Innovations that could usher in an age of erotic enlightenment.

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, rape 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.

The end of 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.

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: Futuristic Society, Lady Stromfield, Andy Leppard, Many Wonderful Artists, Maziani Sabudin