The illusion of the mind body dichotomy does not reduce digital cross-dressing to irrelevance. Advancing technology and changing social norms will blur the line between the “real” and the “digital” world. The evolution of the Internet and digital technology will continue to be driven by the desire to search for and express one’s true identity.

Increased Internet speed, web cameras, higher graphic standards, larger Internet audiences, and animation make the dirty love letters of Epoch I seem quaint.

Sexual minorities and other identity categories will continue to use the Internet to network, communicate, share stories, and organize. Increased Internet speed, web cameras, higher graphic standards, larger Internet audiences, and animation make the dirty love letters of Epoch I seem quaint. When these individuals become comfortable with one another, they will meet face to face, maybe for a date or even a conference. Online networking does indeed yield real world results and new social standards.

The development of more personalized forms of communication will not stop at web cams. Cyber sexual activity is shifting from an autoerotic activity to a shared experience. These “personal device assistants” already allow one person in Bangkok to stimulate the body parts of a partner in Juneau, Alaska. Cyber sex suits simulate touch and generate sensation. Custom-made sex dolls allow a person’s virtual avatar to control a real world avatar – that’s three degrees of connected separation.

Improved communication will produce new relationships, audiences, and jumpstart new forms of technology. Body modification fetishists, drag queens, and other groups already seek to alter their physical form. The disconnect between the digital and the real will lead to new surgical techniques, implants, makeup, and genetic alterations that make digital fantasies a “reality.” As individuals begin to see hyper-reality more along the lines of what reality should be, they will impose their new standards and tastes on the “real world.” And eventually, growing technology and changing societal standards will meet at an equilibrium point, where the lines between physical and perceptual become indistinguishable.

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