Orion283
February 15th, 2008, 10:08 AM
Imagine some day in the near future we manage to perfect full sensory immersion virtual reality. Something kinda like a mishmash of the Matrix (perhaps a more benign one) and Second Life. You find a comfy seat so your body is secure while you're logged in, and in the virtual world you can do just about anything you can imagine. This raised many questions, some I see an answer to, some not. I'm curious to see what answers you folks come up with.
Q: What would run the simulation?
A: The Matrix probably had the right idea. You could live at a special apartment where your body is jacked in while you live in the virtual world, somehow or another performing useful tasks for the machines. Early on there may be human operators, but if enough of the world (perhaps all of it) is logged in there would need to be robot operators.
Q: What would be the benefits of living in virtual reality?
A: Freedom, in a sense. You never have to worry about food or shelter or sleep so long as your body can be used to fuel the machines. And having a virtual world that answers your every command allows you to live just about any way you like.
Q: What would be the downsides?
A: In another sense, a lack of freedom. Some may inevitably be unable to accept living as a battery, or reject the fantasy world simply because it is a fantasy. In an interesting inversion of the Matrix, there may arise folks who feel it's their civic duty to disrupt this virtual reality any way they can because the folks who think they're content to live in the fantasy "just don't know better." There is of course also the trouble that contrary to the Matrix movies, your body would degrade and atrophy in the VR apartment. An occasional vacation there wouldn't be too bad, but if you stay for a few years it's unlikely you'll be able to leave.
Q: What would happen to culture in the virtual world?
A: This is a tricky one to figure out. Early on people would likely still cling to old cultural standards. Many communities would spring up with people who want to live in a common theme, such as feudal Japan or simulated outer-space habitats. In time I believe it would become similar to a situation described in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, in which there is a seemingly endless proliferation of copies of copies after the original has long since been lost. Once the VR apartments cover the world, concepts of countries would likely fade in favor of social communes where people seek out like-minded individuals. And on the internet it's likely that even the most unusual mind can find another mind just like theirs.
Q: What would families be like?
A: I think that mating would probably be handled by the machines. They'd determine when the population needs to be replenished so as to keep the system going and collect genetic material from the populace, organizing and mixing the genes (possibly with a little random number generating to keep things interesting) and new people would be born right into the matrix. Children would likely not be given full access and editing privliges right off the bat (children with super-powers are always trouble), which would likely lead to some kind of coming-of-age trial to be given editing privliges. Families themselves would likely be smaller groups within the larger social communes. Perhaps you could place an application for a child and have the overseers whip you up one (from your genetic material if you like or if not then from the gene pool in general). There'd probably be folks in charge of watching new births who were brought in for system control rather than by application.
Q: What would run the simulation?
A: The Matrix probably had the right idea. You could live at a special apartment where your body is jacked in while you live in the virtual world, somehow or another performing useful tasks for the machines. Early on there may be human operators, but if enough of the world (perhaps all of it) is logged in there would need to be robot operators.
Q: What would be the benefits of living in virtual reality?
A: Freedom, in a sense. You never have to worry about food or shelter or sleep so long as your body can be used to fuel the machines. And having a virtual world that answers your every command allows you to live just about any way you like.
Q: What would be the downsides?
A: In another sense, a lack of freedom. Some may inevitably be unable to accept living as a battery, or reject the fantasy world simply because it is a fantasy. In an interesting inversion of the Matrix, there may arise folks who feel it's their civic duty to disrupt this virtual reality any way they can because the folks who think they're content to live in the fantasy "just don't know better." There is of course also the trouble that contrary to the Matrix movies, your body would degrade and atrophy in the VR apartment. An occasional vacation there wouldn't be too bad, but if you stay for a few years it's unlikely you'll be able to leave.
Q: What would happen to culture in the virtual world?
A: This is a tricky one to figure out. Early on people would likely still cling to old cultural standards. Many communities would spring up with people who want to live in a common theme, such as feudal Japan or simulated outer-space habitats. In time I believe it would become similar to a situation described in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, in which there is a seemingly endless proliferation of copies of copies after the original has long since been lost. Once the VR apartments cover the world, concepts of countries would likely fade in favor of social communes where people seek out like-minded individuals. And on the internet it's likely that even the most unusual mind can find another mind just like theirs.
Q: What would families be like?
A: I think that mating would probably be handled by the machines. They'd determine when the population needs to be replenished so as to keep the system going and collect genetic material from the populace, organizing and mixing the genes (possibly with a little random number generating to keep things interesting) and new people would be born right into the matrix. Children would likely not be given full access and editing privliges right off the bat (children with super-powers are always trouble), which would likely lead to some kind of coming-of-age trial to be given editing privliges. Families themselves would likely be smaller groups within the larger social communes. Perhaps you could place an application for a child and have the overseers whip you up one (from your genetic material if you like or if not then from the gene pool in general). There'd probably be folks in charge of watching new births who were brought in for system control rather than by application.