4 ms·

Paves the way for... what, precisely? This whole idea of "virtualizing" and "democratizing" (read; corporatizing and monetizing) what is already probably the m

Paves the way for... what, precisely? This whole idea of "virtualizing" and "democratizing" (read; corporatizing and monetizing) what is already probably the most intense physical and interpersonal experience you can already have; an experience that's not only freely available, but literally at your fingertips, at any time (or not even that: you just need to close your eyes, and think of... entertaining thoughts) -- is profoundly, profoundly depressing. And besides, with all these must, dead-trees 17th- 20th century smut novels to read -- who can possibly find the time? Forget this online stuff. Get out of your apartment, and find a real, actual person to talk to. I know it can seem hard, sometimes. But really, is isn't.

k-mcgrady 9y ago
My guess is they're referring to the impact the porn industry has had on the direction of technology (e.g. VHS/Betamax). If this kind of tech finds success in porn it won't be long until you're sitting in a special seat to watch regular movies and experiencing the sensations of a character as he gets in a fight (or something like that).
- kafkaesq 9y ago
  I'll take the VHS/Betamax era porn, with all its schlock and graininess, over the PornHub era any day, thank you very much. At least they seemed to have some semblance of a sense of humor about this stuff, in those days. They also -- this cannot be under-appreciated -- tended to show human bodies the way they actually were, by and large.
  - Tloewald 9y ago
    You're missing the point (again). VHS defeated Betamax because Sony tried to keep porn off betamax.
    - kafkaesq 9y ago
      You're missing the point (again). I love when you get haughty and abrasive online, at some stranger you've never met. Over basically nothing.
  - StevePerkins 9y ago
    I'm not sure if you're missing the point inadvertently, or through conscious effort. This comment thread really seems to be more about your personal sexual outlook, rather than the possibility of some porn technology crossing over into mainstream (non-porn) application. That is, for someone who counsels us all to go outside, find a girlfriend, whatever... you sure sound like a bit of a porn connoisseur privately yourself.
    - kafkaesq 9y ago
      Despite what others seem to be implying, I don't think there's anything at all wrong with looking at porn, per se (and in some contexts, it can quite healthy) -- or in acknowledging this fact publicly -- if that's what you're getting at. But at some point it reaches a saturation point, and you kind of realize there's not much of a "there, there", in that medium. So as to "connoisseur" -- sorry, no. This comment thread really seems to be more about your personal sexual outlook, rather than the possibility of some porn technology crossing over into mainstream (non-porn) application. The original article, which was really quite straightforward, wasn't making any kind of far-flung statements about potential crossover effects of their technology at all. And it certainly wasn't making any references -- even indirect references -- to the (basically apocryphal and unsubstantiated) "porn killed betamax" story line. So as much as people are browbeating me for "missing the point" -- those definitely weren't the main points of (or in way mentioned in) the article, either.
  - nyolfen 9y ago
    we get it, you're better and smarter than everyone else
    - kafkaesq 9y ago
      No, I'm definitely not. But for whatever reason, a lot people seem to be misreading both the original article, and my throwaway responses to it.
brailsafe 9y ago
It's fun. Chill out.
rm_-rf_slash 9y ago
Plenty of couples enjoy watching porn together.
- kafkaesq 9y ago
  I wasn't talking about porn, per se.
- monochromatic 9y ago
  I dunno about "plenty." Probably around 0.1% or something.
  - codewritinfool 9y ago
    That's plenty.
  - ionised 9y ago
    I'd put it WAY higher.
    - monochromatic 9y ago
      Maybe I've just been dating the wrong--or right--girls. But none of them have ever shown the slightest interest in anything like this.
      - ionised 9y ago
        Maybe you (subconsciously?) keep going for the same type of girls?
throwanem 9y ago
> interpersonal experience > at your fingertips Can't really have it both ways, there. Otherwise I can only think there'd be far fewer unhappy, discontented people in the world.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
cyphar 9y ago
Pornography (and prostitution) have existed for the entire history of human civilization. You wouldn't claim that Ancient Egypt or Greece were robbing their citizens of their freedom through those things. I agree that there is a huge ignorance of ethics in today's world of software development, and I wish we stopped putting so much of ourselves online, I don't see why sex is the one thing you think is more important than the thousands of other violations of privacy and humanity that happens online. Also, the porn industry has brought about a lot of different interesting new technologies that eventually bled into the rest of the tech industry (credit card verification is one trivial example, there's plenty of others).
- kafkaesq 9y ago
  Pornography (and prostitution) have existed for the entire history of human civilization. Again -- I wasn't referring to porn, per se. I think that's pretty clear. I don't see why sex is the one thing you think is more important than the thousands of other violations of privacy and humanity that happens online. I guess because sex is (orders of magnitude) more important than most other activities we put "online", and more to the point, into corporate (and SIGINT) data warehouses? For who knows how many weird, lonely men to tabulate and analyze?
  - cyphar 9y ago
    > I guess because sex is (orders of magnitude) more important than most other activities we put "online" I find internet-connected-dildos to be less important than the free speech violations due to censorship, the rampant disregard for user freedoms, proprietary software's use as spyware, the massive surveillance engine injesting information about all of us, an so on.
    - kafkaesq 9y ago
      You're comparing against the extremal cases. I was referring to "most" activities. You know, things like your likes and your playlists, your Etsy purchases, etc.
  - 9y ago

k-mcgrady 9y ago

My guess is they're referring to the impact the porn industry has had on the direction of technology (e.g. VHS/Betamax). If this kind of tech finds success in porn it won't be long until you're sitting in a special seat to watch regular movies and experiencing the sensations of a character as he gets in a fight (or something like that).

kafkaesq 9y ago
I'll take the VHS/Betamax era porn, with all its schlock and graininess, over the PornHub era any day, thank you very much. At least they seemed to have some semblance of a sense of humor about this stuff, in those days. They also -- this cannot be under-appreciated -- tended to show human bodies the way they actually were, by and large.
- Tloewald 9y ago
  You're missing the point (again). VHS defeated Betamax because Sony tried to keep porn off betamax.
  - kafkaesq 9y ago
    You're missing the point (again). I love when you get haughty and abrasive online, at some stranger you've never met. Over basically nothing.
- StevePerkins 9y ago
  I'm not sure if you're missing the point inadvertently, or through conscious effort. This comment thread really seems to be more about your personal sexual outlook, rather than the possibility of some porn technology crossing over into mainstream (non-porn) application. That is, for someone who counsels us all to go outside, find a girlfriend, whatever... you sure sound like a bit of a porn connoisseur privately yourself.
  - kafkaesq 9y ago
    Despite what others seem to be implying, I don't think there's anything at all wrong with looking at porn, per se (and in some contexts, it can quite healthy) -- or in acknowledging this fact publicly -- if that's what you're getting at. But at some point it reaches a saturation point, and you kind of realize there's not much of a "there, there", in that medium. So as to "connoisseur" -- sorry, no. This comment thread really seems to be more about your personal sexual outlook, rather than the possibility of some porn technology crossing over into mainstream (non-porn) application. The original article, which was really quite straightforward, wasn't making any kind of far-flung statements about potential crossover effects of their technology at all. And it certainly wasn't making any references -- even indirect references -- to the (basically apocryphal and unsubstantiated) "porn killed betamax" story line. So as much as people are browbeating me for "missing the point" -- those definitely weren't the main points of (or in way mentioned in) the article, either.
- nyolfen 9y ago
  we get it, you're better and smarter than everyone else
  - kafkaesq 9y ago
    No, I'm definitely not. But for whatever reason, a lot people seem to be misreading both the original article, and my throwaway responses to it.

brailsafe 9y ago

It's fun. Chill out.

rm_-rf_slash 9y ago

Plenty of couples enjoy watching porn together.

kafkaesq 9y ago
I wasn't talking about porn, per se.
monochromatic 9y ago
I dunno about "plenty." Probably around 0.1% or something.
- codewritinfool 9y ago
  That's plenty.
- ionised 9y ago
  I'd put it WAY higher.
  - monochromatic 9y ago
    Maybe I've just been dating the wrong--or right--girls. But none of them have ever shown the slightest interest in anything like this.
    - ionised 9y ago
      Maybe you (subconsciously?) keep going for the same type of girls?

throwanem 9y ago

> interpersonal experience > at your fingertips Can't really have it both ways, there. Otherwise I can only think there'd be far fewer unhappy, discontented people in the world.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

cyphar 9y ago

Pornography (and prostitution) have existed for the entire history of human civilization. You wouldn't claim that Ancient Egypt or Greece were robbing their citizens of their freedom through those things. I agree that there is a huge ignorance of ethics in today's world of software development, and I wish we stopped putting so much of ourselves online, I don't see why sex is the one thing you think is more important than the thousands of other violations of privacy and humanity that happens online. Also, the porn industry has brought about a lot of different interesting new technologies that eventually bled into the rest of the tech industry (credit card verification is one trivial example, there's plenty of others).

kafkaesq 9y ago
Pornography (and prostitution) have existed for the entire history of human civilization. Again -- I wasn't referring to porn, per se. I think that's pretty clear. I don't see why sex is the one thing you think is more important than the thousands of other violations of privacy and humanity that happens online. I guess because sex is (orders of magnitude) more important than most other activities we put "online", and more to the point, into corporate (and SIGINT) data warehouses? For who knows how many weird, lonely men to tabulate and analyze?
- cyphar 9y ago
  > I guess because sex is (orders of magnitude) more important than most other activities we put "online" I find internet-connected-dildos to be less important than the free speech violations due to censorship, the rampant disregard for user freedoms, proprietary software's use as spyware, the massive surveillance engine injesting information about all of us, an so on.
  - kafkaesq 9y ago
    You're comparing against the extremal cases. I was referring to "most" activities. You know, things like your likes and your playlists, your Etsy purchases, etc.
- 9y ago