Cheating and social tunnelling

Inventions succeed or fail in the market depending on how many people want them, and are prepared to pay the price. Reasons for wanting them vary enormously, but one of the guarantees of success is if the idea allows us to do stuff we always wanted to, but couldn't. And one of the biggest and most common reasons why we can't do something is that it is not socially acceptable.

So, if we can avoid society knowing what we are up to, and avoid otherwise negative impacts on our social status and reputation, or if we can directly bypass an otherwise strong social barrier, then an invention that taps into a basic desire can be successful. There are numerous inventions that fall into this list. VHS and SMS are good examples from the last decades. In the 80s, VHS allowed people to watch porn in private instead of being seen at a cinema. In the 90s, the web allowed them to avoid even the embarassment of buying a video or magazine. But it isn't just porn that encourages us to bypass social norms. Most SMS messages are connected in some way with flirting. Much of the attractiveness in SMS is that by avoiding face to face contact with the target, fears of rejection are lowered, and so people will flirt with more people, and do so with less inhibition. Even the text phrase LOL is ambiguous, meaning both 'lots of love' and 'laughs out loud', so can be safely used in texts to test the water before someone is sure that their feelings are reciprocated.

All of this amounts to a sort of cyberspace 'social tunnelling'. We use these tools to get to a goal without directly confronting a social barrier. We tunnel through it. In more recent years, sites like 2nd Life, dating sites, and many others, have capitalised well on the value of such tunnelling. But while these sites are used in many cases to innocently bypass distance or fears of rejection, the more dangerous side is that they are also often quite deliberately used to bypass other social norms. If I make an advance on another man's wife in front of him, I might expect him to become hostile. But if I send secret texts to his partner, or interact with her in internet chat rooms, he may remain totally unaware of the illicit relationship. The desire of people to play with other people's partners has always been part of human society, but it is only these recent inventions that have enabled easy access to social tunnels.

But the technology hasn't stopped developing, and new kinds of tunnels will appear from time to time, some of which will be even more compelling. I often joke that using the active contact lens displays that may be commonplace in a decade or so, I could be in bed playing with my wife but using computer overlays (aka augmented reality) actually see the next door neighbour's wife, or some supermodel. Thankfully my wife knows I am only joking, but the capability will nevertheless be real. Using active skin to record and replay sensations, it will even be possible to time-shift illicit play.

Such technological capability will have some positive uses of course,  but it will still represent a strong threat to social bonds. People will be less able to trust each other if it is easier and more fun to cheat. But will this lead to social collapse? Of course not.

Actually, I suspect that the real problem is a short to mid term one. When everyone is well aware of the potential for cheating, then we will adapt and learn to live with it. And of course, new tools are constantly being developed to enable partners to check on each other. As new tunnels are built, other older ones collapse. The real problems occur where one party uses their superior techno-literacy to outwit and cheat on the other, and before surveillance tools become widespread. Ultimately, the same solid foundations of human nature will come to bear again. We are more likely to be open and honest when we know we can be caught. Sad, but true.