The annual FutureFest conference that lets futurologists meet up in London to explore often radical ideas about the world in 30 years time will this year look at the future of sex and love. The event wont take place until September, but today the ‘curator’ of the ‘future of love’ section – Ghislaine Boddington – spoke to the media about some of the ideas and possiiblities that will be explored.
Ghislaine Boddington, curator of the “future of love” section of the FutureFest to be held in September, said: “The aim is to look at things that aren’t around the corner but up to 30 years away and broaden horizons.
“The way we first meet or interact with people may very well involve a date with a hologram or a virtual window into your boyfriend’s bedroom. And the way we give pleasure to each other will transform – if we can email each other why can’t we vibrate each other? There is a lot of talk of an internet of genitals – devices that link up our bodies from within.
“In Britain we’ve already become less uptight and embarrassed about things like adult toys. I would like to think the direction we’ll move in is to use technology in a way that enhances and extends our understanding and use of sex.”
Quite what this means in practical terms would seem in the first instance to revolve around innovations that restore intimacy to those who cannot be together.
Products that relay a partner’s heartbeat to a small speaker under the pillow or sex aids remotely controlled via a smart phone app already exist but developers are also looking at implants that could activate when one partner thinks of another.
Eventually sex toys may come in liquid rather than solid form with the development of gels containing microscopic robots which each partner would apply to their erogenous zones and use to stimulate one another as the nanobots respond to instructions sent over the internet. Ms Boddington said: “You could respond to each other through the gel – you would feel each other’s orgasm and enhance it. It’s a way off but there is some pioneering work being done out there.”
