The discussion of sex and "sex toys
First I want to distinguish between "sex for reproduction" and "sex as play". Playful sex is explicitly not done for reproduction. Playful sex in my opinion should be done as safely as possible. The goal of playful sex is to allow the voluntary participants to have as much fun with their own bodies as possible.
Playful sex in my opinion is about exploring bodies, fantasies, and sensations. It does not require fluid transmission or direct intercourse. It does not require intimacy or even another human being. In other words, the dildo or sex doll or sex robot or VR sex, are all in the realm of "sex as play".
Sex for reproduction is the serious kind of sex. This kind of sex is risky and the goal of this kind of sex is to produce offspring. This kind of sex requires intimacy because if you create a baby with someone you're what I interpret as "biologically married" to them whether you like the situation or not. The baby is the result of this "biological marriage".
Sex as play is a type of gaming, with safe fun experiences being the ideal. Serious sex isn't a game, and is a potentially life changing (life creating?) activity. If a baby is produced from it then it's an action which cannot be taken back at that point. Intimacy in my opinion is separate from "sex". Intimacy is bigger/better in my opinion than sex. If people choose to have sex then in my opinion they should also be able to control the amount of risk they have to take and the among of intimacy required.
The potential benefits of VR Sex:
- It's safe. It's the safest form of sex that can exist in my opinion. No risk of STDs. No risk of being abused or raped. No risk of reproducing. Consent is algorithmic and clear.
- It's potentially far more fun. Virtual reality gives complete control of the fantasy to the participants. You can have sex in any fantasy, in any kind of way (even impossible ways), with as many entities as you want, such as people, augmented people (people who have AI helpers), or commercial businesses (group entities). All the physical senses can be represented digitally and electronically.
- Location independence. It does not matter where you or the other entities are physically located. You could be on different sides of the earth or you could even be in space and as long as packets flow (a connection made) then with enough bandwidth a digital sexual experience can be had. This could be useful for couples who are far away from each other, or it can be useful for people who are in prison or literally in space (astronauts).
- Utilitarian argument, it will make millions of people happy. Whether it builds or increases intimacy is debatable but it will increase pleasure which means more happiness. For this reason a strong utilitarian argument can be made in favor of VR sex both in terms of the security benefits (lower potential for rape, for abuse, for unwanted pregnancies), and in terms of the happiness it can produce (if we think of the potential sum of all pleasure resulting from the industry).
Possible costs of VR Sex
Of course there can be costs but these costs have to be weighed against the current reality of sex. The current reality is that direct intercourse (traditional sex) is high risk. Rape, abuse, or disease transmission as examples of this high risk. In addition, as people age their ability to have traditional sex which matches up with their fantasies may decline. This can be due to under performance (their physical body just not performing as well, or just their looks or fitness declining (by societal standards), or any number of reasons. The benefit of VR is that while the cost could be that there is less intimacy in sexual experiences, it does have benefits which I think outweigh the costs. For that reason I initiate a discussion on this topic.
Some obvious risks:
- Loss of intimacy for people who seek intimacy through sex.
- Potential to be romance scammed (this is possible to some extent if a person seriously falls in love with for example a business entity posing as a virtual character).
What do you think? Do you see a potential cost of virtualized sexuality which I'm missing? Is there a nightmare or dystopian scenario? Share your thoughts.