Learning who we are and what we want may be as easy as going to sleep

Often so deeply rooted in our depths of brains that the most self-aware, disciplined minds still can’t easily comprehend them. Scientists employing large AI language models to interpret data collected by non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging scanners may soon be able to explore those unknowabledomains and perhaps potentially alter them as well.

See you in my dreams

As reported by Vox, in 2023, University of Austin researchers used an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine to monitor their test subjects while listening to a fifteen-plus hour-long podcast.  

The data was subsequently collated by a specialty-programmed AI algorithm which linked spikes in neurological activity to the test subjects hearing different certain phrases, giving the team a type of mental vocabulary; this pattern meant they were likely thinking about that, in effect allowing the researchers to understand what their subjects were thinking.

Though lacking in specifics, as in identifying more generalized concepts, less exact words the Austin team was nevertheless concerned their technology could be put toward less-than-ethical uses, writing, “Future developments might enable decoders to bypass these requirements.  Moreover, even if decoder predictions are inaccurate without subject cooperation, they could be intentionally misinterpreted for malicious purposes.”

Sweet dreams are made of this

Later that same year, Professor Yukiyasu Kamitani from Kyoto’s TR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories announced they’d found a way to not just decipher a person’s thoughts but actually visualize their dreams.

Speaking to the BBC, Professor Kamitani explained, “I had a strong belief that dream decoding should be possible at least for particular aspects of dreaming.”  Adding that, “I was not very surprised by the results, but excited.”

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While the Austin researchers tried to read the conscious mind, Professor Kamitani’s team used a similar fMRI scan and AI combo before waking their subjects from early REM sleep and having them describe as much of their dreams as they possibly could.  

A second round of scans took place while the subjects were awake. They were shown a variety of images, which enabled the researchers to assemble their own dream-interpretive vocabulary.

University of Oxford cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Mark Stokes pointed out Professor Kamitani’s lexicon as above couldn’t be generalized, “You would never be able to build a general classifier that could read anybody’s dreams. They will all be idiosyncratic to the individual, so the brain activity will never be general across subjects.” 

Runnin’ Down a Dream

Even so, imagine if fMRI technology was portable and affordable—coupled with a few more years of fine-tuning—peering into our uniquely primordial selves might provide us with invaluable insights like revealing and possibly helping us to emotionally process unconsciously suppressed sexual urges.

Imagine the therapeutic possibilities, a world where our dreams wouldn’t be half-remembered, barely understood, and frequently misinterpreted but sharp, clear, and amazingly vivid: laid out for us to learn and grow from, with the aid of a new breed of sexual wellness experts.

Why knows, maybe we’ll see the rise of artists who use not film, cameras, paints, or canvas but their own highly-trained subconscious minds to create fantastically alluring, erotically dreamy VR entertainments—or feel as well as see, by throwing next-gen haptic tech into the mix as well.

Dream weaver

But what about when our nocturnal voyages twist, turn, or darken into nightmares?  Thankfully, the geniuses over at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces are way ahead of you, having developed an innovative technique for reshaping a person’s otherwise unpleasant dreams.

According to Live Science, it begins during hypnagogia, an early, semi-lucid dream state, where MIT discovered their Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI) can be used to implant any number of positive suggestions to positively alter the course of their test subjects’ dreams.

“Simply put, people tell us whether the prompts appear in their dream,” the group’s lead author said, “Often, they are transformed—a ‘tree’ prompt becomes a tree-shaped car—but direct incorporation is easily identified.”

Again, the psychologically beneficial aspects of Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI)—partially in regard to coping with sexual trauma are potentially limitlesas. 

As is adding it, perhaps as part of a portable fMRI rig that, alerted to the wearer’s hypnagogic state, would automatically feed them a series of sexual-fantasy enhancing prompts?

In any case, as these and other burgeoning dream-related technologies demonstrate, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Dream a Little Dream: How Brain-Reading Tech Will Unlock Our Innermost Desires appeared first on Future of Sex.

Sexual arousal may simply too complex to effectively replicate

The way many sexual technologies seem to be rapidly progressing, there’s a very good chance we’ll see—and enjoy—everything from autonomous, hyper-realistic artificial companions to fully immersive, completely interactive erotic playgrounds.  

And well and good, but it’s looking like one particular legendary sexual fantasy, a substance that’d instantly arouse anyone who consumes it, may forever remain out of reach—or will it?

Turning on the body

University of Michigan Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Kent Berridge told Popular Science that a dream-come-true aphrodisiac would have to perform the extremely challenging task of stimulating two completely separate areas of the brain.

The first, known for governing a key pleasure-inducing hormone, was long thought to lie in the mesolimbic pathway.  “We all thought that the dopamine system was pleasure, that turning on dopamine would generate pleasure,” Berridge explained.

This is because dopamine can be triggered by external stimuli, with Berridge postulating it’s more of an instigator of sexual arousal rather than the source of it.

So, in order to make our aphrodisiac recipe complete, it would also have to pick up where dopamine leaves off by making sex feel exceptionally good.  

Researchers have determined our brain’s opioid and endocannabinoid neurotransmitters are the actual source of sexual pleasure.

So a truly reliable aphrodisiac would have to hit both cranial sweet spots at the right time, in the right order, with the right dosages to make our fantasy a reality.

Turning on the mind

Not that in the several thousand years of human history, we’ve ever stopped trying.  But the truth is, even after all that time, we’ve never come close to developing a genuine aphrodisiac.

And even while we’ve occasionally appeared to come close, the results have been problematic, to put it mildly.  

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For instance, yohimbine, supposedly derived from an unusually rare plant, might turn a person on at the cost of heart arrhythmia, sleep disruption, and—just what you want in someone whose mind is sexually overclocked—manic behavior.

On the bright side, when it comes to erection-inducing medications, we’ve reached a, excuse the joke, high point.  Not to pour cold water on our aphrodisiac dreams, but sildenafil might take care of the physical, we’ve yet to crack the emotional side of the equation.

Turning on ourselves

Pattern-seeking creatures that we are, we often tend to seek objective solutions—even if what we’ve attempted to understand or solve is purely subjective.

Sexual desire might involve the production and distribution of dopamine in conjunction with neurochemically activating the opioid and endocannabinoid centers of our brains—and, who knows, we someday may formulate a cocktail capable of hitting each in precisely the right way—but there’s no denying the far greater role emotional attraction plays in getting our libidos hot and bothered.

Besides, as we’ve discussed previously, would we truly want a consent-altering drug, medicine, or food?  

Speaking to Time, University of Texas Health Science Center Psychologist Robert Dain compared the concept of an aphrodisiac to chemical assault, saying, “Did you ever notice that typically it’s the male who wants the aphrodisiac—not for himself but his partner?”

Logic and proportion—and responsibility

Steering well clear of the far-too-common, panic-stricken camp of damning a social or technological development, particularly one that may never be possible, let’s not forget that a great deal of good may come from some sort of all-encompassing, proven-effective aphrodisiac.

This includes its possible usefulness as a therapeutic tool in helping process performance or sex-related emotional concerns.  

In the right hands, it may also do what performance-enhancing drugs can’t, that is linking the consumer’s mind with their body—demonstrating sexual fulfillment isn’t repeatedly inserting tab A into slot B but comes when a person is fully present, aware, and, more than anything else, conscious of their and their partner’s needs and desires.

As Robert Dain mentioned, in itself, our seemingly never-ending pursuit of a magical, sexual desire-indulging potion may do more than actually creating it by making us face—and hopefully move beyond—our dark, disturbing need to sexually manipulate other people. 

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Don’t Do Anything at All? Facts Suggest Aphrodisiacs Could Remain Just a Fantasy appeared first on Future of Sex.

Part three of The Ten Greatest Sexual Innovations to Come

Our first series on future sex technologies took a gander at developments in sensory tech: virtual reality, augmented reality, and direct neurostimulation. Then we journeyed into a future erotic world of cyborgs, body switching, and genetic engineering.

We’ve looked at what changes may come to our senses, including the changes to how we’ll experience eroticism. Then we explored the possible coming changes to our physical selves: how we’ll interact with the world.

So what’s left?

As that old chestnut goes, the greatest sex organ in the human body is the brain—and the future promises incredible changes to that very special part of ourselves. Hang on for a ride into the future of our erotic mental landscape with an exploration into neurochemistry, memory manipulation, personality reproduction, and artificial intelligence.

Innovation 7: Neurochemistry

Human beings have been altering our consciousnesses since… well, we’ve been human.

Since their discovery, MDMA (i.e. ecstasy), THC (the active ingredient in cannabis), and not to forget good old alcohol—and well as other substances—have practically become staples of human sexuality. And let’s not forget the physiological enhancements like Viagra.

But even more innovations are right around the corner. Soon, we will be able to (and, yes, I am going to use that overused word here) literally change our minds. After all, once we have unlocked the keys to chemical consciousness there’ll be nothing we won’t be able to amplify, tweak, or even remove.

Agreed, the possibility of abuse is there. But then we’ve always faced that in every technological innovation, sexual or otherwise, from rubbing two sticks together to the Internet.

But let’s look on the bright side. In a few years we’ll be able to pop a wizardly pharmaceutical mixture and become whatever we erotically want to be. Have a low sex drive? Then ramp it up. Sexually distracted? Shunt that sexual energy in other directions. Climax too fast? Slow it down. Climax too slowly? Speed it up.

Want to feel what it’s like to be on the other side of the orientation fence? One swallow and you can be gay, straight, bi … the idea of being just how you were born will be a thing of the past.

We already have some very effective anti-anxiety, anti-depression, anti-just-about-anything meds, so why not a drug to alleviate homophobia, shame, guilt, or jealousy?

But sometimes a pill just won’t do it. Just as our minds are within our brains, our personalities are often the products of our memories.

And here’s where things get really interesting.

Innovation 8: Memory Manipulation

While it’s sadly become a nightmare cliché, the promise of being able to alter or edit human memory actually holds incredible promise in treating a wide range of sexual dysfunctions.

We are, for the most part, our pasts. Errors in judgment become repeating patterns, early erotic imprinting carry on into adulthood, and sexual phobias form from traumatic experiences. Therapy can sometimes help, but for many their present lives are forever eclipsed by painful histories.

Either chemically or via direct neurostimulation, we’ll shortly be able to diminish these crippling memories or change them completely. Perhaps they’ll remain but will be toned down to a dull roar, or perhaps they’ll be walled off—to be revisited and hopefully addressed during therapy.

RECOMMENDED READ: Fans of the Future: Envisioning Tomorrow’s Sexual Subcultures

But there’s more: once we have access to the human mind there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to share memories of actual experiences or even artificially created ones. Maybe we’ll experience wild erotic adventures that’ll be fed directly into our minds, or learn how to be better lovers by having mental “hands on” training; feel what our lovers feel … to become part of their very own minds.

Or perhaps we’ll find the perfect sexual partner—in ourselves.

Innovation 9: Personality Reproduction

Agreed, we are wandering a bit toward the far horizon here, but the idea is simple enough: once we digitize human consciousness there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to copy our own personalities, our own minds.

We’ve already imagined a world of shared memories. Want to become be an adult movie star? Download one’s memories.  Want to feel what it’s like to be any orientation, gender, or race? Plug in and there you go.

So why not make a backup copy of yourself? The obvious reason is a form of near immortality. Body gets messed up? Just download yourself into a new one: either a clone of the original or a synthetic one.

But we’re here about sex, after all. So create a backup of your mind, give it either your own memories, or those of someone else and perhaps, maybe, there will be partner of your dreams.

Or take this copy of yourself and send it out to have mind-bending erotic adventures, or travel the universe, or become a different orientation or gender. Then, when they return, just make a copy of their memories and add them to your own. Or perhaps merge both memories into one brand new personality?

But there’s one last stop before we wrap up this Ten Greatest Sexual Innovations to Come voyage—and it’s probably going to be the greatest coming change to human sexuality.

Ever.

Innovation 10: Artificial Intelligence

We’ve read the books, seen the movies, watched the TV shows: the big, bad androids are coming and they are going to wipe out us poor little human beings.

Stephen Hawking has even said that artificial intelligence (AI) “—could spell the end of the human race.”

Besides, many people have hypothesized that AI is not just inevitable but logical; that one day we’ll pass the baton along to our artificial children.While having nowhere near the credentials of Dr. Hawking, I’ve often thought that when we are able to create an artificial mind—that will either come close, or surpass, our own—how we treat it will have a lot to do with how it will treat us.

What has all this to do with sex? Well, let’s let our fantasies rip.

It’s often said that the perfect lover is one that pleases the mind as well as the body: a person who transforms, educates, who helps reveals our deep, true natures. It’s a lucky human being who has someone like that in their life.

Why not extend that opportunity to everyone? An artificial intelligence, programmed with our best interests in mind, could know us better than we know ourselves. Either downloaded into an artificial body or experienced via direct neurostimulation, we could have a sexual partner who would see us with perfect clarity—without having to also deal with their own sexual issues at the same time.

Imagine a sexual partner that not just provides pleasure, but could also help us with every other aspect of our lives, nudging us, guiding us, being there when no one else was. With AI we could create not just a new source of erotic delight, but an important step in human evolution.

It’ll be a great big sexy tomorrow

Okay. Take a deep breath. In and out. Yes, it’s a lot to absorb. But keep in mind how much has changed in only the last few years, and how well we’ve managed to adapt to it all. Reading this on a computer or perhaps a smartphone or tablet, you are one click away from your own personal exploration of everything we’ve touched on.

If you like, there is practically an infinite erotic world to explore in a few more swipes, where every interest, orientation, gender, type–real or imaginary–is available to explore.

Yes, some of what’s been brought up here might be, at first, a little scary, but if we approach the future with excitement—and arousal—who knows what amazing new pleasures await us?

One thing is certain: our only limits will be our imaginations.

Image sources: Depositphotos

The post Reading Our Own Minds: Neurochemistry, Memory Manipulation, Personality Reproduction and AI appeared first on Future of Sex.