Despite the taboo of the industry itself, pornography has long been an innovator in technology; one that is now changing the way we look at reality.
As uncomfortable and controversial as the pornography industry is, it’s difficult to completely discount its historical impact on modern day technology. The porn industry is allowed special license to intimately view society from a lens of pure vulnerability. Within it, we readily unveil our deepest desires and openly seek our often deviant predilections without judgement or fear of retribution. Allowing the industry itself a peek into the innermost workings of society. Through this portal into our most private thoughts, the industry has helped propel some of the most widely and commonly used forms of technology known to man.
VR Porn is no different. While most often equated with total immersion in video game scapes and blockbuster phenomenon, virtual reality is a burgeoning market that is looking to branch out into spectacularly common markets. Could it be used to facilitate better quality of life? Is it possible to harness the virtual power of augmented reality to improve consumer experience? The applications for both virtual and augmented reality seem boundless, but only if the porn industry can perfect it.
Pornography, A Historical Influence
Virtual reality came about as early as the 1860s. Of course, not the futuristic headsets that we think of today, but instead through simpler mechanisms such as stereoscopic viewers, goggles moderately reminiscent of the popular View Masters patented in the 1930s and enjoyed throughout the 20th century. Creating a three dimensional image of things that didn’t actually exist in front of us.
Working forward from this premise, and continuing to make it even more immersive, the 1970s saw the emergence of computerized VR systems, mainly used for flight simulation and military training. By the 1980s, entire suits designed to amplify the virtual experience were made, and while the technology continued to be slowly developed over the following decades, VR system innovations lost steam in the 2010s, particularly as the video game industry tried to promote the systems, but technological restrictions kept them from becoming popular.
The porn industry, on the other hand, didn’t give up quite so easily. Much like with the internet itself, even grainy photos that took hours to fully materialize were still preferable to the physical materials that were available at the time, like magazines and videos. That same gusto was applied to VR technology, where when left to development by film and game industries, the porn industry swooped up the technology and almost immediately began to integrate it. Much like digital video cameras, credit card, online payment systems, and a number of other technologies that we use every single day, VR was also helped along by the porn industry..
VR Technology Outside of Pornography
Of course it’s a ridiculous claim to think that the porn industry