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.

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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

The post You 2.0: How We’ll Be Able to Build Ourselves Sexually Better Bodies appeared first on Future of Sex.

How the sextech of today could reshape tomorrow’s pleasures

It’s pretty darned fun trying to imagine what life might be like 10, 20, or even 50 years from now.

It’s even more exciting to imagine what sex would be like in the future.

So here, based on current technological innovations and social changes, is a playful look at what tomorrow might be like—especially when it comes to the ageless playground of human sexuality.

It’s a new dawn

After a perfect night’s rest—your implanted medications guaranteeing it, customized as they are to your own unique genetic structure—you awake bright and eager for a new day.

Using sensors built into its structure, your home detects your emotional state and either warms or cools your environment to meet your needs. It then preps your morning beverage of choice, perhaps even assembling a breakfast suggestion based on what’s in the fridge.

Your shelves are never really bare, food often being delivered by drones and stocked by your faithful home robot. That is when you don’t want to personally shop at the nearest farmer’s market. If you’re not in the mood to cook, your kitchen can do a lot of it for you: 3D printing a pretty complete meal at a moment’s notice.

To people living a few decades prior, your home might appear both remarkably small as well as starkly minimalistic. Your bed’s sheets are nanofabric, and so stain and scent resistant. Your kitchen is clean and smoothly efficient—as is your bathroom.

There might be art, some lovingly handcrafted items from friends. But most of the walls are bare, because for most of the day you won’t be looking at them.

You’re feeling good

From your nightstand you collect your augmented reality (AR) glasses. French Colonial today, or maybe something Japanese? Your choice: what you want your space to look like will be projected into your vision through the glasses. Sitting down in your smart chair, that automatically adjusts to your body, you greet the day: projected images, streams of text, video chat windows all beamed into your sight.

But today your mind is wonderfully distracted so you reach out into your world of friends—and more than friends. Some are close by, so assignations are just a short bike or autonomous vehicle ride away. Is your or their space too small? There are love hotel spaces available all over. Just pick a style you both enjoy and make a date.

Freedom is yours

Alas, your circle of playmates are all busy this morning. But you get a flirty nibble from someone in Johannesburg; you and their sexual compatibility fluidly compared. Smoothly you learn all you need to about this person’s needs, concerns, and desires.

Consent is asked and received, both of you agreeing for your time together to be monitored by a neutral software package.

So many wonderful choices: perhaps you are your morning playmate would like to share direct neural stimulation? Or maybe you just want to have fun the slightly old-fashioned way? If the former, it’s just matter of activating your neural interface: every sense, including touch, being subsequently delivered directly into your brain

Or perhaps a more physical kind of play? You have the suitable hardware, and what you don’t have you can just make in your personal 3D printer, and when you’re done whatever isn’t needed can just be broken down and recycled.

It’s a new world

You don’t have to go out if you don’t want to—over the net or meeting up with a physical playmate in the area. Your personal android, after all, has all kinds of attachments and can please you in all kinds of ways.

And play doesn’t have to be just play: perhaps you want to work on your relationship skills, or your physical lovemaking techniques? Your bot ? can become whatever you sexually want—but also what you emotionally need.

When your house system reads your emotions, it can do more than just dim the lights or turn on the heat. Stress, depression, anxiety—your android will do everything from rub your shoulders to reach out to others when you need help.

Change your mind, change your body

After your lovely morning romp you decide that a shower is in order. Your house, reading your jubilant mood, tweaks the environment with scents and sounds and maybe even slight enhancements to your augmented reality view of your space.

Your body is whatever you want it to be. Through genetic engineering and various implants your body perfectly reflects your true self. Your health is monitored and carefully—and unobtrusively—maintained by your home and your personal digital assistants. Your body is yours to do with whatever you desire.

Evidence of this is your lunch: guided by your software friends, it is perfectly healthy and balanced just for you—and it tastes wonderful.

Afterward you spend a bit of time working. A little creative work, assisting some artificial intelligence somewhere, or remotely operating some piece of hardware.

Then there’s either your garden or the community one, for when you want to get some dirt under your nails. A friend’s birthday is coming up, as well: so perhaps some time creating something handcrafted to mark the occasion.

Social time as well, and like sexual play, it can either be a short trip away or immediate through your AR glasses. Your circles are varied and vast, from your chess club to those you share your sexual interests. Whatever you decide, it is always a safe space because it is one you have selected that fits exactly who you are. No longer do you have to find a circle of people and hope that it works out. Your agents and home know you so well they can locate just the right place for you.

Be who you are

Night is coming—maybe sleep, maybe more sexual play, maybe more work, maybe anything: it is your choice.

You are not just who you want to be physically. The world is all about self-definition: your sexual orientation, your gender, your beliefs, they are all for you to choose—or change.

The structure of society is equally flexible. Some are married, others are not. Some live communally, others solitary. There are polyamorous households with many, or a few, sharing their lives together. There are BDSM communities with members consensually owning, or being owned, by others. There are those in relationships with their androids or their virtual assistants.

The respect and tolerance is common: treating others the way you would like to be treated. You have to right to live your life but not to tell others how to live theirs,though consent is always clear and respected.

The world has become both vast with possibilities and beautifully intimate through a newfound deep understanding of human wants and needs.

Yes, sleep: dreams of what else might come in even a farther future. But for now it was a good day–with pleasure experienced and shared.

And who knows what the next day will bring?

Image sources: Depositphotos

The post A Day to Come: Imaging What Your Sexlife Might Be Like in the Not-To-Distant Future appeared first on Future of Sex.

We may soon have to add more pages to the Kama Sutra—or pen an entirely new one

Imagine the erotic possibilities of extra carbon fiber arms or additional thumbs! Cybernetic researchers like Dr. Masahiko Inami of Keio University’s School of Media Design and Cambridge University’s Dani Clode and Professor Tamar Makinmay not currently be focused on the sexual possibilities of extra limbs, but in the future, they very well could be.

Featured in a video by WIRED’s Amit Katwala, Dr. Masahiko Inami’s approach involves providing people with four additional limbs while Clode and Makin have been investigating the possible advantages of giving us two additional thumbs.

On more than one hand

Drawing from bunraku, traditional Japanese puppetry, the current iteration of Dr. Inami’s jizai, or “freely moving” carbon fiber arms, may not require an external power source but aren’t, as yet, user-operable.  

As Amit Katwala showed, his prototype jizai’s are primarily controlled via a set of smaller-scale limbs, though autonomy is somewhat possible but with mixed results, having difficulty with relatively simple tasks like picking up a plush toy or not-as-successfully doing the same with a marker.

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Dr. Inami envisions his extra arms being used for everything from physical therapy to inspiring otherwise unheard-of athletic competitions. “Maybe in the future we attach or detach to play a new kind of sport,” he speculated in the WIRED video.

Thumbs up

Meanwhile, at Cambridge University, Professor Makin and Dani Clode were experimenting with what it’d be like to have an additional thumb.  

Makin and Clode’s third thumb is user-operable thanks to a press-sensitive toe switch. As Katwala discovered, it didn’t take very long for him to get used to controlling his new thumb this way. He was surprised to discover that this brief demo had already remapped some of his neural pathways.

Professor Makin explained that she and Clode were using their artificial thumb to introduce participants to completely new ways to operate their bodies, allowing them to do more than they could with just their hands.

Makin explained that this type of research might eventually teach people to control any number of new body parts intuitively: 

At the moment, which is the very earliest days of the field, I think we want to provide a proof of concept that, yes, we are comfortable in our bodies with our five fingers hand but any limitations in using extra fingers and arms is a limitation ultimately of our imagination as humans.

Reach for tomorrow

Imagine what it’d be like to have as many fingers, thumbs, hands, legs, or arms as we want.

By remapping our brains and integrating bleeding-edge haptic tech into our new, cybernetically augmented selves, we could sense the world, ourselves, and our lovers like never before. We could experience having more than one set of genitals.

Why stop there?  Suppose our new, artificial limbs act and feel precisely the same as the ones we were born with. Why shouldn’t it be possible to construct and remotely operate new bodies as well, ones specifically designed for sexual activities we might not otherwise be capable of performing? 

How does making love in a volcano, indulging in a deep space orgy, or swinging at the bottom of the Mariana Trench sound?

Or it may spark a wildly creative, gorgeously erotic renaissance where our bodies are our canvases, and what we can do with them and each other is our art.

Even if we dial our imaginations back a bit, the availability of optional body parts could aid people struggling with all sorts of dysmorphic disorders.

When all’s said and done, it comes down to the joy of having options. You may not want to have more than two thumbs, two legs, two arms, and so forth, but should the likes of Dr. Masahiko Inami, Dani Clode, and Professor Makin take their work to the next—and the next, and the next, and the next—level, for the first time you’ll be able to say to yourself, I want to try being more than I already am.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Arms Enough for Love: The Erotic Possibilities Extra Limbs, More Thumbs May Hand Us appeared first on Future of Sex.

Today’s self-modifying underground might be tomorrow’s erotic pioneers

Body modification, “the deliberate altering of the human anatomy” (to use Wikipedia), has been around for a very, very, very long time.

How long? Well, let me introduce you to Ötzi, the remarkably well-preserved gentleman who, fortunately for us and unfortunately for him, died back in 3,000 BCE. Ötzi has taught researchers a lot about what life was back then, including the fact that people were “deliberate altering” themselves. In Ötzi’s case, it was via tattoos.

With the arrival of technological innovations like surgical plastics, safer medical techniques, implantable electronics, and a whole slew of other possibilities, it’s kind of natural that we’ve seen the birth, and growing popularity, of people interested in altering themselves—up to and including their own sexual components.

Grinding, biohacking, and the Lovetron9000

Grinders, to use their term, “practice functional extreme body modification in an effort to improve the human condition” (from Biohack.me). Among their modifications are the use of magnets in hands and fingers, granting a new type of sense; implanted RFID (Radio-frequency identification) tags to transmit information and even unlocking doors; and then there’s sex.

Rich Lee recently announced that he is planning to undergo surgery to implant his creation, the Lovetron9000: a tiny motorized device that, if successful, would allow Lee to stimulate his penis without the need for external equipment—beyond an induction system to charge it.

Speaking to Hugo Gray here at Future of Sex, Lee said, “Having sex with a cyborg will be great. Imagine sex, but with deep, unnatural, and stimulating vibrations. It’s like a vibrator and a boyfriend! The question is: will you ever be able to go back to having sex with non-cyborgs? Nope, you will no longer be satisfied by humans. Game over humans!”

Where could this all go?

While non-augmented humanity more than likely has a few more years to enjoy its standard equipment, the expanding interest—and, most of all, increasing safety—in sexual grinding can’t be denied.

And with this popularity will no doubt come greater, even casual acceptance. As Ryan O’Shea of Grindhouse Wetware put it to NPR: “I think once people realize, ‘Oh, it’s OK that my grandma has a pacemaker’… people are going to start to accept this… the era of transhumanism, I would say, is here. So let’s accept that and then see where that logically takes us.”

In that spirit, let’s rub our magical lamp of speculation and play with some concepts for grinding our bodies—specifically in regards to sexuality and eroticism.

A magnetic attraction

As already mentioned, an already pretty well-established mod is the implantation of magnets. Most have used them to gain a new kind of sense: the tug of the magnet reacting to metals as well as other attractors.

It’s fascinating to ponder the use of the same technique to place mini-magnets in parts other than, or in addition to, fingers. Why not place encapsulated magnets in the corona or head of a penis? There’s already an established body piercing called a Dydoe [NSFW]—so why not use a magnetic piece of jewelry that would be attracted, obviously at a low level, to magnets in hands, labia, lips, or other penises? More than likely this has already happened, either by accident or design. so please feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.

But there’s another magnetic form of sexual attraction to consider. Using unusual, though safe, forms of tattoo ink is becoming rather common. There are already inks that react to ultraviolet light and even some that are purely luminescent, so why not a ferrofluid tattoo?

Again, extensive research and testing would have to be done but the possibility is intriguing: the tattoo recipient could very easily have the experience of their genitals, or other body parts, being gently tugged by simply being in the presence of an implanted partner’s magnet.

Information is sex

Another already referenced grinder implant is a RFID chip. What’s interesting about this is that the chip can be used to transmit information, as with implanted pet tags, but it can also be a trigger for all sorts of electronic devices, from door locks to the operation of Rich Lee’s Lovetron9000.

Imagine the possibilities of being able to utilize a high-tech form of sexual BDSM control over a partner with an implanted sexual device. For example. perhaps only with a specific RFID key—in hand or maybe even in genitalia—could the Lovetron9000 activate.

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There’s also the idea that another form of information implant could read another of its kind. Approach a possible playmate and you’d receive anything from a buzz from a sexual implant or even a text message that this person meets your pre-programmed erotic preferences. There’s even the possibility that we’ll be able to have thin-as-skin implantable LED displays very soon, as reported by Engadget.

For those interested in the Quantified Self branch of grinding, the exploring of the self through the acquisition of all kinds of personal data, having a sensor linked to everything from pulse to sexual arousal, could mean they could sync up with someone else similarly equipped. No more clumsy “you’re in the mood but I’m not” moments.

New genders for a new world

Possibly too large to address in this space, but too interesting to ignore, is the use of body modification to expand on what gender is and could be. We already have extremely advanced medical techniques available, allowing many people to become their preferred gender, so, as with grinders, it should also come as no surprise that people may not just change their gender but create new ones.

The term most commonly used is Postgenderism, and. while many surgical procedures really can’t be performed at the same level of the grinders’, it’s more than likely just a matter of time before humanity begins to really experiment with all the available options.Or perhaps with none at all, as in the case of nullification, the excising of body parts, including sexual ones.

Who owns you?

This raises a question society has been wrestling with since the days of Ötzi: do you own, and, therefore, have the right to alter your own body? Beyond the obvious need to prohibit dangerously unsafe practices, does anyone have the right to tell you what you can do to yourself?

As with many issues we are all facing, we can only hope that in the end we will all be granted the freedom, and wisdom, to become the person we feel we should be, or to be able to enhance ourselves mentally, physically, and, most of all sexually.

Image sources: Depositphotos

The post Do It (to) Yourself: Biohacking, Grinding, and Sexual Self Improvement appeared first on Future of Sex.

How the groundbreaking anime explored the merging of the natural and the artificial 

Japanese animation, anime as it is frequently called, has a long tradition of exploring humankind’s relationship with technology—including times when that relationship goes beyond intimate and into the obviously erotic.

In fact, if you look at any future speculations in anime, with regards to sexuality and technology, you’ll find not just that anime has delved into it but with a remarkably thorough and thoughtful approach.

While we know that an anime otaku (“fanboy” to use the Western meaning and not the literal Japanese translation) can more than likely come up with several others, here are just a few choice examples of anime’s future conjectures: virtual reality (.hack//SIGN), augmented reality (Dennō Coil), prosthetic limb replacement (Texhnolyze), artificial intelligence (Ergo Proxy), gender fluidity (Shangri-La), robotics (Astroboy —one of the very first anime series), and many others.

But there’s one anime franchise that has touched on each of these, and done it in ways that show what could very well be the future of not just sexuality, but the very future of humanity itself.

“I mean, have you ever actually seen your brain?”

Created first as a manga (Japanese comic book) by the legendary artist/writer Masamune Shirow in 1989, Ghost in the Shell (Kōkaku Kidōtai in Japanese) became a movie in 1995, directed by Mamoru Oshii. From there the franchise has followed a long-standing Japanese tradition of re-imaginings and re-interpretations, including three animated television series, a few novels, a sequel to the first movie (Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, also by Mamoru Oshii), several other films, a few video games, and even a stage play.

Taking place in 2029 (to use the date in the original manga), the core story is that of Public Security Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist unit, headed by the main character of pretty much every incarnation of Ghost in the Shell: “Major” Motoko Kusanagi.

The Major (if the title is official or just a handle varies from series to series) is a full-body cyborg, meaning that only some of her spine and her brain is original/organic. This isn’t a rarity in this vision of the future—where partial and full-body replacement is quite common—but Kusanagi is known for being especially adept at not just operating her artificial body optimally, but also in cyber warfare, espionage, and pushing the limits of the technology envisioned by Ghost in the Shell.

“Just a whisper. I hear it in my ghost”

One of the big questions Ghost In The Shell raises is “what does it actually mean to be human?” In the first movie, Kusanagi states several times that she has doubts about the nature of her existence.

For example, the opening scene in the first film shows Kusanagi’s artificial body being assembled: a quasi-erotic scene until the viewer realizes it’s about as sexual as an automobile assembly line.

In her world, a typical way of determining humanity is the presence of a “ghost” of consciousness. Humans have it, robots do not. But that doesn’t stop the Major from wondering if she, with all her artificial components, has left a key part of herself behind in the process.

“It is time to become a part of all things”

Despite, or because of, her doubts, the conclusion of the first film has her accepting the invitation of The Puppet Master (a form of self-aware artificial intelligence) to merge with it: to become a unique mixture of the two minds, one organic and one cybernetic.

What’s intriguing about this is how it speaks to a possible future of sexuality. The Major may look like a woman, but this is just her prosthetic “shell”’ Her real self, whatever it may be, is what she exchanges with The Puppet Master. It’s not a huge leap of speculation to see this as a natural course for digitized human consciousness and artificial intelligence: binary sex, digital merging, then reproduction into an entirely new form of life.

As the new incarnation of the Major says at the end of the first film: “And where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite.”

“If a technological feat is possible, man will do it.”

Several times in Ghost in the Shell, it’s implied that gender is just a matter of external hardware. The Major’s fellow Section 9 teammate, Batou, in fact, chastises her for staying physically female when she could just as easily put her braincase into a male chassis.

Similarly, in an episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, Paz, another member of the team, is stalked by a woman so obsessed she wants to physically become him by placing her brain in an artificial copy of his body. The episode is particularly chilling when, at the end, Batou and the Major share some doubts that the surviving Paz may not actually be theirs.

The speculation this brings up is fascinating: if bodies can be anything, what happens to the entire idea of gender? And why do bodies even have to be male or female? Many other characters in Ghost are what could be called a-gender or, with a few attachments when needed, multi-gender. Once we move beyond organic bodies what will happen to sex? Ghost may not have the answer but the franchise does pose some interesting questions.

A Solid State Society

It’s questions like this that make Ghost such an interesting anime franchise. Another way it looks at the future of humankind, and of course sex, is raised in the film (tied into the Stand Alone Complex series): Solid State Society.

Without going into too much of the story, which deals with collective consciousness, the vanishing mediator, and more heady stuff, there is a moment where the Major, after stepping away from Section 9, has set up shop for herself as an investigator. In her office/workspace, she has several artificial bodies that she can operate independently. In fact, a key point of the story is that one of these split-off selves acts a bit too independently.

When we are able to convert our minds, our ghosts, into digital versions why shouldn’t we be able to do what the Major was able to — if not more? After all, a program can be run on more than one platform at a time. Separated digital minds could be later synced together, merging the two versions into a combined whole again.

Is this sex? If not—why not? It could almost be seen as a form of complex masturbation: making love to Your own mind, or a version of it.

Bodies, again, could be used for whatever explorations a person wants to enjoy. You could take your male body out on a date with yourself in a female body, or any combination of gender, or even a new one, you may desire. The net, indeed, would be extremely vast and absolutely infinite.

“And where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite.”

Ghost in the Shell is a remarkable franchise, delving as it does into humanity, physical identity, and artificial consciousness.

And there’s sex. Even its very first appearance, in Masamune Shirow’s manga, there was a rather notorious explicit sex scene in virtual reality with the Major. But while there is certainly eroticism in every incarnation of the Major’s adventures, there’s also at its heart a penetrating examination of where we all might be heading.

Again, Ghost in the Shell may not have all the answers, but the questions it raises are ones we all will have to face, learn from and use to grow as human—whatever that may be.

Or, as the Puppet Master puts it: “All things change in a dynamic environment. Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you.”

Image sources: IMDB

The post Sometimes I Even Feel Hope: Celebrating Ghost In The Shell’s Speculative Sexuality appeared first on Future of Sex.

What physical and mental transformations await us in the years ahead?

Welcome to your body 2.0

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the basic operations of both the new and improved physical structure as well as the operating system.

The first things you may have noticed are the major improvements to the physical sexual perimeters (i.e. the genitals). Don’t be alarmed. Rest assured that not only will they perform just like the previous versions, but they have been totally redesigned to improve just about every aspect of erotic pleasure.

Oh, and don’t forget to agree to the Terms and Conditions.

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Predicting the future is, at best, hit and miss; mostly a lot of misses to a very few hits.

But that’s never stopped me before. So, after looking at a few of the remarkable innovations that have recently appeared, I’ve tried to speculate on the hot new bodies we all could be wearing in the next hundred or so years.

And, naturally, as this is Future of Sex, I’ll be paying particular attention to the erotic fun all of us might be having with our new bodies.

Your new brain

Not to take away from what many people call their favorite body part, but one of the greatest changes coming to our sex lives is actually above the neck—not below the waist.

The field of neurochemistry has made tremendous steps in the last few years. True, there is still a lot to learn, but if things progress at this rate in a few more years—let alone 100—there’s every indication we’ll have the ability to alter our thoughts, our emotions, our intelligence: everything that makes us… us.

Anxiety, shame, guilt, depression, and a whole myriad of psychoses—the whole negative parade of things that makes life barely tolerable for millions of humans—could be managed, or completely edited out, with new drugs or with the aid of AI therapists.

And what does this have to do with sex? Well, everything; after all, our sexuality rests much more in our minds than in our bodies. With this conquering of consciousness, we’ll have the ability to not just increase or decrease our libidos but change the focus as well.

Your new psyche

Let’s get a touch more specific. After all, I more than likely won’t be around in 100 years to be criticized for getting any of this wrong.

Jumping a tad ahead from mind to bodies, one almost guaranteed innovation is going to be longevity. Some have even speculated that soon we’ll see the death of death within the next few decades.

Others have conjectured that this will lead to crippling boredom. But I think that with our mastery of consciousness, that too will be a thing of the past. Why not take a vacation with a new orientation? How will bigotry and intolerance fare in a society where you can actually live someone else’s sex life—take a lifetime’s long walk in their sexuality?

Think of a world where experience is the new currency: where we’ll be able to know what it is to be, and love, as an entirely different person.

But why stay with human desire? A tweak of our minds and we could get aroused by the wind, the stars in the skies, music, or by creating a work of art.

Or, taking this into a new direction, how’d you like to see the world through completely innocent eyes? Software can be edited—or copied and deleted—in all kinds of interesting ways. You could be with your lover like it was that magical first time by putting a copy of those years on a virtual shelf and restore your mind to when you first met. Just think of the possibilities of creative and sensual amnesia.

But let’s not stop there. Once we bridge the software/meatware barrier we’ll have the possibility of uploading our minds ourselves into other bodies, even customized erotic ones.

We could spend a long time playing in this possible mental playground of the next century but let’s drop down a bit; to what could very well happen to our genitals.

Your new body

First, a word about the rest of our bodies: just as huge steps are being made in the neurosciences, we are making equally staggering strides in biology.

From gene therapy to bio-printing, from cloning to advanced surgical techniques, we are fast approaching a time when our bodies will be almost as flexible as our upgraded minds.

Someone (I think it was me) once said that the future can be summed up as having options.

Looking back only a few years, limited mass production—and costly customized fabrication—meant that, to paraphrase Henry Ford on his Model T, you could have any color you wanted, as long it was black.

Soon, however, we’ll be able to quickly alter pretty much anything about our biological selves. Skin color, gender, and age could go from genetic destiny to personal choice. Life could become a form of art we can barely contemplate, where many will push the limits of not just sexuality but what it means to be human.

Your new sex

Let’s face it, evolution is a wonderful thing, but when it comes to the playground of our sex organs there is definitely room for improvement.

Neurologically, we may be able to treat any part of our bodies as an extension of our genitals. Arousal from a fingertip, a nose, the palm of the hand—we’ll be able to remap our sexual body to any point we wish. And, again, we’ll be able to switch it off, change the frequency, or ramp it up to 11 without a thought.

As we gain more and more skill in reshaping our bodies, the whole concept of gender will more than likely vanish.

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Biological sexual response will be a matter of when and not —due to age or medical difficulties—if. We’ll be able to engorge, lubricate, dilate, or whatever we want whenever we want with just a thought. The headache of having the spirit willing but the flesh uncooperative will be long-forgotten.

Sticking with the antique definitions of male and female, though these too-narrow terms will be like talking about sock garters and television to coming generations. So let’s indulge in some playfully sexy speculations for the upcoming century.

For penis-preferring humans, again, erection will be an easy, and variable option. As, more than likely, will be customization of length and thickness. Face it, various sizes don’t always work for certain activities. But in the coming decades that won’t be a problem. Think of it as putting the top up or down on a car—though those terms, too, might be obsolete in a few more years.

Your new erotic options

As we’ll have the whole of human biology to play with, why not do some mix and matching? Taste buds, for instance, could be placed anywhere (thank you, Adam Warren). Special glands could be created to ease—or enhance—all kinds of activities. There’s also no reason why we couldn’t add unique musculature to the male member to add wild new position possibilities. We could also add new nerve types there, changing the entire neurological landscape of the organ.

Reproduction would also be a matter of conscious decision and not biological imperative. The whole idea of birth control will be not preventing it, but making a conscious decision make it happen.

For those who prefer to have vaginas, the entire architecture is a possible playground. Nerves could be rerouted or increased in any part from interior to labia. Lubrication, again, would be a when and not a hope. Let’s not forget about taste buds, as well as streaming the whole menstrual cycle. I know a lot of people who would consider that an absolute priority.

The clitoris could equally benefit from some of that penile nerve tweaking and muscle manipulations. It doesn’t take a very polished crystal ball to see the potential in a full penis/clitoris hybrid.

Then there’s the sexual matching of technology and biology. Why not do with engineering what flesh and blood can’t? We’ll more than likely have implanted vibrators, neurological stimulators (where a touch could generate a world of new sensations in a partner), recording devices, artificial muscles, and worlds more.

The groundwork for this kind of technology is already out there. Right here on Future of Sex we’ve talked about both the development of prototype artificial genitals—as well as the homegrown biohacking movement where dedicated self-modifying hobbyists are taking important steps in becoming cyborgs, particularly sexual ones.

Your new EVERYTHING

A century ago we were in the middle of the First World War: biplanes ruled the skies, the already-mentioned Model T was changing the world, and sex was as perilous as it was pleasurable. A person from that time, a century later, would barely recognize us.

Agreed, trying to see the future is mostly misses—against a few rare hits. But, if anything, I think this playful speculation is a bit too conservative for what we will be like in 2125.

It’s all a matter of time—plus, of course, desire.

And humans, I think we all can agree, certainly have a lot of that.

Image sources: Depositphotos

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