Let's say we have this device that creates instantaneous
pleasure, and we
don't use it responsibly. Let's say we can create
orgasmic states without the need of actual
copulation. On a large enough scale (okay, I'm speaking of the
majority of the
human race) we could give each person with access to such a device the ability to satisfy all of their
mental needs by jacking them in and letting them enjoy a powerful, continuous
orgasm. This would of course undermine
sex; you could get all the
pleasure you wanted from it without actually having to deal with finding someone to
copulate with. When we do this, we're of course implying that this new technology is more important than
sex, and since
sex is the primary reason why
humanity still exists today, we could effectively find a way to undermine our motivation to
survive. What I'm basically saying is that, under the right circumstances with this
pleasure-inducing technology, we could
kill the entire
human race.
Yes, of course there are a multitude of
limitations that would make such a thing almost impossible; availability, public acceptance, acceptance by the social/religious
elite,
et cetera. I'm just putting forth what I believe to be
an interesting idea.