I don’t think this future society was intended to be perfect or utopian or a recommendation for how we should develop. I don’t think that EY is seriously (or non-seriously) suggesting that society would be better with decriminalized rape.
Rather, this is most likely an expression of the principle that the future will contain things that we would consider a moral outrage, just as every century in recorded history so far has contained things that the people of one or two centuries previous to them would have considered a moral outrage.
There’s a lot of discussion in this comment thread already looking at the question from different angles, and I recommend you take the time to look through it.
I agree, though, that the logical implications are not well-thought-out. Can I delay or prevent someone from getting from point A to point B by accosting them in the hallway for sex? What if three people all decide they want sex with the same person at once? Twelve people? A hundred? At a certain point, sexual intercourse is an unavoidably rivalrous good this side of forking uploads.
Legal does not mean “accepted”. For us you could replace it with hugging:
“Can I delay or prevent someone from getting from point A to point B by hugging them in the hallway? What if three people all decide they want to hug same person at once? Twelve people? A hundred?”
Most interaction between people is controlled by people losing social status when behaving wrong, and some mild violence (mostly pushing away) for more extreme misbehavior. Laws are only needed for really extreme cases.
Hugging is, potentially, fast: if A tries to hug B and B pulls away, a hug has still occurred. Sex takes longer: there’s complicated steps involving disrobing and so forth. Your argument applies to, say, groping; but if B doesn’t want to cooperate then that becomes relevant before sex has occurred. It’s clear (“safe”, “take matters into her own hands”) that there is not a reliable way of getting out of sex.
Also, the dialogue (“Prohibition”, “too much”) seems to suggest social acceptance.
I don’t think this future society was intended to be perfect or utopian or a recommendation for how we should develop. I don’t think that EY is seriously (or non-seriously) suggesting that society would be better with decriminalized rape.
Rather, this is most likely an expression of the principle that the future will contain things that we would consider a moral outrage, just as every century in recorded history so far has contained things that the people of one or two centuries previous to them would have considered a moral outrage.
There’s a lot of discussion in this comment thread already looking at the question from different angles, and I recommend you take the time to look through it.
I agree, though, that the logical implications are not well-thought-out. Can I delay or prevent someone from getting from point A to point B by accosting them in the hallway for sex? What if three people all decide they want sex with the same person at once? Twelve people? A hundred? At a certain point, sexual intercourse is an unavoidably rivalrous good this side of forking uploads.
Legal does not mean “accepted”. For us you could replace it with hugging: “Can I delay or prevent someone from getting from point A to point B by hugging them in the hallway? What if three people all decide they want to hug same person at once? Twelve people? A hundred?”
Most interaction between people is controlled by people losing social status when behaving wrong, and some mild violence (mostly pushing away) for more extreme misbehavior. Laws are only needed for really extreme cases.
That’s a good point, but I’m still not convinced.
Hugging is, potentially, fast: if A tries to hug B and B pulls away, a hug has still occurred. Sex takes longer: there’s complicated steps involving disrobing and so forth. Your argument applies to, say, groping; but if B doesn’t want to cooperate then that becomes relevant before sex has occurred. It’s clear (“safe”, “take matters into her own hands”) that there is not a reliable way of getting out of sex.
Also, the dialogue (“Prohibition”, “too much”) seems to suggest social acceptance.
I wonder how much fiction has been written about fucking forking uploads.