…Adult Entertainment is Good for Innovation
1. To nobody’s surprise, there is a lot of money in the production of pornography. Adult entertainment, the most negative and problematic area of the Internet, is arguably its most porfitable. And with all of those profit comes reinvestment, as well as R&D.
2. Adult entertainment encourages the adoption of technical standards. Consider the battle between Betamax and VHS. While some may argue that Sony’s reluctance for an open standard sent Betamax to an early grave, VHS became the standard as the industry chose it as their format of choice. Now the same may occur in the battle between Blue Ray and HD-DVD.
3. The industry not only encourages technical innovation, but also the entrepreneurial spirit. The size of the pornography industry, coupled with the latest in web tools, has created a market that would make Adam Smith smile, and would cause Karl Marx to role over in his grave, as noted here - “…exploitation resulting in huge revenue streams and surplus value distributed amongst a wide range of investors and market participants.”
4. Producers of adult entertainment are early adopters and force the development of technology, from video-streaming and fee-based subscriptions to pop-up ads and electronic billing. With a large market to tackle and an explosion of amateur competitors, the industry’s biggest players are always looking for an edge, or competitive advantage, for an audience that is looking for something faster, better or simpler.
5. As Annalee Newitz notes, “Everybody wants porn + nobody will admit it + everybody loves tech = innovating ways to look without being seen.”
