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Thanks for your question! I think a lot of the tech evolution will depend on how the porn industry tries to deploy the tech. Some of the people I talked to for the story mentioned their interest in developing more interactive porn experiences with the VR headset in tandem with other tech (connected sex toys or teledildonics), and so I imagine that will eventually come to fruition. As for the other uses, it’s hard to say — it all depends on whether the industry thinks the applications are promising enough for them to invest a lot of resources in them.

There's a definite interest from the industry in developing ways to pair VR porn experiences with connected sex tech. So, probably!

Ha! Over the course of my reporting I learned about some of the other factors that led to the failure of the Betamax (including its higher cost and shorter recording time), but if it makes you feel better be my guest!

The general market dynamics at play here (early adopters shell out lots of $$ for VR, VR gets better with that investment, more people have more incentives to invest, more competitors come onto the scene and push prices down) will likely lead to lower price points for home VR in the future. Porn producers aren’t making headsets themselves, so they won’t be able to directly control price points, but some of them offer the option to buy headsets uploaded with adult content, which gives people additional incentives to invest. I don’t really imagine a “killer app” for adult content at this point, primarily because adult content is banned from mainstream app stores, but never say never!

They don't feel pain--they can react as if they feel pain. The definition of what it means to be human is bound to change. Look at Sophia the robot, which was granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Ox6H64yu8

Or the debate over rights for robot sex workers.

Or the monkey selfie case.

Or the case of Justice the horse "suing" the owner that neglected him.

When I talked to Jonathan Coopersmith, a technology professor at Arizona State, for this article, he told me: “It’s bad PR to be associated with porn.” We were talking about device-makers, but I think the same can be said for brands and advertisers. I think most marketers, if you asked them, would not consider porn to be “brand-safe.” I don’t know how long it will take for that dynamic to change. But I can imagine that if a few more mainstream companies test out advertising or partnerships with adult content, the rest of the industry would certainly pay attention to the results.