, and business. However, a downside to it is that it has helped create a culture where people would rather text than talk. Real human interaction is seemingly diminishing with every new Facebook profile. Ironically enough though, technology has really helped the sex industry. In fact, sex and pornography have always been on the forefront of technology.
But with piracy and copyright infringement doing damage to adult entertainment, it is clear that additional avenues need to be found for the sex industry to evolve and generate revenue. And some steps have already been taken. For example, modern capabilities have allowed for Fleshlights to be molded from the most intimate parts of the world’s most popular porn stars, Internet sites provide customers the ability to interact with models during live webcam shows and other sites allow consenting adults to explore every sexual desire shy of actual contact with each other. Now all of these factors beg the question, where does it go from here?
Well, a lot of places.
Thinking back to April 2012 at Coachella, a hologram of the late Tupac Shakur appeared on stage alongside his former label mates Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. This same technology will surely be applied to the sex industry too. Sexual interaction with a trick of light will never be the equivalent of the touch of flesh, but in the realm of fantasy, it does bring the experience closer to the viewer like never before. Imagine a POV encounter, without a monitor, between you and Jenna Jameson or a totally acquiescent Britney Spears. Or travel back in time and find yourself in the middle of a Roman Orgy but without leaving your lounge…. It’s closer than you think.
Then there’s the way people imagined sex in the future back in the past. It’s actually not that far-fetched. In addition to Chelsea Salmon’s stunning 2011 pictorial for Playboy, Barbarella’s presence can be seen other ways in modern society too. Remember the Excessive Machine? Dr. Stuart Meloy accidentally invented a real one. In 1998, while implanting electrodes on a female patient’s spinal cord to help with her chronic pain, the electrodes had an unforeseen effect and gave the woman an orgasm. The woman let out an unexpected moan when the power went on, and her reply afterwards was, “You’ll have to teach my husband how to do that.”
Or how about the new Google Glass which could superimpose an image of your favourite porn star over that of your partner, so you could morph her image into Miley Cyrus and she could enjoy a whole new world of fun by turning you into James Dean. And all this whilst simultaneously showing you an instructional video and giving you directions on where to find your partner’s G Spot and what you ought to be doing when you get there!
There is and always will be a market for sex. It’s something that feels good and everyone can relate to it. But does the same technology that makes adult entertainment a booming business also hurt it? What if sex holograms replace porn stars? Google Glass replaces peep shows? The jury is still out. But make no mistake, it is a new sexual revolution. And while technology develops faster than ever before, the more things change the more they stay the same.
So whether it was someone in Paris, a hundred years ago jerking off to a cloud that looked like cleavage or someone in 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio, who will be enjoying a vicarious relationship with a Jesse Jane hologram while fucking her Fleshlight, the world will keep spinning.
