Or people could just tell each other how they feel and save a lot of
silliness.
Brian Aldis wrote a book called "Primal Urge" where the people wore colouredsilliness.
discs on their foreheads that glowed pink when they were attracted to
someone.
It's an interesting theory on how to make life simpler, and what other
effects come with it. It's got a more exciting plot as well, and it's in the
IFIS library.
Personally, I think we're screwing up our most favourable evolutionary
routes by having all this social mores garbage that prevents people from
approaching their preferred partner and being honest about it. (And yes, I
suffer from it at least as much as the rest of you.)
There's going to be some really weird shit happening on the relationship
front over the next few decades I suspect.
a) We've got people staying at home and communicating electronically far
more than before.
b) We've got genetic screening and manipulation.
c) We've pretty well mastered test-tube baby technology.
d) We're working on cloning.
e) We're making progress on virtual reality and sex-dolls.
f) We've got very portable computers, and communication tools.
g) Homosexuality is increasingly acceptable to society.
Here's a few scenarios to take this thread back onto an SF footing....
i) You're walking down the street when you see someone you fancy. Your
personal computer has already identified them as matching your preferred
physical appearance, and contacted their personal computer to exchange basic
information on likes/dislikes/sexual preferences. Finding a match, it asks
you what you'd like to do. You tell it you're interested in either a casual
fling, or a serious long-term relationship, and it asks their computer
whether the other person is looking for one of these things. Since they are
indeed looking for a relationship, their computer notifies them that the
person staring strangely at them from across the pavement is a potential
match for a serious long-term relationship.
ii) John and Dave are a hapilly married couple, and they want to have
children. They visit the clinic and pick out a suitable female from the
database of egg donors, and select the best genetic material from the two of
them, and 9 months later their baby is delivered by courier.
iii) Arthur and Martin are a hapilly married couple who want to have
children. Arthur doesn't approve of the rampant march of technology and
thinks children should be conceived naturally. Martin thinks Arthur is a
pervert and divorces him.
iv) Alan meets Susan at work. They instantly fancy each other like mad, and
they have wonderful sex. She says she's been thinking of having a child, and
he thinks that's a smashing idea. He asks her where she lives, and discovers
that her physical body is located on the other side of the world, although
their cyberspace avatars have been working for the same global corporation
for a while. They decide that rather than actually meeting, they'll just
ship Alan's sperm over to Susan and have virtual sex again, with their
programmable sex dolls tailored to match each other's cyberspace avatars.
Susan asks Alan for a photograph of his physical face, and an analysis of
his genetics. She decides that despite being rather ugly, his genetic
material is wonderful, and tries to forget about his physical appearance for
the sake of the child.
Dominic
"I don't mean to sound cold, cruel and vicious,
but I am, so that's the way it comes out." [Bill Hicks]