Science Fiction

What is the future of cybersex? The fantastical visions of sex in the future portrayed in science fiction stories may give us an idea. The following are excerpts from Cybersex, Richard Glyn Jones' (*year) collection of short stories.

In the forward, Jones introduces the idea that the body itself feels nothing, it is merely an input device, directed toward our brains. We feel with our brains, not our bodies.

Foreword
*
p. xi
"Genital organs," Pohls shadowy narrator tells us, "feel nothing. Neither do hands, nor breasts, nor lips; they are only receptors accepting and transmitting impulses. It is the brain that feels; it is the interpretation of these impulses that makes agony or orgasm."

In "[Learning About] Machine Sex," we are told that orgasm is predictable, dependent upon cortical stimulation, and that touch is optional. With the program's sensory add-ons, women are made obsolete.

"[Learning About] Machine Sex"
Candas Jane Dorsey
p. 33
What interested her intellectually about orgasm was not the lovely illusion of transcendence it brought, but the absolute binary predictability of it. When you learn what to do to the nerve endings, and they are in a receptive state, the program runs like kismet. Warm boot.

p. 36
It was very simple, really. If orgasm was binary, it could be programmed. Feed back the sensation through one or more touchpads to program the body. The other thing she knew about human sex was that it was as much cortical as genital, or more so: touch is optional for the turn-on. Also easy, then, to produce cortical stimuli by programmed input. The rest was a cosmetic elaboration of the premise.

At first it did turn him on, then off, then it made his blood run cold. She was pleased by that: her work had chilled her, too.

p. 41
"A woman and a computer. Which attracts you most? Now you don’t have to choose. Angel has made the choice irrelevant."

"Why is a woman better than a sheep? Because sheep can’t cook. Why is a woman better that a Mannboard? Because you haven’t bought your sensory add-on."

A virtual sex worker is described in the following excerpt:
"It’s Very Clean"
Gene Wolfe
p. 92
"It’s very clean," the fat woman said. "You’ll like it."

p. 93
She led him into what appeared to be a small bedroom decorated in the same opulent style as the corridor and the waiting room downstairs. A strikingly beautiful brunette in a pink negligee sat on the bed, apparently watching a man in overalls who had removed a portion of the paneling from a wall and was tinkering with the maze of wiring thus revealed.

p. 94
Miles asked, "The circuits in the wall control her?"

The technician nodded. "They’re her brains, and what we call the motor functions are in there too. The things that decide how much of the little electric servos in her ought to turn to make her move. Output to the body is UHF, but we keep the power low so the various units don’t interfere with each other."…


The cybersex system described in "Love Story in Three Acts" measures the physiological responses of the people participating in a physical sexual act. The system uses a type of biofeedback to let one partner know when the other is enjoying the stimulation, in order to guide the lover to provide more of the stimulation that is most exciting to the partner. The system offers an enjoyment rating at the end of the sexual encounter. The story shows us that such a guidance system is not necessary when we fully give ourselves over to lovemaking and to our partners.

"Love Story in Three Acts"
David Gerrold
p. 99
…This was the deluxe model which recorded the actual moment-to-moment physical reactions of the band-wearers…

"Well…?" Marsha demanded acidly, "did we enjoy ourselves?"

"Yeah…" he muttered. "About thirty-four percent…"

p. 103
"The guidance unit is not a puppeteer. It is a guidance unit--that’s why it’s called a guidance unit. If it were a control unit, we’d have called it a control unit."
…
"The unit monitors the sensitive areas of both you and your partner," said Wolfe. "It has a positive feedback reaction hooked into the guidance modules--all of which means that if your wife’s responses indicate that she will react well to certain types of stimulation, then the guidance system will trigger the impulse within you to provide that stimulation. You can resist the impulses if you want to, but why bother? The machine is your friend. It wants you to enjoy yourself."

John looked up at him, "It works both ways…?"

"Oh, yes, of course. She’ll be responding to your needs just as you’ll be responding to hers. Not only that, but the machine is programmed to guide you both to simultaneous climax. That alone makes it all worthwhile."

p. 108

Now he was moving and thrusting with a wholeness of being that had to be shared--it was too big for any one person--and he moved and thrust at her all the more willfully, trying to push his sharing all the deeper into her. Marsha too seemed to be arching, thrusting, giving--as if she too had something overwhelming to give.

It was as if they were both doing the right thing at the right time and at the right place--and for one brief flash it reminded them of what it had been like when they had been young, and when nothing else had existed but each other and the bright, surging world.

They forgot the wires, the bands, the guidance module on the dresser. Their external beings had disappeared and they immersed themselves in their lovemaking. It was a surging climbing wave, a bright crashing thing that built ever higher. Even higher.

And it was very good.

He smiled at her. She smiled back, and they kissed. It wasn’t until the next morning they discovered the guidance module had not been connected.

Jones collection of stories offers many other cybersex possibilities, including animatronic love dolls, and more.