Tomorrow’s Sex Will Be So Much Better than Today’s… Are You Ready For It?

- http://avanoo.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/tomorrows-sex-will-be-so-much-better-than-todays-are-you-ready-for-it/


Sex today isn’t that good (just ask Japanese women, only 10% of whom say they have good sex). And even when it’s good (like in Austria, where 80% of men say they have good sex), it can be better.

That’s because sex, like almost anything human, is imperfect and unpredictable. Sometimes it can be mind-blowing and other times it would have been more fun to watch Bill O’Reilly.

There are many reasons for the variance in sexual satisfaction. Perhaps our partners aren’t as kinky or experienced as we’d prefer them to be. Perhaps we aren’t as fit or built for endurance as our partners would prefer us be. Perhaps we’re too busy… or too self-conscious…. or too religious… or, as is often the case, we simply aren’t educated enough about sex.

Sure, there are numerous books, magazines, amateur porn websites, sex-ed therapists, and low-tech toys available to help us improve our sex lives. And we (collectively) seem to be using them all… as is evidenced by continued interest and sustained growth in the sex-education, sex-toy, and porn industries. But the information we get is most often fragmented, off the cuff, and unscientific. This is why most men still can’t locate a woman’s clitoris… and why most women don’t know that a man’s most sensitive spot is…

Can you guess?

Didn’t think so!

Sex is interesting, isn’t it? We don’t develop our sexual skills the way we develop most other important life skills….

For example, we likely learned addition and subtraction from our school teachers, who taught us in a methodical and even scientific way. And we likely learned to drive from our parents or from driving instructors. And we likely learned to cook from our parents or siblings…

But sex, well, that’s a different story!

Even if we took 216 Cosmo quizzes before our first time (guys, admit it… you’ve taken them too), when the lights went off, most of us likely shot from the hip!

But what if we didn’t need to shoot from the hip? What if we had the tools to create unbelievable sexual experiences every time? What if technology could enhance our sexual experiences in the same ways it enhances every other facet of our lives?

*****
If we need to travel to a friend’s house twenty miles away and we’re not marathon runners, we have cars to drive us. If we need to publish an article and we’ve erred in spelling or grammar, we have spell-check programs to help us. And if we can’t cook to save someone’s life, we have microwaves to vary our diets. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

Most of our professions and schools are wired and increasingly high tech. And we communicate with friends, loved ones, and potential hookups via cell phones, email, and social networks. Yet, despite its dominance in our everyday lives, technology has for the most part stayed out of out bedrooms.

Sure, old or low-performing men have unpredictable blue pills and women have some toys that vibrate or walk like penguins. But this stuff is hardly high-tech. It’s not the virtual reality “teledildonics” that enables men and women to enact and satisfy all of their sexual fantasies… or the anatomical GPS navigation unit that women might want their men to buy….

So why is it that while our lives depend on technologies in almost every other facet of our lives, most of us are still using only the most primitive and unpredictable sex tools – our bodies?

Here are three unsatisfying reasons:

1. The technology is still being developed. To enhance human sexual experience, scientists must first understand what makes it good… and better. That requires an understanding of the human brain and body that is only now being gleaned through the latest research in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. Then it requires applying that knowledge to building new technologies. This is massively more complicated than, for instance, building a car or a cell phone, which requires no knowledge of the complexities of humans and human interactions.

2. Our egos get in the way. It’s hard enough for most people (particularly men) to stop a car and ask for directions when we get lost. Just the thought of using technology to enhance our sexual prowess can feel threatening to us, particularly because sex is the very act that enables humanity to persist. Thus, many of us would likely engage in bad sex for the rest of our lives before admitting that technology can enhance our, well… gosh, you know… sexual abilities.

3. We are creatures of habit. Changing our habits – even the most unimportant habits such as what we put in our coffee – can be stressful and difficult. This is a good thing when our habits are adaptive and enable us to survive. But it’s not so good when it prevents us from experiencing better sex! We most easily adapt when we have no other choice (e.g. keeping our job means learning to use the Internet… so we quickly learn). But we usually aren’t faced with such ultimatums in sex. So choosing to enhance our sexual experiences must be an active and personal (rather than social or work-related) choice… and that can be hard.

Despite these pitfalls, within a few years everyone will be having technologically-enhanced sex… and loving it! Here’s why:

1. Though enhancing the sexual experience is hard, there have been rapid developments in scientists’ understanding of the human mind and what it needs to “get off”. Already we can supplement our real sexual experiences with virtual reality experiences that are nearly indecipherable from the real thing. And long distance or virtual couples can buy virtual sticks and holes which enable each partner to “control the speed, intensity, and rhythm of each other’s movement,” as Wired Magazine reported this month. Within a few years (not even decades), scientists will master the science of sex enough to remedy almost everything that contributes to today’s unsatisfactory sexual experiences. Imagine: you’ll be able to fulfill every fantasy you can conceive… and have mind blowing orgasms every time!

2. Ego and “status quo” have forever impeded innovation and experimentation, but have usually been temporary impediments. When cars were introduced in the US, many refused to buy them, saying they were unnecessary. But today, almost everyone in the US has a car. When cell phones were introduced in the US, many refused to buy them for the same reason. Yet today, like cars, almost everyone here has them. People will initially resist using sexual enhancements because, simply, we’ll tell ourselves that we don’t “need” them. But temporary roadblocks will always be overcome by powerful technological advances! If sexual enhancements enable us to feel like gods and goddesses, regardless of age, physical stature, or sexual experience, then they will quickly be adopted.

3. Popular acceptance of anything has a lot to do with how well we understand it. We tend to be threated by the things we don’t understand. For example, if college students don’t understand what’s required of them to perform well in class, they’re much less willing to take the class. Sex, for a long time, has been threatening for many of us because good, scientific information about sex and our bodies is inconsistent and largely unavailable. But if we can make reliable knowledge available, it will ease mainstream acceptance of technology that has the potential to make all of our lives a lot more fun!

Conclusion:
Sex will get better… even for the Japanese! It will get better because, although our physical bodies won’t change much, knowledge and technology will spread that can hone and enhance our physical capabilities. Acceptance of new sexual technologies will not be immediate, but news of the powerful benefits will overcome all barriers to, umm, entry. And undoubtedly, new types of sexual encounters will develop that aren’t simply enhancements of existing possibilities. So now for the real question: Who gets to beta test these things?

Author’s Notes:
Some of the latest science on “good sex”
Tips for locating the clitoris
Wired Magazine article about the future of sex
The Far Future of Cyber Sex
The latest in teledildonics