The only labels will be the ones we give ourselves

Over the years we’ve looked at where our sexual interest in the artificial—robots, dolls software, and the like—might lead in the very near future.

But any thought experiments about what might be coming to human sexuality has to delve into the human as well as the manufactured.

Because it is what we could become that could be truly remarkable, both in regards to erotic enjoyment but also in what it means to be human.

Beyond the binary

It looks like many are finally beginning to understand, and better yet, accept that our concepts of male and female are woefully inadequate—especially when it comes to sexuality.

Just look at the common triumvirate of heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. All of these are based pretty universally on the idea of a person being male or female. But, no doubt since that first hominid looked lustily at that first wheel, humanity has been more than one or the other.

With the advent of new surgical techniques, a better understanding of hormones, implantable devices, plus the growing acceptance of transgender individuals in many countries (with a few steps back in the United States), the concept of gender and arousal is being beautifully expanded.

RECOMMENDED READ: What Sci-Fi Got Right and Wrong About the Sexuality of Tomorrow—As It Is Today

It’s telling that the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary has long included both the term cisgender (“being a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth”) and genderqueer (“a person whose gender identity cannot be categorized as solely male or female”) in their recent updates.

While there is definitely room for improvement in general attitudes toward gender and sex, that the technological power of our information age is being used to share and educate about the options, and acceptance, of sex beyond male or female is thrilling.

Without a doubt, the future will see an erotic landscape full of new emotional and physical forms of gender and sexuality; a world of near-infinite possibilities for self-identification and, best of all, pleasure.

Any, all, or none of the above

With the acceptance of new forms of sexuality is also the arrival of the acceptance of having no sexual desire.

Gaining momentum is the concept of being asexual (“a person who does not experience sexual attraction”—using asexuality.org this time as Merriam-Webster seems out-of-touch on the subject).

“Unlike celibacy,” asexuality.org continues, “which is a choice, asexuality is a sexual orientation. Asexual people have the same emotional needs as everybody else and are just as capable of forming intimate relationships.”

In an interview with Ravishly, a woman named Sarah says about her asexuality:

I am not broken. I am not looking to be fixed. I am entitled to feel my emotions in my own varying levels, just as much as any other person. I understand I come across ‘prudish’ in behavior, but I am not holding anything back. I will happily answer questions but please do not go into a conversation determined to prove me wrong. I am an honest person who can only offer that which I have to give. I would never discredit another person’s sexual desire or disregard their emotions; I have always been baffled by other’s determination to do just that to me.

A free and open future

Much has been said, and written, about the how technology has changed humanity in some pretty staggering ways over the last few years. Digital publishing, virtual and augmented reality, “The Internet Of Things” and device interconnectivity, 3D printing… the list goes on and on.

The most profound change, however, is right in the often-used title for the years we are experiencing at this present moment: The Information Age.

While we have a long way to go, the power of the Internet to dissolve distance and bring people together is already transforming every aspect of our lives—especially in regards love and sexuality.

Beginning now, if we play our societal cards right, it could be the beginning of the end for loneliness, shame, guilt, and fear when it comes to what arouses and emotionally fulfills.

Or, to put it simply, we’ll hopefully have the power to look beyond ourselves and discover others for help—and for love.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Be Who You Are: Tomorrow’s Spectrum of Gender Possibilities appeared first on Future of Sex.

Some hits, some misses, and who knows what’s yet to come?

Science fiction has never really strived to be prophetic. Mostly the genre has used speculation to draw attention to social issues of the day; a funhouse mirror held up to mankind.

And when it has tried to gaze into a crystal ball, sci-fi’s track record is more than a bit lacking—to be polite.

Especially in regards to the future of sexuality.

But it’s fun to look at some notable books and films that tried to envision what sex would be like in the future. In other words, right this very minute.

A lot of things turned out to be flat out wrong. But what’s even more intriguing—and even more than a bit chilling—is what they actually may have gotten right.

If not this year but very, very soon.

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

John Brunner’s (1934–1995) novel Stand on Zanzibar (1968) is—at the risk of hyperbole—a phenomenal work: literary, complex, insightful, playful, and, despite having been written almost 50 years ago, this Hugo-winning novel reads as it if could very well have been written today.

Media oversaturation, runaway genetic screening, and monolithic corporations replacing government, the book depicts the world of 2010 as one that is both an exaggeration of the 60s and 70s, as well as alarmingly similar to what we’re experiencing now.

One thing that Brunner speculates on is the normalization of polyamory: consensual sexual relationships involving more than two people—to put it in overly simplistic terms.

While the 2010 of Stand On Zanzibar sees polyamory (as well as casual sex, homosexuality, and bisexuality, and more!) as such a common element of human society that it’s all but invisible, but in our current year it is only exercised by a small minority.

But that is changing—and very fast.

Not only are many scientists noticing a growing acceptance of polyamory, but they are suggesting that polyamory may be a remarkably healthy sexual option for many.

Studies have even shown that polyamorous groupings even tend to restrict the spread of sexually transmitted conditions (STCs), as opposed to people who cheat while in a monogamous relationship.

So while Stand On Zanzibar was not quite a perfect vision of the near future, Brunner may not have been that far off. Just give us a few more years.

Soylent Green directed by Richard Fleischer

While the New York of Richard Fleischer’s 1973 film Soylent Green it takes place in 2022 we might call this vision of a nightmarishly overpopulated world a complete miss.

Following Detective Frank Thorn (Charlton Heston) as he investigates the assassination of a high-ranking employee of the Soylent corporation, the audience is shown a world where human life has all but zero value.

In fact, and this should not come as a surprise to anyone, really, it is eventually revealed that the popular titular food alternative is … let’s let the famous line speak for itself: “Soylent Green is made out of people!”

While we are, thankfully, a little ways from cannibalism, another unique feature of this near future is how women are turned into “furniture:” literally property that comes with renting a high-end apartment.

Tragically, Soylent Green may not actually deserve a prophetic miss on this one. It is a global shame that even now there are an estimated 21 to 29 million human beings being held in slavery—and that 22% of them are victims of sex trafficking.

The 6th Day directed by Roger Spottiswoode

This sneer-and-kill Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle from 2000 is, firstly, set in 2015, and mostly, a play to many people’s ethical concerns about cloning.

Cloning is actually more common that you might think. In fact, we’ve managed to do it to quite a few animals—just not ourselves.

But while The 6th Day didn’t get human cloning right, there are plenty of incredible biological innovations that are right around the corner.

One of the soon-to-be everyday biological innovations is the idea of organic 3D printing coupled with a touch of genetic engineering. What this means to the future of sex is pretty mind blowing: for the first time organs, of any kind, will be able to be grown from a material that likely won’t be rejected because they’ll be made from the receiver’s own tissue.

Genitals may soon be a matter of choice and not genetics, as well as opening the door to altering them completely for any number of reasons: increased nerve endings, taste buds everywhere, and muscular control.The sky—and the erotic imagination—will be the limit.

I Will Fear No Evil by Robert Heinlein

Though many see this novel by the science-fiction grand master as one of his less-grand works, I Will Fear No Evil (1970) is still a fascinating read—especially as it delves into gender, sexuality, and the possibility of transferring one mind into another.

Taking place in 2015, elderly Billionaire Johann Sebastian Bach Smith, to preserve his life, has his brain placed in another person’s body. Two unexpected things happen: one, his mind ends up intermingling with that of the donor, and two, the body belonged to his female secretary.

This sets the stage of a very Heinleinian, though always entertaining, exploration of societal roles, biology, eroticism, and the differences —and similarities—between the sexes.

True, we can’t just plop one brain into another person’s body. But we are making some serious headway in making a direct link from one mind to another.

Just last year Spanish scientists managed to send the thoughts “hola” and “ciao” from the mind of a volunteer in India to three others in France—via email, no less.

Even though the result is pretty simple, the implications are staggering. The better we will get at understanding the brain—and the mind—the sooner we will be able to not just transmit thoughts, but maybe even move human consciousness from one person to another.

And what does this have to do with sex? Pretty much everything, actually: as eroticism is a mind thing, despite what our bodies try to tell us, this means that we might be able to timeshare vacations in the body of our dreams—especially our sexual ones.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll also be able to not just exchange but merge ourselves with someone else: sex taken to the ultimate level.

Strange Days By Kathryn Bigelow

For our last failed speculation, we take a similar neuroelectrical trip to just more than a decade ago. Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow’s science-fiction film Strange Days—though shot in 1995—visits the feverish chaos of Los Angeles at the turn of the 21st century.

Our burnt-out anti-hero, Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), scrounges a living selling SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) technology. Want to experience what it’s like to make love as a woman, jump off a roof, fall in love … you name it? Just use one of these illegal headsets and there you go.

While the plot is driven by a pair of ridiculously psychotic cops, the star of the film is the tech itself.

Sadly, 2000 came and went with no SQUID in sight. But, if you read just a few paragraphs back, there’s a very good reason to think that we may be doing pretty much everything the SQUID could, and did, do in Strange Days. And very soon.

After all, once you get information digitally out of a human being’s mind, there’s no reason why you couldn’t record it. We are already doing something like that with mice and rats. Humans, more than likely, won’t be far behind.

Sex, again, is where it’s going to be at. In a mirror to Strange Days, it’s not hard to imagine sexual experiences being sold to anyone who wants them. It could also leave behind so many sexual hangups that still plague humanity. It’s pretty hard to be prejudiced when you literally can see the world through someone else’s eyes—or mind.

Science fiction—books and movies—didn’t really get their future, our present, very right.

But for every miss, every embarrassing omission, there are more than a few that actually did manage to stare into their future … or one that just hasn’t happened to arrive just yet.

Image sources: Depositphotos

The post What Sci-Fi Got Right and Wrong About the Sexuality of Tomorrow—As It Is Today appeared first on Future of Sex.

How a new, erotic renaissance may be right around the corner

Utopias—visions of a perfect society—have always been totally subjective.

Or, to put it simply: one person’s dream is another’s nightmare.

That being said, dreaming of utopias can still be entertaining and even therapeutic: in them often being the optimism that humanity can someday, somehow create a perfect world.

With both that playfulness—and acknowledging that this won’t be ideal for everyone—here is speculation on the technologies that could help create a sexual utopia.

What is a sexual utopia?

Before we go any further let’s have some clarification. To create a utopia you usually start with a negative and then work toward a positive: a problem and then a solution.

For our own negative, we’re beginning with the fact that right now sex is far from pleasurable for far too many. Bigotry, lack of sexual education, gender dysphoria, shame, rape, sexual harassment, loneliness—sadly, the list goes on from there.

And our positive will be how technology, much of it already in development, could work together to make a world not only free of these negatives but could also lead to a utopia where humanity will be able to experience sexual pleasure as never before.

Consent and safety

Without a doubt, sexual assault has one of the most detrimental effects on human society. For too many, it has turned an act of pleasure into a physical and emotional nightmare.

While there are no obvious immediate technological solutions to sexual assault, there is still the possibility that new levels of safety could be gained through the use of blockchains as a secure way of registering consent to sexual activity.

While there are clearly some hurdles to overcome, ideally parties involved would agree to sexual contact, and then confirm their willingness with a secure blockchain-based system.

Lastly, having a ubiquitous security system in place could also add an all-important layer of protection, being that the best deterrent isn’t the severity of punishment but the certainty of it.

Artificial intelligence could also be employed: programmed to detect sexual assault by keeping a digital eye out for certain phrases or actions—and so alert authorities.

Gender fluidity

In our sexual utopia gender is a spectrum of physical attributes that can be changed by anyone, at any time, for any reason. This means that if someone has gender dysphoria, they can easily become what feels natural to them, no matter their gender at birth.

This could be accomplished by either using genetic engineering techniques, like CRISPR, through advanced surgical procedures or even through the use of inorganic implants.

Then there’s the question of what happens when genitals can be whatever you wish—in style, size, color and whatever else—and secondary characteristics like breasts can be added or removed as easily as changing clothes?

In our sexual utopia, it would mean infinite possibilities for sexual identity and erotic exploration: let the adventures begin!

The end of STIs

This might sound obvious on the surface but that millions of people today still needlessly suffer from sexually transmitted infections means that this is a topic that needs to be brought up time and time again.

Until that is, we arrive at our sexual utopia: where every type of sexually transmitted illness has been eliminated.

This would come, again, from a combination of advanced medical procedures and/or genetic engineering. It’s possible that our future citizens would have their DNA gently tweaked in the womb to prevent infections—which would then lead to the diseases dying off.

And so, with no one ever catching anything, our utopia would be a place where worry and dread of infection would be as extinct as those diseases.

Birth Control

This leads to the last anxiety: unintended pregnancies.

In our perfect sexual world giving birth is always a choice, brought to you—yet again—by genetic engineering or advanced medical procedures.

If you take the genetic engineering route, citizens would be altered yet again so that sperm or eggs would only be viable when a certain gene is switched on. On the medical side, a solution would be an implant doing the same thing—but deactivated either electronically or chemically.

If anyone is concerned about future infertility, there would be an option to have sperm and eggs collected during periods of fertility and then stored until needed.

So we’d have a solution to overpopulation and the imminent depletion of natural resources, eliminating the idea of an unwanted child, giving people new levels of sexual liberation.

Bye bye loneliness

It’s a sad fact that, despite the billions of people on Earth and having access to a great many of them through digital technology, a large number of people are emotionally—and sexually—lonely.

In our perfect world, intelligent agents would match us with possible partners: knowing us better than we could ever know ourselves.

RECOMMENDED READ: Fun With a Future: Romantic Weekends for Humans and Their Digital Partners 

And, if a match couldn’t be found, then there’d be artificial intelligences that would fill our sexual needs. But instead of being parrots constantly telling us what we want to hear, they’d be highly skilled therapists helping us grow as human beings.

There’d also be a complete lack of stigma around them or the advanced sexbots they are part of. Preferring their company would simply be a sexual orientation—and no less respected than any other.

More than anything, this would mean that no one would ever suffer the pain of loneliness ever again.

The end of ignorance

The lack of education and exposure to other forms of human sexuality is the root cause of much of today’s intolerance and fear.

Our utopia, though, will include a wide range of ways to learn about, and even experience, every aspect of human life—especially when it comes to sex.

First, there’d be virtual reality and then eventually direct neural interface: these fully immersive experiences becoming an invaluable tool for creating empathetic bonds with other people.

Ignorance, after all, is hard to maintain when you can digitally walk in another person’s shoes and see through their eyes.

Augmented reality, meanwhile—as either glasses or again as a form of neural interface—would expand our vision, and knowledge, of the world around us.

Walking down the street we’d be able to read every sign, how to speak the language, the history of every structure, the ingredients of every meal and—if the person you are looking at wishes to share such things—a person’s the sexual interests.

All of this leading to seeing the world not as locked door and hidden terrors but as passages to new discoveries.

A world of possibilities

Blockchain technology, genetic engineering, advanced medicine, sexual robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality—they all play crucial roles in our playful sexual utopia.

But technology alone will not solve today’s problems with sex.

We will continue to live in a world of ignorance, bigotry, hate, and fear—no matter what devices we create—unless humanity moves forwards. Subjective or not, we can make the world a better place if we embrace knowledge, empathy, respect, and tolerance.

And, who knows, we may someday be able to bring this sexual utopia—or something very much like it—into reality.

Do you have something you’d like to see in a sexual utopia? Feel free to share in the comments below!

Image sources: Depositphotos

The post A Joyous Life: A Sexual Utopia in 7 Social and Technological Steps appeared first on Future of Sex.

Will we soon be able to buy his synthetic companions wholesale?

As far as franchises go, Blade Runner is remarkably diverse. From video games to authorized follow-up novels, comic books to clothing, and even toys, it has become a huge part of popular culture

At its core, though, there are just three key works behind it all: the original novel by Philip K. Dick, its 1982 movie adaption, and Denis Villeneuve’s follow up film.

The novel that started it all

And now, in 2017—only two years away from the original film’s timeline of 2019—we’re seeing that Blade Runner isn’t just entertainment but a possible glimpse into the future of human sexuality.

Written in 1968, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is considered by many to be a fine, if not brilliant, story of a science-fiction master at the height of his powers. The book takes place in a near future devastated by nuclear war, where animal life is nearly extinct—save for those owned by the wealthy. Everyone else, meanwhile, has to make do with robotic creatures designed to look and act exactly like the real thing.

Trying to preserve humanity, the government encourages people to emigrate off-world to Mars. To entice Earth residents to make they move they are promised a personal replicant: an android servant that, like the animals, is practically indistinguishable from organic beings.

Our protagonist is Rick Deckard, who accepts an assignment to hunt down six rogue replicants who have returned to Earth from Mars—all so he can afford to purchase an actual, biological pet.

A new life awaits you

If this is starting sound familiar it’s because Ridley’s Scott’s 1982 film, retitled Blade Runner, does have a lot in common with the original novel by Dick. Yet while the two also have many differences, their core plot is the same: Deckard pursues rogue replicants, and in the course of doing so, deals with questions of identity, memory, and what it means to be human.

In Electric Sheep, Dick plays with one of his favorite themes: androids so realistic they can pass for human beings. In both the novel and in Scott’s film adaptation, replicants are so lifelike the only way to tell them apart from people is by using a sophisticated test that measures their reaction to emotional stimuli. (Trivia time: the questions that Deckard asks in the 1982 film are almost identical to the ones Dick uses in his original novel.)

While we may be a century or more away from being able to create anything close to a replicant, there are researchers working on giving artificial intelligence something akin to emotion.

Robots that love

As we have already reported, National Taipei University Assistant Professor Hooman Samani has been studying what he calls lovotics: the way human beings develop emotional attachments to technology. Using devices like his Mini-Surrogate, he may be on the path to making it easier to us to desire robots—and for them to have feelings for us in return.

Part of this erotic connection would require ways for robots to accurately read our emotions, which would, in turn, enable our android lovers to perfect their sexual skills thanks to loads of stored data on past encounters.

Robots that can read us

This is far from far-fetched, in fact, we’ve already seen steps in this direction like how a team from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT released its work on EQ-Radio: a system that uses WiFi to read a subject’s emotional state.

Right now it’s still pretty basic but give it a few more years and technology like this will be able to read not just your emotional state but maybe even your unconscious thoughts.  As mentioned, more data means a much more perfect android lover.

Coincidentally, we recently explored the idea of artificial intelligence as  lover in Blade Runner 2049, based on the relationship between the new Blade Runner, K (played by Ryan Gosling), and his hologram girlfriend (played Ana de Armas).

But what if you want to alter emotions, not simply have them read, perhaps as yet another way for your replicant to sexually arouse you?

The Penfield mood organ

It’s interesting that with all the iterations of Blade Runner, from comic books to toys, so few have noticed a bit of technological foresight on Dick’s part—the one that could have as much as an impact on sex as replicants.

In Electric Sheep there is something called a Penfield mood organ, a technology that Dick has used in quite a few of his books. The basic idea behind it is it is a machine that allows users to choose their emotional states. The apparatus is a way to dispel boredom and (wait for it) increase sexual desire.

It’s also an invention that’s closer than you think. Liminal VR, headed by Damian Moratti, is working on creating a device similar to Dick’s Penfield mood organ: a VR-based system that works to “combine neuroscience and design principles in virtual reality to induce a range of cognitive and emotional states, affording you the ability to control and augment your state of mind.”

We’re not sure how far Liminal VR has gone with its development but the science is certainly sound. Researchers have already established that emotions can be changed using either invasive techniques, such as with electrodes or through non-invasive means using electromagnetism.

There is even the possibility that we may be able to affect both emotion and memory, a key plot device in Electric Sheep, Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner, and even Denis Villeneuve’s sequel Blade Runner 2049.

More human than human

Putting these pieces together, it’s not hard to picture a near future where we will have android lovers that have been created to be sexually pleasurable. They may even display something very similar to human emotional reactions.

They’d know us perhaps even better than we know ourselves, being able to read our arousal and so meet our erotic needs before we can even voice them. And, if you’d like, you’ll also be able to adjust your own sexual arousal level: fine-tuning your excitement as much or as little as you want.

What this all means is what while replicants might be some years off, it looks very much like other elements in both the films as well as the original novel may arrive sooner than you think.

We can only hope that when they do, they’ll be part of a world that’s not as bleak and dystrophic as Blade Runner—in all its many forms.

Image sources: IMDB

The post Philip K. Dick’s Erotically Electric Dreams: Today’s Reality? appeared first on Future of Sex.

Wild, weird, wonderful, and undoubtedly thought-provoking

One of the best things about living in the age of the Internet is having access to books, music, and—what we are going to talk about here—movies that otherwise might be lost.

An added specialness to this is discovering works that aren’t just entertaining but also provide unique speculations on the future evolution of human sexuality.

Technotise: Edit & I

The creation of Serbian illustrator Aleksa Gajić—who wrote and directed this film based on his own graphic novel—Technotise: Edit & I (2009) is amazing not just for the staggering skill that went into its animation but also for its tight and thought-provoking script.

Briefly, it tells the story of Edit Stefanović: a student in 2074 Belgrave who, struggling to pass her University exams, resorts to implanting herself with a memory aid chip.

Things really get moving after she visits Abel Mustafov, a mathematical prodigy she has been caring for as part of her part-time job at a government facility. There Edit is exposed to a “theory of everything” program that Abel had previously been working on: one that no one had previously been able to run successfully.

Because of the combination of the chip, the program, and her own consciousness, Edit finds herself sharing her body with a self-aware cybernetic entity she names Edi.

Soon, though, she realizes that as Edi grows and expands her own health is deteriorating: meaning that only one of them will survive.

Technotise: Edit & I is on this list because of Edit’s relationship with Edi. Instead of being a stereotypical artificially intelligent villain, Edi actually cares for Edit and even feels remorse that its existence threatens her own.

In one scene, Edi demonstrates that he can even become an integrated lover to Edit by directly accessing her nervous system: the two of them making love within a shared digital mindscape.

Edit’s layered relationship with Edi gives Technotise: Edit & I a refreshingly unique perspective, especially with so many other films taking an alarmist approach to artificial intelligence.

The Year of the Sex Olympics

Nigel Kneale is a true science-fiction legend, especially in his native United Kingdom. Though already an established writer, in 1953 he practically leapt into universal acclaim with his BBC miniseries The Quatermass Experiment—which was made into a film in 1955.

His tragic rocket scientist protagonist, Bernard Quatermass, would return in three more celebrated series and subsequent feature films based on them: Quatermass II (1955), Quatermass And The Pitt (1959), and finally The Quatermass Conclusion (1979).

Kneale’s work in science fiction was always marked by a unique approach to the genre, evidenced particularly by his 1968 telefilm The Year of the Sex Olympics.

Set in a future when humanity has become separated into Low Drives (the working class) and High Drives (who control the state and the media), the film is both a boldly cynical view of humanity as well as disturbingly prescient.

In the film, the High Drives have begun to realize that their normal programming, such as the titular Sex Olympics, is having less and less of a pacifying effect on the Low Drives.

This changes when the accidental broadcast of a fatal accident, and the Low Drive’s positive reaction, leads them to create The Live Life Show: a brutal reality show where “contestants” are forced to survive on a remote island.

While not exactly a positive depiction of the future of human sexuality, The Year of the Sex Olympics is highly recommended for its cautionary tale of media control through sex, as well as what can happen when that control no longer has an effect.

The Year of the Sex Olympics, especially in light of the continuing popularity of reality television, still has the power to elicit both chills as well as critical examination of how things are—and where we, if we are not careful, could end up.

The Final Programme (Last Days of Man on Earth)

The last film on our list is a 70s science-fiction psychedelic romp based on the science-fiction master Michael Moorcock’s novel, The Final Programme.

Featuring Moorcock’s sexually fluid Jerry Cornelius (played by Jon Finch), the film version of The Final Programme (also called The Last Days of Man on Earth in the United States) practically defies description, though it is still thoroughly enjoyable, especially for fans of the strangeness that are 1960s and 70s science-fiction movies.

Giving it at least a shot, you could say that The Final Programme is about ultra-genius and fashion plate Jerry Cornelius as he at first seeks to rescue his sister, and implied lover, from his maniacal brother, Frank (Derrick O’Connor).

Pursuing Jerry is a gaggle of scientists led by another of Moorcock’s surreal characters, Miss Brunner (Jenny Runacre), who are searching for a microfilm hidden by the elder Cornelius that will allow them to create a “perfect self-replicating” human being.

After Catharine, Jerry and Frank’s sister, is killed, Jerry becomes involved in the project; eventually leading to he and Miss Brunner merging together to form this hybrid, ultra-evolved, being.

Why The Final Programme is here is because of it’s unexpected, to put it mildly, approach to sex—even for the decade in which it was made. It’s as if that period’s already experimental attitudes toward gender and eroticism were put into their own kaleidoscopic machine and bizarrely combined.

In one film, we have the less-than-subtle sexual relationship between Jerry and his sister but also Miss Brunner’s ability to sexually absorb other people, allowing her to gain their talents and intellects.

On top of this, there’s the appearance of the “perfect self-replicating” at the end: which is different in the film versus the book it was adopted from. The former being a neo-Troglodyte and the latter as a shimmering hermaphrodyte.

Treasures to be discovered

Hopefully this brief look at Technotise: Edit & I, The Year of the Sex Olympics, and The Final Programme will stimulate you to begin your own explorations in into obscure cinema—especially when they aren’t just lots of fun but also say, in their own unique way, something about the possible future of sex.

Do you have a film you really enjoy that also explores futuristic sex? Feel free to share in the comments below!

Image sources: IMDB

The post What A Tasty World: Three Cult Sci-fi Flicks With Fascinating Futuresex Twists appeared first on Future of Sex.

Sooner-than-you-think technologies could elevate us to new, erotic heights

Recently we looked at what a day in the not too distant future might look like, focusing particularly on the erotic.

In that same spirit here is another bit of playful speculation, but this time on what our future physical selves might be like—based both on the pace of current technology as well as some imaginative musings.

Beginning at the top

One of the most important changes will be in human consciousness itself: how we view the universe, our world, humanity, and even ourselves.

While we will eventually be able to augment our minds through cybernetic implants, that old staple of science fiction, it will take quite a few years for that to become commonplace. Mostly because, let’s face it, drilling a hole into your head just to access the Internet when you can do the very same thing with a smartphone is a bit silly—and risky.

What will allow us to literally change our minds will be a combination of medications, especially when they are made to perfectly mesh with our own DNA. Inklings of this possibility are showing themselves in emerging gene editing techniques like CRISPR as well as non-invasive deep brain stimulation, which is when you can affect the mind using skin surface contacts—no holes in the head required.

RECOMMENDED READ: In the Year 2125: When Your Sexual Possibilities Will Be Practically Limitless

It may even be possible to create new kinds of mental structures, or even personality types: taking what was once a source of discomfort and turning it into a fascinating new way of thinking and living.

It may even be possible to turn on, turn up, turn down, or turn off arousal. Need to focus on some task? Then sublimate your erotic impulses into problem solving or creativity—or even connect an activity like being productive into a form of sexual thrill.

Want a wild day off? Then switch on your libido and dial it up to 11! You could even tweak what you find sexually attractive. What happens to sexual bigotry when anyone can be attracted to everyone and anyone?

This also has the potential of controlling sexual anxiety. Feeling nervous? With a metaphorical flick of the switch, you won’t be. Sure, there’s lots of room for abuse—from the perils of addiction to this technology being used without consent—but let’s hope that from this technology will also come a framework for understanding and preventing these kinds of things from ever happening.

Wearing everything on your sleeve

As far as interfaces go, wearables will be your gateway both to the world beyond and into your own mind—until the era of brain implants arrives. Until then, things like augmented reality glasses and contact lenses, the aforementioned deep brain stimulation devices, and electronic tattoos will allow us to control our homes, our minds, and connect our bodies via the web to anywhere and anyone in the world.

Access to this level of immediate communication and information would mean that you would be able to understand any language from Farsi to Songhay, both spoken as well as written. Hearing it, you’d receive an instantaneous translation via bone conduction. Looking at it, you’d see a translation into your language of choice.

Augmented reality would also give you the ability to understand the world as never before. Glance at a building and you could, if you wanted, know everywhere from its architect to who lives on the third floor. Need to repair your bike? The instructions would be right there in front of your eyes.

And what if you think that person over there looks amazingly hot? A look and you would be able to see that not only is that person into what you are, but is looking for someone to play with.

Worried about privacy? If all goes well, you would only share what you want to share. And if someone else wants to know what you are sexually into, they’d only be able to tell if they were into it, too.

Be who or what you want to be

Much has been written about the average person of the future being an amalgam of what we erroneously call races. While it is true that we are mixing and matching like never before, this doesn’t take into account that, in just a few short years, things like melanin, epicanthic folds, hair color and texture, as well as the structures of the face and body will be completely changeable. Using, once again, gene editing technology as well as advanced plastic surgery techniques, you can choose your own physical form humanity’s vast array of possibilities.

The same is true with what we call gender and so-called secondary sexual characteristics. Our near-future human could have dark skin, epicanthic eyes, blond hair, six fingers, sensual breasts, and both a penis and a vagina. What would you call them? The answer: whatever they want to be called.

The basic shape of our bodies would also be just as flexible. Those living on space colonies might prefer to have extra hands instead of pretty useless feet. Others might choose to replace limbs with customizable tools, swapping them out for regular limbs when the job is finished.

In the area of genitalia, we will also have a staggering range of choices. Even though I just used the words penis and vagina, more than likely those words will be as outdated as the idea of race. Genitals, both artificial as well as biological, could be a phantasmagoria of shapes and uses—changed, even, as their user changes their sexual preference or interests.

A vision of the future

This is all just playful—and particularly hopeful—speculation. Who knows what will actually happen to us in the future. We may very well discover some new technological breakthrough that will change everything here, or suffer some major planetary setback.

But let’s hold onto the idea that as we become as advanced socially as we’ll eventually become technologically, that someday we will all outgrow bigotry, ignorance, and hate.

Here’s to the idea that we all will have the ability to become physically what we want to be—and that humanity will finally become a place of tolerance, acceptance and, most of all, love.

Image sources: Depositphotos

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