In other series like
Warcraft or
Star Wars, I'd agree with you. But here in
Cyberpunk, it is not superfluous, but rather a manifestation of what most members in the socio-economic hierarchy cannot have in their life --- being appreciated as a human.
In a world where technology has advanced so that any part of your body can be modified and evaluated as commodities, the connection between people not needed because an individual can sustain him/herself within the system by having enough wealth to maintain the technology to live the minimum welfare controlled by mega-corps. People become extremely expendable, nations become irrelevant because they are just tools that mega-corps use to enforce laws which do not protect people but rather just those who stay on the top of the pyramid, built on the misery of those pushed to the bottom by exploitation (you can call it 'injustice' but it really is just an inevitable result of post-capitalism driven by a technology-over-morals system).
The feeling of caring is even over-supplied in its physical, emotionless form. Joygirls/ Joyboys are so cheap in
Cyperpunk you can order someone using vendor machines. Just like a can of soda. Think about it. You can use someone's body as if s/he's just a can of soda. That's how worthless most people have become in that dark future!
Recall from the Wiki that
Cyberpsychosis can be cured through socializing and having sex, aside from therapeutic Braindances (BD). The opposite of not meeting one's baser needs and maintaining emotional / physical connections with another is the eventual fall into suicidal madness. Because if you are not appreciated as a human, what's the difference between you and a screwdriver?
This is also why sexual activity BDs sell. Because the reality is that most societal members are so worthless to each other they will never have that affirmation of being cared about. Its existence is not "oh look in the future we have VR porns!" but rather "oh look people would pay this much just to have the illusion that they are appreciated at all!"
So what is the solution? How would you even know that you are worth anything, to yourself, to the people you know, and to the world actively treating you like a screwdriver?
The answer is
the activity that involves another person laying down with you, not because s/he has a deal with you, but because s/he wants to. Both of you, body parts replaceable, just like machines. But each of you agree that, while you're far from perfect, you are important enough to each other that, you willingly let your parts come together, even just briefly, to consummate your emotions. To affirm that you are part of something bigger. Maybe you're part of each other. Maybe together as one you will have a chance against the irreversibly miserable world you're both doomed to live in.
I guess we'll call that activity sex.