Credit: ThinkStock
If you love to have sex, but really hate the whole human-connection thing, do we have the perfect tech-fix for you: FriXion, a platform taking cybersex to the next level. According to its developers:
"[FriXion is] an ambitious startup with the goal of getting people interacting physically on the Internet. With this in mind, our beta explores ways that intimacy can be augmented by technology. Using sophisticated haptic teledildonics two or more FriXion users are able to touch each other and even have sex at any distance. On FriXion you can connect with people you know, people you meet, and experience virtual solo interactions with haptic encoded media, games, and other content."
Using a robotic arm with different attachments, including dildos and Fleshlights, FriXion essentially lets you (wait for it) have sex with robots controlled by people. And while I think this is wrong on many many levels, I won’t say there aren’t any upsides. Consider the benefits, for instance, for those in long-distance relationships—especially those in the military who are away from their loved ones for a long time.
Alas, my praise ends there. Because in talking about ways to use Frixion in gaming, developers had this to say:
"I would love it if we could spawn some niche games that 'make love not violence' in their approach to problem solving. As funny as it sounds we can imagine otherwise conventional single-player games having boss battles that require the player to seduce the boss rather than slay them, or even give the player the choice between seduction or violence. There are some examples of this with the Aphrodite section of God of War, where the player makes love to her with quicktime events, and if she is displeased the player loses. This kind of thing can be easily combined with the techniques FriXion makes use of, and could be a lot of fun and very novel in terms of games and storytelling."
I'm all for combining simulated physical intimacy with game play—imagine a character falling in love with another over the course of a long quest, then being able to consummate it—but the choice between seduction and violence has disturbing undertones of a rape fantasy . . . and that makes this not much different than so many existing games that combine violence with pentration.
That said, connecting humans and sex through technology isn’t a bad or dangerous idea entirely. Another product called the Vibeease, basically a Bluetooth vibrator that can be controlled by others through a smartphone app, sounds like a great idea. While this obviously isn’t a product that will get men off, it is a far less creepy and violent way to merge people and technology.
FriXion’s slogan is “Make Contact. Be Present. Create FriXion,” but sitting on your bed with a laptop, having intercourse with a robot, isn’t really about making contact or being present.
Technology has made many things obsolete . . . but no amount of technology can ever replace real human intimacy.
