Ethical Stance and Evolving Technosexual Culture : A Case for Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

Issues relating to ethics and how moral principles evolve are imminently engrained in culture. Culture and technology cannot be separated from one another, as both are processes and reflections of social cognition and experience through action and practice. Technology is the embodiment of values and enabler of culture. As technology develops and human relationships to information technology (IT) become ever more intricate and intimate the cultural framework underpinning values and ethics also morphs. The Internet is everywhere and humans are reliant on it for everything from banking to maintaining family relationships. Anything an individual could possibly desire can be found within the masses of information and websites. The Internet has made access to domains that were either rare luxury or forbidden seemingly easy, convenient and free. What was once considered taboo and hedonic indulgence is now not only openly available, but widely accepted within popular Western culture. This paper concentrates on the topic of technosexuality, Internet facilitated sexual encounters, technologically enabled sex, and ideas around ethics and changing moral values. We refer to ‘ethical stance’ as a reflection of the socio-psychological positioning of humans in relation to their moral views and understandings. This is a theoretical paper that draws on contemporary examples from dating Apps and embodied technology (sex robots) in light of current discourse expressed in public online media.