113. How porn drives tech innovation

Tech for Non-Techies

The porn industry is behind many of the innovations that drive e-commerce and the consumer internet today. If you want to know what new trend is going to be the hottest thing in tech, the makers of smut probably have the answer.

Learning notes from this episode:

• The adult industry pioneered streaming video, tracking devices and online credit card transactions.
• Even before the advent of the internet, porn drove consumer tech. Author Patchen Barss says that without porn, the VCR might have never taken off as a consumer product.
• Pornographers are not necessarily the inventors of new technologies, but they are the first to use them and thus drive consumer adoption. Once a technology works for porn users, they often flow down to the mainstream.
• If you are a tech investor or a tech innovator, seeing what new products or use cases are happening in the adult industry, can help you spot the next big trend. The more you can pick up ideas from wherever they come from, regardless of whether they are from culturally approved places, the more creative you will be in your work.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Business Insider: How porn drives innovation in tech
• Web root: internet Pornography by the Numbers
• Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of Pornography in the Cyber Age, by Frederick Lane
• The Erotic Engine, by Patchen Barss

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