Searches for "VR porn" have increased 100-fold from November 2014 through April 2016, according to Google Trends data (via VRTalk.com). That is growth of 9,900-percent in 17 months, and it shows how rapidly an idea can take off if it involves new ways to look at naked people. Analysts at research firm SuperData predict that virtual reality could turn into a $40 billion business by 2020, and the demand for virtual porn is more evidence in favor of that outlook.

The idea that porn is important to new technology is conventional wisdom. You'll commonly read that VHS beat out the superior Betamax in the video-cassette format war because pornographers chose VHS. The truth is likely more nuanced. Adult films weren't the only deciding factor because they were only a tiny portion of the market even back then. But the XXX industry definitely played a role in how some people adopted and used their expensive new entertainment devices in the late 1970s and early 1980s.