VR might offer full immersion, but AR could be a whole other, wildly arousing ball game

In Seeing Is Arousing: Looking at Augmented Reality’s Erotic Potential – Part 1 we had a rather quick crash-course in what AR is, how it’s different that virtual reality, and some teases of what it could mean in regards to sex.

Now it’s time to explore that erotic potential in much more detail—and see how the power of augmented reality lies not just in replacing reality but in illuminating what we hadn’t been able to see before.

Augmented desires

As was said in our first article, while virtual reality has the allure of creating a totally immersive experience, augmented reality has the promise of enhancing what is already there with all kinds of pertinent information.

This means that using AR glasses you’ll be able to look at the world around you and visually know whatever anyone wants to share with you. Think of looking at someone and seeing, immediately their About Me page.

Not only that but the system will be interactive. Looking at someone you might see you are a potential sexual match, so you send them a digital wink. If they like that, they might respond in kind, without a word being exchanged and with clear boundaries of communication.

If you might be nervous about sharing sexual interests with everyone it no doubt could be configured to hide your info and make it visible only to others with similar turn-ons.

For example, a glance at someone walking down the street and, superimposed over your vision, a little emoji for your favorite kink pops up over someone’s head: possible playmate found!

Best of all worlds?

The possibilities are really fascinating. With AR hardware you could “throw” a window onto any surface—as it only exists as a projection into your own vision. Need to send a text or email? A sheet of virtual paper appears on the tabletop in front of you, allowing you to either dictate or even type, using tracking software looking at your fingertips on a similarly virtual keyboard.

Erotic images could be similarly tossed on any surface, shared from a lover or playmate or just to spruce up a drab city. Another part of the smart system being that it wouldn’t block or distract you from doing whatever it is you need to be doing. There’s no reason why it couldn’t monitor your real-world position and flick away an overlay that could be a dangerous distraction.

RECOMMENDED READ: How VR/AR Could Dial Sexual Intimacy To Eleven and Beyond

But, at its core, AR is all about information. Think about how much less confusing and difficult the world could be if you could look at someone and know what they wanted or needed—especially sexually. Gone could very well be doubts around not just possible erotic interest, but also things like language, preferred gender address, and so much more.

This is also true in regards to safety. As the AR system would monitor your position as well as provide a recording system, if anyone chooses to ignore what you are putting out into the world you could instantly give them an AR thumbs down—or even alert the police if needed.

Augmented reality will enhance our view of the world around us, but it also has the possibility of changing what we see.

Virtual vs augmented

VR is kind of all-or-nothing: it swaps out the real world for a synthetic one. But what makes augmented reality full of so many possibilities is that it could overlay part of what we see but also, like VR, supplant it as well.

Think of it this way: for a VR system to be effective it has to get rid of that pesky real world. This is why most VR rigs block any of the wearer’s normal vision.

With AR, however, it normally just supplants what the wearer sees. But a hybrid augmented reality system would allow people to switch back and forth. This would be particularly easy for a contact lens version of AR as the glasses form would more-than-likely have some bleeding in reality around the frames.

Here’s where the fun begins! Imagine looking at your lover and seeing a playful road map of erogenous zones, perhaps biometrically symbolized by levels of arousal?

Or, at a moment’s notice, you could be able to superimpose anything you or your partner desires over your intimate scene. Want make love to a cartoon or anime character? How about looking back at your own face? Or even play with concepts of gender or sexual orientation by visually replacing your partner with a mix-and-match of erotic images?

And we haven’t even touched on the impact that haptic tech will have on augmented reality: when the day comes that we will not just be able to see whatever we desire but also have the illusion of touch as well.

Gazing toward new delights

Of all the technological breakthroughs in sexual exploration arriving or coming soon, augmented reality shows perhaps the greatest potential for not just physical pleasure, but in truly enhancing how we’ll understand and relate to one another.

Ignorance has long been a burden of humanity. But with augmented reality’s promise of breaking down barriers, of giving and sharing personal information, it could very well mean the end of not knowing and, even more importantly, not caring about anyone.

Image sources: Depositphotos

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How AR may make our lives—and sex lives—better than ever before

Virtual reality has certainly—and loudly—arrived, making a huge splash in everything from gaming to sexual entertainment.

But while it will no doubt add a new, vivid dimension to how many people experience all kinds of pleasures, there’s another form of immersive technology that promises to give a quality that virtual reality lacks.

Namely reality itself.

What is Augmented Reality (AR)?

A kissing-kin in many ways to virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) uses a similar technological base: the projections of images into the user’s eyes, coupled with motion-tracking systems so when you turn your head the system changes the angle and position of the images.

It mixes such projections within the landscape of your actual physical environment.

The allure of virtual reality is that these projections replace what the wearer would normally be seeing within an artificial environment. The possibilities, for erotic entertainment are staggering: pretty much every visual fantasy that can be imagined could very well be created for the enjoyment of a VR user.

And, in a few more years, we’ll no doubt be able to not just see a new world, but be able to touch and interact with it via innovations in haptic, or touch, technology.

RECOMMENDED READ: Adult Content Producers Virtually Excited by Upcoming Apple Vision Pro 2

But where VR and AR splits is in that idea of human vision. As said, VR is totally immersive, leaving little or no impact on the real world—aside from forgetting you’re wearing a VR rig and you accidently walk into a wall.

AR, though, projects similar images either onto a piece of transparent material—or even into the eye itself. This means that with AR you could be wearing what could appear to be a pair of innocuous glasses and see not just what you normally would but also an overlay of images or information.

Thus, augmented reality is exactly what it says it is: it modifies, instead of replaces as in the case of VR, what the user sees.

It adds to reality instead of cutting it off.

It’s already on the way

While VR has definitely gotten out of the gate first, with products like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and even the very affordable Google Cardboard, augmented reality research has some more-than-huge backers behind its development.

Google already lead the race with its Google Glass project. Unfortunately, this first AR incarnation hit like a lead balloon because of what could be best be called the viewing problem with AR.

Not viewing in the case of what the wearer sees but in how they are seen. The main allure of AR, after all, is that it interfaces with the outside world. Virtual reality hardware doesn’t need to be pretty as the user is usually safe and sound in their “real” home or office when they are using it.

But AR users will want to take the power of visually superimposing information out beyond their own four walls. This also means though that unless their gear is hip and stylish, then they are going to stand out—or be singled out for scorn in the case of early Google Glass adopters.

Big things on the horizon

The big break, therefore, in augmented reality is going to be the ability for wearers not to be seen.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has already hard at work on a VR/AR hybrid system that will, hopefully, appear commonplace.

During his speech at the Facebook F8 conference, he said: “Over the next 10 years, the form factor’s just going to keep on getting smaller and smaller, and eventually we’re going to have what looks like normal-looking glasses that can do both virtual and augmented reality.”

Further in the future is the promise of an even less obvious way of using AR: contact lenses. Hardware giant Samsung is working on a way of integrating vision and tracking systems small enough to be worn directly on the eye.

Not to be left behind, Google is also coming back to AR with a similar style of technology, meaning that we are looking at an augmented reality arms race. And, as we’ve learned with everything from smartphones to gaming systems, that means that huge innovations are more than likely right around the corner.

Meanwhile Apple recently rocked the AR world with their Vision Pro, but while its extremely high price tag limited its acceptance its next iteration could solve this by being lighter and especially far more affordable. 

In our next installment, we’ll move right along to how augmented reality may completely change human sexuality by removing one of old oldest stumbling blocks: lack of communication.

Image sources: Depositphotos

The post Seeing Is Arousing: Looking at Augmented Reality’s Erotic Potential – Part 1 appeared first on Future of Sex.

The sextech industry can’t wait to explore the technology’s erotic potential

The next, upgraded iteration of Apple’s mixed reality headset may arrive early next year or as late as the next year, but that hasn’t stopped explicit content creators from preparing for its arrival and the delights in store for their VR customer base.

Details are scant, though sites like 9to5 seem fairly certain the new Apple Vision Pro 2 will include the faster, more efficient M4 or M5 chip; an improved neck and head stress-reducing head strap; and, according to this Bloomberg article, a method to “increase the number of cores inside of the neural engine—a component for processing artificial intelligence tasks.”  

The article further explains, “The neural engine in the current Vision Pro includes 16 cores, a measure of processing power. These capabilities are critical for a device that relies on AI for the live processing of imagery and applications in complex virtual environments.”

Lighter, more powerful, more comfortable—and cheaper?

Often heralded as a significant step towards realizing the immersive potential of augmented and mixed reality, the initial Apple Vision Pro nevertheless received mixed reviews, mostly due to its prohibitively steep price point.  

However, starting at $3,499, excluding the cost of special prescription lenses, and nearly $3,899 for the one-terabyte model, wasn’t the only thing holding it back.  

As another Bloomberg piece noted its awkward heaviness, few supported apps, display glare, and while in-store demonstrations generated interest, they ended up promising, “Consumers on an experience that doesn’t quite exist yet.”

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My own brief time spent with the headset backs this up, as I felt an odd combination of excitement at what it might offer in the future and frustration that I couldn’t take one home.

Unfortunately, while very little is known about what the Apple Vision Pro 2 might be like, there’s little—or more accurately, less than nothing—reported regarding whether it’ll ever be anything but an overpriced novelty.

Looking beyond the arousing horizon

Meager details aside, what the Apple Vision Pro 2 could be has at least one popular virtual reality adult platform all-a-twitter.  

SexLikeReal, which hosts thirteen thousand different titles from nearly two hundred different studios, doesn’t shy away from fresh-out-of-the-box sex tech innovations. The website was quick to support interactive devices, such as those made by Kiiroo and Lovense.

This commitment to innovation helps explain why, in a company blog post, SexLikeReal predicts the Apple Vision Pro 2’s greater comfort and particularly its higher resolution displays will boost customer passthrough, claiming “scenes will feel even closer to performers being in your space. Switch between full VR and passthrough in seconds, without breaking immersion.”

Just like being there—but not yet?

Immersion, after all, is what augmented reality is all about: while VR drops the viewer into a completely digital space, AR — and its close cousin, Mixed Reality — projects a person, place, or thing over the wearer’s existing environment.

Or, to put it another way, by donning something like the current or upcoming Apple Vision Pro 2, you could see and eventually even interact via Bluetooth-enabled smart devices with the adult entertainer sitting on the edge of your bed.

However, the Apple Vision Pro showed that, although the sextech and adult entertainment industries may be eager for the technology, we may have several years before AR’s immersive power is fully realized.

Beginning with what Bloomberg and others anticipate: reduced weight and greater user comfort, a larger selection of apps and further support for existing sites and programs, and—more than anything—lowering hardware costs.

A challenging proposition, to be sure. Notably, regarding price, boosting next-gen AR gear isn’t the same as doing so with VR, where the latter requires maxed-out processing power to not only power and head-track a pair of high-definition displays but also seamlessly match content with whatever the wearer is already looking at.

But as with tech advances from artificial intelligence tech to 3D printing, easy, affordable, fully immersive, and completely interactive AR systems are inevitable—and however long they take to arrive, you know the adult entertainment industry will be ready, willing, and absolutely able to take full advantage of AR’s erotically-awesome possibilities.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Adult Content Producers Virtually Excited by Upcoming Apple Vision Pro 2 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.

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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.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you—through technology

Amid what appears to be an ever-growing backdrop of anti-sextech decriers, clinical psychologist Marianne Brandon, Ph.D. writes for Psychology Today while artificial intelligence Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)  headsets may provide visually exciting new sexual possibilities, it’s their ability to “—read your facial expressions, voice, and body language, allowing digital lovers or sex partners to respond in ways that are perceived as deepening the connection.”

In other words, AR/VR might, as she very directly states, help “Herald the next chapter of human intimacy.”

You see me

As with most new technologies, whether sexual or otherwise, it doesn’t take a great deal of effort to find those who frequently and vehemently disagree with Dr. Brandon’s optimism. 

Case in point, the Australian Men’s Health Clinic bluntly claims, “The heightened sensations stemming from watching VR porn can make the experience of vanilla sex less pleasurable. This can result in erectile dysfunction. It can negatively affect your intimate relationship as you may not get excited or get hard during sex with your partner.” 

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Not unsurprisingly, the Begin Again Institute is another VR denouncer, claiming, “By removing the screen between you and your imaginary sexual experience, and creating frequency and novelty in pornography viewing, virtual reality pornography will likely lead to more sexual addiction.”

However, it’s worth noting both fail to cite any sources and, most tellingly, the former sells a range of ED treatments while the latter sells anti-addiction counseling services. Plus the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR doesn’t include sex or porn addiction as a valid concern.

I see you

Dr. Brandon, on the other hand, views AI-fitted AR/VR hardware as largely positive when it comes to making it easier for people to emotionally and sexually connect with others:

VR and AR are quickly moving beyond gaming and entertainment, becoming playgrounds for sexual exploration and connection. On VR platforms, people can meet up in private, immersive rooms designed for flirting, erotic roleplay, or even sex. AR dating apps are starting to let users see potential matches’ sexual preferences or shared kinks as digital cues floating above them in a social situation like a bar or concert, making it easier to break the ice or find a compatible partner. 

Not to deflate Dr. Brandon’s optimism, but she is describing a level of technological sophistication we’ve yet to achieve. Although there are signs, such as the phenomenal speed at which AI has evolved from a quirky novelty to one that is difficult to distinguish from real human interactivity.  

Likewise, Apple’s Vision Pro’s exorbitant price tag may have kept it from being as popular as it could have been. We’re beginning to see far more affordable alternatives, so it’s a safe bet that her vision of AR dating may be with us in a few short years.

We see each other

Haptic tech—the ability to feel or perhaps even someday taste, smell, and so forth while immersed in an augmented or virtual environment—is another future breakthrough she anticipates—and is similarly one of those not-if-but-when steps forward.

The core of Dr. Brandon’s article isn’t hardware or the software running on it but how augmented and virtual reality are actually about improving personal and sexual communication, “These technologies promise to help us cultivate empathy by letting us literally see through another’s eyes, enable creative sexual expression and new relationship structures, and make long-distance love feel truly close.”

With such an apparent plethora of arguably dubious anti-AR/VR sex “experts,” it’s easy to forget beneath their flashy-and-dazzlely sextech curtain, both technologies are pretty gosh darned simple.

After all, they are essentially just a pair of miniature television displays—semi-transparent in the case of AR and opaque in the case of VR—positioned over the wearer’s eyes.  

So, though Brandon might be jumping the gun when it comes to what AR/VR can do right now, we would say she’s right to be passionately hopeful about sextech innovations on the immediate horizon that promise to give us a world filled with amazing new methods in which to share our desires and, best of all, truly listen to other people’s sexual needs—and wants.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post How VR/AR Could Dial Sexual Intimacy To Eleven and Beyond appeared first on Future of Sex.

Combined with AI, it can make words—and even your most far-out fantasies—come alive

What if picking up a book or flipping through a story, though, rather than fantasizing about how “the Wreathing-Willows were tenderly touching their back … the Kaleido-Chrysanthemums were softly caressing their cheeks” would sound or like like you’ll be able to actually hear and see those sensual, science fiction flowers compliments of your AI-image generating software running, text-reading, AR glasses.

Far fetched? Not at all, as it’s right here right now, and while technology may eventually make our literary imaginations obsolete—as in, why dream when something else can do it for you?—writers could work with and not against it to provide their readers with interactive, fully immersive, and, what we’re here for, extremely erotic experiences.

Take a look

Designboom reports these new smart, AR glasses developed by the National Library Board of Singapore in conjunction with LePub Singapore and Snap Inc. treat whatever text the reader is looking at as a prompt for its built-in AI to generate sounds played through its earpiece-mounted speakers, and project semi-transparent images onto the wearer’s field of vision.

Planned for general release sometime this year, according to designblood, the Singapore’s National Library Board sees it as “part of its initiative to use technology as a way to engage more people to read books.”

It’s in a book

When you think about it, using AR glasses to bring the written word to life is so intuitively simple that it’s more than a little baffling why its development took as long as it has.

After all, text-scanning AR glasses have been around for several years, and image-generating AI systems aren’t exactly new, either.  Now that Snapchat has set things in motion, other companies are bound to follow suit, no doubt adding plenty of other immersive features to their upcoming products.

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Naturally, sextech integration is likely one of them.  But even here, bringing something extra to written erotica is hardly new.  Way back in 2015, we reported on B.Sensory, which although it had since shut its doors, took a novel approach by coding a number of sexy audiobooks and stories. While customers listened, their Bluetooth-enabled smart sextoys would buzz, oscillate, and thrust accordingly.

Writing, reading can grow

As we mentioned, the disturbing prospect about no longer needing to use our imaginations to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell as we read is that this basically destroys literature as an art form, turning it from a thoroughly unique reader and author engagement into something intrinsically passive, inherently one-way like movies, television, or the stage.

But don’t forget, when it comes to technology and the arts, we might protest, we might argue, but if money’s to be made—or if it makes our lives even slightly more comfortable—there’s simply no stopping it.

We can go anywhere

With that in mind, why fight what we can use? Television didn’t kill Broadway, and television didn’t ruin radio, so there’s no reason to believe AR glasses will make non-interactive reading obsolete.

If anything, erotica writers might use it to their advantage.  As one myself, it’s fascinating to dream of encoding a story with a set of specific words or certain phrases designed to work with AR glasses—not to supplant a reader’s imagination, but enhance it.

Writers might even write to incorporate future developments in haptic tech—which is sure to be available in a few short years. AR readers could be tititlated by the aroma, texture, and appearance conjured by such phrases as “the Metamo-Roses were daintily embracing them.”so the reader would be tested, titillated with their aroma, texture, and appearance.

Or, “Yes, the Eye-Irises were subtly stroking their hair” wouldn’t be precise, wouldn’t necessarily take away from the reader’s imagination, but give them something for their fantasies to play with: an electric, tingling sensation, as opposed to something obvious, like its petals feeling like satin or silk. 

Imagination is sexy

Yes, I’m concerned about how AI-AR Glasses might negatively impact my love of reading and my passion for writing.  However, if doing both has taught me anything, it’s that when we put our minds and especially our imaginations to it, nothing’s impossible—especially by transforming the mundane into wonderful, limitless dreams.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Will Snapchat’s AR Glasses Stifle Erotic Imagination or Open Exciting New Literary Possibilities? appeared first on Future of Sex.