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THE_NEW_FLESH
October 4-7, 2008
This is commentary on the text of a Rudy
Rucker talk on sex, which he conducted at
the 2008 "Arse Electronika" conference in
San Francisco. Here's a draft of it:
[ref]
He declared that "teledildonics"--
an old Ted Nelson term for remote
actuated sex toys-- was "not
interesting".
He led up to an idea for a biologically
crafted sex toy, a bit of cloned flesh
of your lover that would emit the same
smell.
Rudy Rucker's take on
sex seems strangely
unimaginative: it all
comes down to skin on
skin? But what's skin?
Let's begin
with an image:
Visualize someone
sucking a strap-on When that image first
dildo. occurred to me, I thought
it was tremendously witty:
If I read Rudy
Rucker correctly, Sexuality come unglued from
that is not a the physical, turning into a
sexual act. purely symbolic act.
Real Sex is all about A "postmodern" sexuality,
skin contact and if you'll excuse the expression.
smell, therefore,
for example, I later learned this
"teledildonics" idea was pretty At the very
is "not interesting". obvious, at least in least, it's
some circles. well-represented
He's not interested in San Francisco
in the act, therefore PRIDE_OF_PLACE pornography.
no one can be.
It is possible
Not *sincerely*. INTROSPECTION that it's
less something
people like
to do, and
more something
But the other trap I think that's done
he's fallen for: in front of
cameras because
He takes sexuality as a some people
purely biological phenomena, like to think
and hence all a matter of that other
skin and smell. people like
to do it.
Really: Sex is related to
biologically evolved behavior, But then,
but not limited to it. that would
just make it
The brain finds it's own an even more
uses for biology. symbolic act.
And really, I
It would seem that a think that
an obvious, perhaps almost anything
central, aspect of done frequently
sexuality is an on screen is
interaction of bound to reflect
consciousness. This reality to some
is even true in the Perhaps it's extent, if only
case of masturbation: especially true: because reality
a consciousness "masturbation tends to become
interacting with fantasies" are a reflection of
itself. ubiquitous. the screen.
So then, why not (And yet, with
something like some practice,
"teledildonics"? I find I can
fantasize that
Myself, I've been I am myself,
through some doing what I am
intense sessions doing.)
of "phone sex".
In my case, they TRICK_OF_ATTENTION
were part of a
long distance
relationship and
treated as
secondary, fill-in
practices... but
it's not hard for
me to imagine that
these might seem
more primary for
some.
(September 28, 2008)
In general, listening to talks at
"Arse Elektronica 2008" left
me feeling like they weren't quite
touching on the interesting aspect
of the subject.
A technology of the flesh
would allow the creation of "Dr. Adder" was originally
a new kind of flesh written in the early 70s;
unihabited by consciousness, and I also first started
and hence without the thinking about things like
moral obligations that this around that time.
go with human bodies.
Perhaps this is an obvious
This immediately creates (but usually unspoken)
scenarios where we must implication of ideas
confront on a visceral extant in science fiction
level the meaning of what around that time (notably,
it is to be human. Niven's "organlegger" future).
With a perfect human Much in the same way
physical simulacra, the that the Trek "holodeck"
sadist could drive in a had such obvious sexual
knife just to feel the applications it was
orifices spasm: the act inane to even mention it.
of murder would be
disconnected from the
crime of murder.
A problem for the ethical vegetarian:
This practice would "Scientists grow pork meat in a laboratory"
open up a controversy:
couldn't this lead to (And a potential solution
a lack of respect for for the ethical cannibal?)
actual human life?
[ref]
But this is a very
familiar controvesy:
are people who are into
consensual bdsm on the All reports from within the bsdm
verge of a descent into world are that this is not the
criminal behavior? case, however much the
occasional exception always gets
heavy mainstream coverage.
The idea that play/fantasy/fiction
is directly related to the real
is shallow, obtuse.
(Though the idea that it's
completely disconnected
also seems quite dubious.)
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