The virtual world is getting more intimate.
The release of Ready Player One this weekend will ignite several conversations about the role of virtual reality in the future. Many of the innovations found in the film and Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name already exist in the market in some limited capacity, suggesting the film’s dystopian realities could influence how these advancements are used. So, if haptics could let people fully immerse themselves in whatever reality they desire, how will this change human access to sex?
Cline’s dystopian novel creates a VR-driven society plagued by war. Those that want to reach OASIS can access the virtual reality simulator through a visor and a pair of haptic gloves, giving the person the ability to touch and fully experience items that aren’t actually there. This could be petting a cat or grabbing a body part, and human intention in the OASIS seems to reflect human interest today. People are in search of a $500 billion prize, but can make time to live out whatever fantasy they can dream.
In the book, Wade’s purchase of ÜberBetty, an anatomically correct haptic sex doll, is not unlike the virtual and robotic sex aids that already exist on the market. There’s a lucrative sex doll brothel in Barcelona, while virtual reality sex games spill into the tech scene.
That specific haptic sex scene was scrubbed from Steven Spielberg’s film, but the suggestion of haptic sex still lingers. In one scene in the movie, where Art3mis and Wade dance in zero gravity, Art3mis asks him what he can feel in his haptic suit as she begins to touch him. Various erogenous zones on his body begin to light up.
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Source: Inverse