Jinn

Recently I've had a lot of "struggle" in my life, and it all seems to be revolve around one central concept - virtualization. Life is easier, faster, and more convenient in virtual worlds. I feel like we're on the cusp of a huge jump in human evolution, and I'm one of the few who recognizes the power of it.

Throughout human history, there's always been a concept of escapism. People enjoy escaping from real life. Drugs, alcohol, addictions -- they're all escapes. They take us from our dreary normal life into something more desirable. Drugs can make you feel like you're doing supernatural things, let you feel things you've never felt, and let you go places you've never been. People like this.

But most drugs are illegal, and for good reason. Why? When you start to escape from "real-life" regularly enough (become an addict), your "real-life" starts to suffer. What if that life didn't exist? What if you were subject only to the reality of your "virtual-life" and had no obligations to the real world? Nowadays we call those people insane or drug addicts, but I think they see something that we're all about to see in the next 50 years. There's a lot of advantages to a virtual life, enough so that I can't think of any benefits to living a normal life.

I'm limited now, of course, by the technology. We're about 20-50 years behind my desire, but I see it in my lifetime. I have to keep a "normal life" because I need money, food, a place to stay, etc.. etc.

To give you an idea of what I mean, think about the "problems" in society today.

Nationalism / Isolationism:

War after war has occured because people didn't understand other people and their culture. People inherently desire uniformity, and when confronted suddenly with non-standard ideals, their reaction is to rebel and change the other people. With virtualized worlds, language and geographical barriers go away. Real time software translation is already good, and getting better. Soon enough we'll be able to have people talking in their first language and being understood completely by everyone else, regardless of THEIR language. This is the ultimate in communication and tolerance. Someone is 8000 miles away? Not a problem. You don't have to take a flight to them. You can talk to them and see their virtual avatar no matter your location or their location. It promotes global dissemination of ideas, and truly creates a HUMAN knowledgebase rather than country-by-country. Academics would love this.

Racism/Sexism/Ageism

Because you're not physically connected, everyone is who they want to be. Suddenly things like if you have female or male genetalia doesn't matter - you're just another person out there in the world. You can make yourself big and strong, small and weak. You could be black, white, native american, whatever you want. People won't be able to judge you based on what you look like, only what you say and do. It's the utopian "equal" world that every one fighting for equal rights strives for. And we can create it!

The same thing goes for attraction. A big part of society is arguing about what is attractive, and similarly being self concious about our own appearance. People pay thousands of dollars to meet someone elses ideal of beauty. In a virtual world, you can look like whatever you want. You want to be a small brunette with green eyes? No? Blond with blue eyes? No? You're playing God. You get to look like whomever you want, whenever you want. No longer will people be so subject to their superficial desires. Couples won't have to fight over "not being attracted to me anymore" because they both can change to meet their partner's unique desires.

Which leads me to the primary concern of those against virtualization - physical and carnal pleasures. JinnKai, how can you experience 'sex' in a virtual world? Research in HCI and Biofeedback devices tell me that this is already becoming a reality. We can devices that can simulate sound, sight, and tactile input. They're certainly not perfect, but they're advancing just as fast as computers are. I see a day in 10 years where you won't be able to tell the difference between a simulated "touch" directly connected to your nerves and a real honest-to-goodness personal touch. What then? When you can experience everything that you can experience in real life in a virtual world, why wouldn't you? I know there are some of you out there who would reject this kind of technology, and I know you've got reasons. I want to hear them. Would you embrace a virtualized world when it came? Why or why not?

Everything is faster - you don't have to sit in traffic for hours commuting to work. Even now, in virtualized worlds such as video games, you can move from area to area as fast as your computer can load it. You don't have to waste time sitting in your car doing nothing -- instantly to work, instantly home. And you don't have to waste time taking showers or getting ready; you can look like whatever you want, remember..?

You are not limited by the expense, inconvience, and stigma that drugs bring. You are limited only to your imagination and the constructs of the technology that supports it. You want to pretend you are a military sargeant in command of WW2 soldiers one minute and a mystical elf the next? You got it.

Death? You can't "die" in a virtual world. Only your physical body can die. You want to drive a car 200 MPH around a track and not be afraid of death? Virtual world provides it. Crash and burn, and you simply reset the simulation rather than the death that would accompany it in a real world.

Your wealth is not an issue anymore; people will again be only able to judge you by what you say and what you do, not what your clothes look like or whether you live in a slum hole or a luxury mansion.

We're the first generation fully capable of virtualizing an environment, and I'm excited about it. I want the world ot be in my control, and I want to be able to have the convenience of my dreams and desires being available. I want to be able to virtualize myself to a beach in Guatamala, and see the rivers of Venice. I can do all of that in a virtual environment without ever having to take a plane or drive to the airport or check my baggage.

Movies have addressed this idea briefly; and I think many of the predictions are right. Embracing an environment like this would mutate our bodies into brain shells, where the physical ability to lift your arm is not even necessary. You need only to be able to control a virtual arm to have a successful life.

Again -- what am I missing? I know I am, but I need you guys to tell me what problems you see with a virtual environment. Would you reject it, if it came?

Currently, the only limitation I see is in infrastructure. Who supports this massive computing worldwide? And the energy required to drive all the machinery? Who provides us with the food to keep our physical bodies alive while our brains participate in a globalized virtualized conversation? I don't know, but I think that these will be issues that iron themselves out when or if this day comes to fruition.

What do you think?

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel