Cyber Sex Spurs Tech Development

In what has to be one of the strangest claims, Dr. Trudy Barber, a researcher at the University of Portsmouth, has said that those seeking to get their rocks off online are helping inspire new technological developments, according to Vnunet.   Dr. Barber, who’s an expert on sexual subcultures and cyberspace, will make the claim at the Royal Society of Medicine’s Sexual Pleasures conference. The only problem is that so far she hasn’t offer specific examples. However, she did liken the advance of the Internet in sex to the video player that brought porn into the home in the 1970s.   “People are inspired by their own sexual inclinations which results in some innovative uses of technology,” she said. “Nothing shocks me now although I’m frequently surprised at how ingenious people are in order to obtain sexual satisfaction.”   Although she cited Second Life, where people create alter-ego avatars, and have integrated their real-life sexual personae into their other lives, again, no examples were given as to how cybersex is spurring tech development.   That’s a shame. Inquiring minds really, really want to know.