Reality Check
Teledildonics
A bodysuit worn to "feel" the remotely transmitted touch of a partner through the computer is a foundation for digital sex. Rheingold thinks that we don't have the basic transducer and tactile-feedback technology necessary for this digiterati fantasy to become a reality anytime soon. Martin is afraid that the first wave of teledildonics is "likely to be some kind of MIDI-controlled vibrator or suck machine." For Alman, however, "high-tech sex is a battery-operated vibrator."
Reversible halting of sperm production
Martin thinks that the chemical basis of this technology will cause some side effects like headaches, weight gain, depression, etc. But she hopes men would "do all that for women wouldn't they? After all, women have been doing the same for men since the Pill was first swallowed." Rheingold, taking the organic perspective, says the world needs a "plant that grows in most climates, is nutritious, mildly euphoric, and contraceptive." Kadrey says reversibility is probably impossible to guarantee, so the best we can hope for is "PGV: Pretty Good Vasectomy."
Virtual sex worker
(no real person "behind the curtain," just a program)
Kadrey notes that a digitally created partner would "eliminate certain legal problems if there is no flesh-and-blood sex worker involved in the activity." But Martin does not think it's necessary to wait for the perfect "virtual" partner. "Falling in love is already a virtual experience in which you make a 'real person' into a fantasy," she says.
Orgasmatron
Woody Allen's Sleeper turned many people on to the idea of a brain-stimulating device that would deliver an orgasm on demand. Kadrey says an orgasm in a pill will come first. Martin thinks an Orgasmatron puts "way too much emphasis on orgasms as a goal instead of as a part of a total sexual experience." Rheingold thinks the device already exists, "But the inventor has not been able to leave home to get to the patent office."
Test-tube conception and complete development of the fetus
Martin, looking out for children's future, says it would be "so nice to avoid all that muss and fuss. But who are you going to blame in therapy if you don't have parents?"
Reality Checkers
Isadora Alman, "Ask Isadora" syndicated columnist, sex and relationship counselor; Richard Kadrey, senior editor at Future Sex magazine and author of "Covert Culture Sourcebook"; Nancie S. Martin, president of Jouissance Productions and former editor in chief of Playgirl; Howard Rheingold, author of "The Virtual Community", editor of The Millenium Whole Earth Catalog, and "Tomorrow" columnist for the San Francisco Examiner.
