Compass October 2025 - Future of Love, Sex, Intimacy & Relationships

This issue explores the evolution of human connection in an increasingly digital and artificial age. Fernanda Rocha poses the provocative question of whether flirting with an AI constitutes cheating. David Geye and Ingrid Furtado provide relationship tips for both artificials and humans through a futuristic vidcast artifact. Ingrid LaFleur discusses the potential for erotic power to become a site for justice and collective futures. Jack Uldrich argues that the future of love is not a destination but something to be lived in the now. Karessa Torgerson applies the rider and elephant metaphor to illustrate how connection offers an antidote to objectification in foresight. Diana Stafie presents four scenarios for the future of love relationships including robotic romance and communal commitments. Stormy C. Sweitzer analyzes generative disconnection and whether AI companions will cause human relational skills to atrophy. Jim Dator provides a set of reflections on love and relations including his 1972 projections for cybersex. Danielle Nadine Pierre explains how to practice reflexivity to create more ethical and relational futures. Luke van der Laan honors Richard Slaughter as a doyen of the field highlighting his creation of the Knowledge Base of Futures Studies. The issue concludes with a special section on Slaughter's work including his views on deep time and technoscience.