RoboSex

Kal Cobalt
RS robot and girl by V2 lg.jpg

"If sex is a communications platform, it has yet to be properly hacked," writes author and essayist Mac Tonnies in an essay tackling the potentially tricky role sexuality may (or may not) play in a world that is posthuman or routinely engaged in alien contact. Covering everything from the technical ineptitude of sexual relations to the potentially lethal ramifications of total control over bodily pleasures, Tonnies offers plenty of food for thought.

"A posthuman intelligence might look upon sensuality about as fondly as we regard intestinal parasites," Tonnies notes, adding elsewhere, "Sufficiently inclined posthumans might choose to retain sex for recreational value while severing its dependence on a bodily substrate."

Who knows where we might end up? As Tonnies points out: "The very concept of 'natural' has undergone serious revision in a remarkably brief period of time."

Image by V2 under Creative Commons license.

Comments

shame of the body

Submitted by ada on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 08:35.

I think we have to accept the body before we can move beyond it.

I found it interesting that on the Voyager Golden Record, Sagan and his colleagues were not allowed to include a photograph of a nude man and woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included, nudity was not allowed because people had accused NASA of wasting taxpayer money to send "obscenities" into space.

This record was meant as a message to extraterrestrials, to show how advanced we are.

I think it is ironic that we seek out the alien in space, while we are still alienated and ashamed of our own physical body

Lust in Space

Submitted by Mark Sklawer on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 15:09.
This was my comment to Mac Tonnies blog; "My suggestion is to get out of your head and into the BODY. All your notions about sexuality and post human connections can and will be found in the esoteric traditions of Taoist and Tartaric scared sexuality. You want to have meta-communication and mind melding while having 5- 10 minute orgasms while being downloaded Supra-Human information? Well you can and you don't need no "nanobots swarming through our brains". It has all been done before.."

What's wrong with robot sex?

Submitted by N9 on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 17:16.
I was hoping to learn more about robot sex and less about alien sex. I'd rather have a nanobot in my brain allowing me some extra pleasure than having botox in my brain to make me look better for someone else's standards. Sometimes it's simply more interesting to fantasize about bots and droids than to pretend to be Sting & Trudie. As much as I meditate and live yoga, I can appreciate a fantasy. For some reason this reminds me of my time in France. I was considered a prude by many because I objected to hooting like a cave lady when something sexy walked by, yet it was so shocking that I took a shower with my lover! There are so many contradictions about our sexuality and what is acceptable or not acceptable. I can't wait for the day when consensual pleasure is normal, whether that be with aliens, robots or in your own backyard.

Yeah...

Submitted by Helexia on Sat, 04/26/2008 - 06:09.
Yeah um *thinks* what to say... This subject is definitely interesting...though I don't think you should compare sex with transcendence. I know alot of people here will disagree with me and say that sex is a transcending experience but if everyone experiences this transcending moment while having sex then it doesn't really seem to be that special nor important, it seems more like something habitual for the sake of reproduction...I think its love... not the physical act of it, but the feeling that brings you into transcending experiences.