VR, AR, sexbots, and more–oh my!

Despite the Covid pandemic striking the live erotic entertainment industry particularly hard, compliments of everything from pole-dancing androids to combining stage shows with virtual, augmented, and mixed reality systems, we might see them bouncing back bigger, better, and sexier than ever before.

Put your hands together for–

Back in 2018, mechanical strippers sporting cameras in lieu of heads wowed the crowd at that year’s CES convention. 

Now, five years later, sexdoll manufacturer, Cloud Climax, says it’s about to release Ms. EX, an ultra-realistic pole-dancing robot.

Like their other realistic dolls, Ms. Ex’s state-of-the-art multi-joint dynamics give it a remarkable level of natural fluidity–making it just the thing to liven up tomorrow’s high-tech sex shows.

And should things get out of hand, we could also see the addition of artificially enhanced security personnel.  

For example, during this year’s CES, Sapphire Las Vegas Gentleman’s Club, one of the largest in the world, invited engineer and inventor Jonathan Tippett to bring his nearly four-and-a-half ton, thirteen-foot-tall exoskeleton power suit to guard the front door.

Playing Mech “The Bot” Johnson, Tippett told Forbes, “It’s the bouncer, so it has to do its job, basically just by looking menacing,”

Live on stage–

Beyond robot pole dancers and mechanized security guards, there’s the idea of merging virtual, augmented, or mixed-reality systems with adult clubs: the idea is that by fitting the venue up a network of series of stereoscopic cameras, anyone can enjoy a live performance no matter where in the world they happen to live.

A futuristic fantasy? Not so, as some clubs have already begun offering live streaming feeds of their stages and even, with the permission of their performers, what’s going on backstage. 

It’s a safe bet to assume this sort of immersive technology will continue to improve, especially with high-end companies like Apple getting into VR. 

But what about shows that are only virtual? As the YouTuber Twortles explained, it’s already a popular reality, “The metaverse already has secret clubs and dancers, and you’re already late to the show.”

From Club B33, a public strip club inside VRChat, to other streaming adult clubs scattered across Twitter, Discord, and TikTok, there’s a growing number of ways to virtually dance the night away–or watch someone perform an alluring strip tease from the privacy and comfort of your own home.

Peeking at the future of live adult shows

Technology being what it is, we’ll likely see even more wildly creative ways to enjoy live and arousing events in the years ahead.

You might, for instance, join your fellow patrons in applauding a synthetic dancer’s performance, shower her with cryptocurrency while you’re halfway around the world, or partake in completely AI-created environments where anything and everything could happen.  

Fun for us, but tomorrow’s live adult shows could be fantastic for the performers as well, giving flesh and blood humans, artificial companions, or holograms endless possibilities for turning their audiences on.  

While a good argument could be made that we may return to what life was like before COVID when it comes to taking in–or putting on–a sexually exciting event, the show will always go on.  

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post The Show Must Go On: The Future of the Live Entertainment Industry appeared first on Future of Sex.

The shiny metal robot goes on a legal fight for human-android relationships.

Continuing our look at sexy television androids, this time let’s shake things up a bit go from live action to animation.

And, believe me, no artificial being is more animated than Bender Bending Rodriguez, of Futurama

“This is a simple matter of justice, which I’m not normally for. So please, vote yes. After all, our love isn’t any different than yours, except it’s hotter, ’cause I’m involved.”

The product of Matt Groening (of The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen, Futurama dearly loves to play with just about every cliche of science fiction: aliens, mutants, heads in jars, suicide booths, starships, intelligent parasites, virtual reality, cybernetic implants and, you guessed it, androids.

Well, robots, if you want to get nit-picky as Bender (voiced by John DiMaggio) can in no way, no-how pass for a human. And he’s fine with that, thank you very much—or, as he likes to say you can “bite my shiny metal a**.”

While other artificial life forms might be sweet and innocent, Bender is anything but. Leela (voiced by Katey Sagal), his co-worker at Planet Express, sums him up perfectly: an “alcoholic, whore-mongering, chain-smoking gambler.”

And that’s why we love him.

So why is Bender here? As any fan of Futurama can attest, for every moment of hilarity the show also either plucks at a heartstring (damn them for Jurassic Bark) or tickles the intellect.

With Bender, Futurama delves into more than a few issues around artificial intelligence—and artificial intelligence and sex. Putting aside the silliness that robots in Futurama have genders, or in one episode they reproduce sexually, Bender still raises a lot of interesting questions.

One is that Bender was created fully conscious (in one episode) and is supposed to be equipped with a back-up unit: his digital consciousness can be transferred to another body if he were disabled. In that same episode, Bender learns that, ooopsie, he never received one of those units, leading him on a bit of artificial soul searching when he realizes he’s not functionally immortal.

As with The Simpsons, Futurama also enjoys exploring social issues. In “Proposition Infinity,” Bender and another co-worker, Amy Wong (Lauren Tom) develop a relationship—and rouse the ire of those who feel that “robosexuality,” sex between a robot and a human, is wrong.

Bender’s appeal before the court is as playful as it is touching and sincere:

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury… Oops! Sorry, force of habit. I support this proposition because I’m in love with a goopy, flesh-and-blood woman, and not surprisingly, she loves me. This is a simple matter of justice, which I’m not normally for. So please, vote yes. After all, our love isn’t any different than yours, except it’s hotter, ’cause I’m involved.

When you boil it down, though, it’s in spite of—or because of—his nature that the other characters on Futurama actually care about, or even love him. This is what makes his appearance here too perfect.

In the end

Futurama might be for laughs, but as with the best humor, there’s a truth underlying it all: love is love—though with Bender it’d be much, much hotter.

Do you have any favorite sexy androids on the small screen? Share them in the comments below.

In the meantime stay tuned for Part 4, where we’ll look at the beautiful—yet disturbing —synths of Humans.

Image source: Sasa S.

The post Hot TV Robots: Futurama’s Bender appeared first on Future of Sex.

This sci-fi robot hottie flips the switch on her sexy personality. 

Since my rather—to be polite—lukewarm review of the first two episodes of HBO’s Westworld, a few folks have asked me what shows, in my opinion, did right what this new show simply hasn’t.

That is, shows that really delve into the wild-and-woolly possibilities of artificial intelligence—especially in regards to sex.

So here we go! I’m starting an ongoing series on television shows that I personally recommend for anyone who might be feeling that the Westworld remake is a little too tall in the saddle, and not doing enough to explore the robosexual frontier.

“Okay!”

The underdog on this list, Dark Matter, is a new personal favorite. Sure, it’s budget is on the low side. But what it lacks in production values it makes up in intriguing characters, thoughtful speculations on humanity and technology, and totally unpredictable twists and turns.

Created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, Dark Matter is initially about six people who awake on board the starship Raza—without a clue of where they are, how they got there, or even who they are. Amnesia as a plot device is nothing new, but Dark Matter has a lot of fun with the concept, constantly raising questions about how memory shapes us. Far too often, the crew of the Raza realizes they might be better off not knowing; preferring the people they have become rather than who they were.

In addition to the crew of the Raza (who name themselves one through six from the order they wake from cryostasis), there’s a seventh member of the crew who they name, in a burst of originality, the Android.

Played with intensely sweet playfulness by Zoie Palmer—who melts my heart every time she answers “Okay” to a command—the Android is at first, like many artificial beings on both the big and the small screen, completely innocent. She’s Pinocchio desperately wishing to be a real boy—or, in this case, girl.

As the series progress, the Android does become more “human.” But the show shines in how, despite her evolution, she’s still depicted as retaining a feeling of other;” a unique life form and not just a carbon copy of a human being

In the episode “We Voted Not to Space You,” she uses a recently acquired upgrade to transform herself into an independent, kick-ass, and overtly sexual version of herself—and yet, at the end, puts it aside and reverts to her previous personality.

This on/off switch to her personality gives the character both a feeling of humanity and not, making her a perfect companion to the crew of the Raza and their own dealings with coming to grips with their lives with, or without, their old memories.

While the Android isn’t sexual per se, in “Take the Shot” there’s a virtual reality fantasy showing her very involved with another android she’d met previously—possibly foreshadowing that at some time in the future she might switch back to that part of herself, if just to experience her own version of sexuality.

Luckily, Dark Matter is currently streaming on Netflix, and on Space in Canada and Syfy in the US. I recommend you check it out, for now, but be warned: one thing the show does love to do it mess with the audience’s expectations. Just don’t get too attached to any character, if you catch my drift.

In the end

Westworld may turn out to be worth watching, eventually, but for now, I encourage you to check out Dark Matter. Hopefully you’ll laugh, maybe even cry, and—best of all—do some pondering yourself about sex, artificial intelligence, and the future of both.

Do you have any favorite sexy androids on the small screen? Share them in the comments below.

In the meantime stay tuned for Part 2, where a certain android has gone where many men have gone before.

Image source: Syfy

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