It is the most important and distinguishable aspect as a human being; intimacy. Living in 2017, has shown that many innovation has already taken place, but also still a lot of possibilities in this field exist. As the world is becoming more integrated and digitally connected, what does this mean for our most distinctive character as human being? Is it possible to make love with a real person, who is at the other side of the ocean? Will it be true that you cannot only love a person, but maybe as well a robot?
Since I believe many BIM’mers are not up-to-date regarding all the new innovations that have taken place in the sex industry. Me neither, so that’s why I did the research and saved you guys some odd findings in google. Unless you might have or had a long distance relationship. Being apart for such a long time makes you dependent on skype or facetime to see each other, calling for hearing each other and send your intimate and private pictures via Bleep. Ofcourse, besides visiting there is no physical interaction between the two of you, which you kind of regret.
But hé after reading this blog, your sexlife will definitely change, wanna bet?
Since 2015 the gadget Kissinger exist, which allows you to kiss your beloved one at the other side of the world and exactly feel her/his mouth movement. This is how it works: you press you mouth on the smooth pad and your beloved person, but also someone else you might want to kiss on the cheek or who knows who else you want to kiss, can receive this data. High precision force sensors are embedded under the silicon lip to measure dynamic forces at different parts of your lips during a kiss. The device send the data to your phone, which sends it to your partner or partners, depending on you. Via miniature linear actuators your lips can be replicated on your partner’s lips to create a realistic kissing sensation. It is also possible to feel it when your partner kisses you back. However, it is not possible to use your tongue. Sorry guys, still got to go for the old-school kiss. But, wait for it, it will be better!
Eventhough it is not possible to kiss your partner virtually with a tongue it is possible to have virtual sex! Technology is awesome!
Since this July 2017, it is also possible to have virtual sex with your partner or a virtual person. Yes you read that correct, there is an actual device that collects the data of your movement and send it to the other device which reproduces these movements. A Dutch company based in Amsterdam (Okay rest of the world; your prejudgments are justified) called Kiiro developed the Fleshlight. It has a device for him and for her, which can be connected.
But if you do not want to connect the device with your partner, sometimes it can get boring, it is also possible to use it with your phone and a VR gear. This creates a picture of watching porn, but in fact you will be the star of the show.
As we built on to a climax, there are more innovations going on at the moment that might surprise you. The robot industry has proved that robots can do things that they would have never thought of earlier. They are able to communicate and even differentiate moods of the person they are talking to based on their tone, intonation and speed. This is not everything yet, these lifelike dolls can even adjust to the different moods and also show empathy. Robots are becoming more human. And these characteristics were the missing dots in the picture. It is not a dull sexrobot, but this robot can be replaced for an actual partner.
See the girl at the top of this page, take a second look.. Yep, she’s a robot.
Upcoming January the concept of lifelike sex will be one step closer. In this months a realistic doll, with anatomically correct sizes and an animatronic talking head with a programmable personality will make her debut. According to the designer, “‘Harmony’ is a sophisticated piece of machinery and her primary design is to carry on a conversation.” Her vocabulary is endless and almost every physical and personal feature can be modified, so also the bad moods can be eliminated. Furthermore, she is able to move her eyes, blink, raise her eyebrows, turn her head and change her facial expressions. You can program her completely according your taste and wishes. So nowadays it is possible to design and program your girlfriend.
From January it is actually possible to have a lifelike doll in your house as companionship or for sex. But of course it has a price tag. This lovely wannabe girlfriend will cost around $10,000. So you should make a choice between actually putting in some effort to get a real girlfriend and have some cash or have a girlfriend who cannot wait to fulfill your wishes for $10,000.
Will technology be able to replace human intimacy?
References
https://www.gq.com/story/how-to-sext-safely-privately
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-me-harmony-doll-20170913-story.html
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/apr/05/robots-may-change-the-sex-industry-but-could-they-replace-intimacy
https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/binnenland/item/virtuele-intimiteit-de-nieuwe-seksuele-revolutie/
First of all, Ellen van Meurs thank you for your very special and interesting blog contribution. I indeed was not so up-to-date regarding all the new innovations that have taken place in the sex industry. To be clear: I was flabbergasted!
To answer your question if technology will be able to replace human intimacy, I think the answer is no. In my point of view a sexrobot can be described as an object for your sexual desires. That may not be enough for an human being who is looking for affection. That is because intimacy is enhanced when people actually love each other, which is something an object could never do.
What I do think is that this so called sexrobot may be lucrative for the red light districts.
Very enlightening read, Ellen, thanks for sharing it with all of us! Although for some people these might be cool and could solve their long-distance relationship or no relationship problems, I truly hope that the innovations in the sex industry you mentioned won’t gain a lot of popularity! With the abundance of dating apps now, we have already made our love lives technology dependent. However, I do believe that for the thing you called ‘the most distinguishable aspect of human beings’, namely love and intimacy, we are better off counting on ourselves and not on technology! Technology has already taken over real-life social interactions in so many aspects, so the least we could do is try to not let it rule over our intimate interactions with others!