The Erotic Engine: How Pornography has Powered Mass Communication, from Gutenberg to Google

Pornography: The force for change that has been written out of the history of world culture. From cave painting to photography to the internet, pornography has always been at the cutting edge in adopting and exploiting new developments in mass communication. And in so doing, it has helped to promote and propel those developments in ways that are rarely acknowledged. Without pornography, the internet would not have grown so quickly. The e-commerce payment systems that are now commonplace would be at a far more primitive stage security and usability. Without video streaming software developed for pornography sites, CNN would be struggling to deliver news clips. Without advertising from sex sites, Google could not have afforded YouTube. This smart, witty and well-researched history shows how a vast secret trade has bankrolled and shaped mainstream culture and its machines.

Table of Contents:
Introduction   Part One: Drawing, Painting, Carving, Writing One The Oldest Impression Two The “Hottentot Venus” and the History of Civilization Three The Virgin and the Naughty Monkey Four Fleshing the Press   Part Two: Mechanical Reproduction Five Exposure Time Six Stag Nation Seven The Format War Eight “U” Tube Nine Erotica Online Ten Virtual World FAQ Eleven The Games People Play   Part Three: The Modern Pornography Industry Twelve The Commercialization of the Internet Thirteen Pornography Outstrips the Mainstream   Part Four: The Strange Future of Mass Communication Fourteen Words Get in the Way Fifteen Out of the MUD Sixteen Emergent Sex and Non-emergent Technology Seventeen The Law of Unintended Consequences Eighteen Down but Not Out Nineteen A Touchy Subject   For Further Reading Acknowledgements Index

About the Author :
PATCHEN BARSS is Director, Communications and Media Relations, with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. As a journalist he has written about science and the humanities in higher education for more than a decade. His articles have appeared in the National Post, the Montreal Gazette, Reader's Digest, Saturday Night, This Magazine, and many other publications. He has been a technology and culture columnist for CBC Online and a producer for CBC Television.

Review :
"From the first cave drawings to how 'jiggle physics' advanced computer graphics to the 'twitterdildonics' of the future, a thorough, accessible, smart and insightful look at how pornography has driven communication technology throughout history." -- Josey Vogels, sex and relationships columnist and author of Bedside Manners: Sex Etiquette Made Easy "With an argument rich in fascinating stories and compelling characters, Patchen Barss proves this page-turner's startling thesis: pornography inspires advanced forms of communication. The Erotic Engine is enlightening, entertaining, and intellectually titillating." --Micah Toub, author of Growing Up Jung: Coming of Age as the Son of Two Shrinks