Sex-tech innovation is like hair. There’s always that awkward in-between stage where you just can’t do much with it.
In our Porn & Tech panel at AEE yesterday, author Damon Brown, Playboy technology editor Scott Alexander, and I talked about where the technology of sex is going, and how long it’s going to take to get there. We all KNOW that certain things will manifest, such as multi-sensory long-distance sexual interaction and pharmaceuticals that do more than just an erection. So we get a little bored at the necessary intermediate steps - a clumsy device that adds physical sensation to erotic media, for example.
It wasn’t that long ago when describing any sort of telesex just astounded people. Really, he can control my vibrator over the internet? Wow. OMG I can plug this vibrator into my iPod? Cool! Now, it seems like we’ve done our job, and normal people are much more aware of the sexual applications of everyday tech. It makes us impatient for the truly whizzbang sex-tech we are CERTAIN we’ll see in our lifetimes. (Like the t-shirt: “It’s the future. Where’s my jetpack?”)
It’s easy to blame social confusion about sexuality for the slow pace of innovation, when really it comes down to money. Few of us are in a position to drop everything and invent. Those who do try go into massive debt to finance their efforts, and most can’t keep doing so long enough to build a viable business. Legal issues (including existing patents so broad they make it difficult for others to push to the next step, regulatory compliance for electronics) and money issues (a special “adult” payment processor costs more than regular merchant accounts, but regular visa/mastercard won’t do sex) are huge obstacles for sole proprietors. And sex doesn’t just sell all by itself.
That’s why we have to be patient and not expect to leap over the next 20 years without mistakes, best-efforts, and unexpected development tangents. And not diss on a product simply because it’s only slightly better than what already exists, and doesn’t measure up to where we know we will - eventually - be.
Make sense?
