Some of my inspiration to start thinking about this topic came from a popular anime called “Sword Art Online”. Throughout the story, the main character plays MMO’s inside huge virtual worlds that have players form all over the real world (but especially Japan). To enter the virtual world, the users put on a “NerveGear” helmet, resembling a motorcycle helmet. It connects to your brain, getting input from your thoughts and projecting to you senses (through your brain). The writer doesn’t explain exactly how the connection works, without any sort of surgery or incision into the brain.
All of the nervous system in your body runs at one point through your spinal cord up to your brain, so it is plausible that by ‘hacking’ into your upper spinal cord you could interfere directly with the brains interface with your senses. I don’t know exactly how this would work, and its not completely possible with today’s technology, but in my opinion its not too far in the future.
Already, we are able to sense specific actions of thinking. Recently, the first man to wirelessly control two prosthetic arms with his mind did. Here is the video demonstration of the research at John Hopkins: http://www.popsci.com/world-first-man-controls-two-prosthetic-arms-his-mind. I think that what they accomplished is really amazing, and that it is a huge step in the direction of actual, complete integration of virtual reality, at least technology-wise.
What I am interested in also is the effects of virtual reality on our society. Let’s say that, at one point, virtual reality is able to hack into your senses and give you the experience of any experience programmed into a computer, things you could have in real life and even imaginary ones you might not even be able to dream of. And it would feel real. The computers by this time could be fast enough, considering the prospects of quantum computing power. Think of the possibilities of virtual reality with this integrative power: you can fly, play MMO’s, live in a completely separate world, eat and taste and feel full with whatever you want, have sex, not sleep, anything you can think of. You are basically having your brain detached from your body and put into a computer, and the computer can feed you input through any of your senses. There is a lot of danger to this. For example, if you play too long, you might starve yourself to death because you could turn off your hunger. Or you could not care about anything in real life, because you can have everything you want in your virtual life.
The social consequences of this sort of technology are hard to predict, but I do have a few ideas. In ancient times, society’s values were very different. People were highly materialistic, and there were basically the nobility and the aristocracy (in most places. I am making generalizations of course). A specific example is how in Italy (as depicted in many famous paintings) the rich would make themselves fat, physically incapable, and generally pretty stupid, because they didn't have to be. The peasants, on the other hand, desperately needed food, efficiency, and bodily ability. The nobility indulged in pleasure, which is the thing that our bodies and minds have evolved to crave all the time. Why do we want it? Because the drive for it prompts us to put ourselves in such a good position that we don't need ability. People are “lazy” by nature, I think. At least, they want to be, and they put effort in making it easier for them to be. People enjoy vacations and taking breaks, playing games, surfing the internet, being unproductive. But we aren't able to do that indefinitely. In order to sustain ourselves we have to, for example, make money. We have an inherent value (normally) for our reputation and standing in other people’s eyes and our own. We want to look nice, attractive, seem successful and good, to others and much less often to ourselves.
Not everyone is like the majority of everyone else. Of course there are disorders, and they are “disorders” only because they act out of the range of most people in certain ways. Disordered people seem to think and feel extremely in certain ways. Its considered “extreme” when it starts to interfere with “normal living”. For example, people with OCD are diagnosed because they aren't able to do everything in a normal range of normal tasks because of their compulsions (normal is just subjectively voted upon by high-ranking doctors). Disorders aren't a disability of the brain in all cases, its just that the disordered person has "extreme" thoughts, feelings, and compulsions that interfere too much with their life. In a certain way, they have certain extreme values. In general, disordered people have deviating values and views on the world (usually in specific ways).
So not everyone follows the general trend of the way that evolution has decided that people should think, there are the variations. And this is as you would expect, if you have a good understanding of the theory of evolution. Perhaps one day certain things we consider disorders now will become the norm, for that difference might be beneficial as our environment and society changes. This hasn’t been predicted to be extremely likely, at least in the near future, because evolution has been extremely slow for the Homo Sapiens Sapiens race. Its been slow because most people have been having kids regardless of whether they are more or less “fit” than the majority of us. The biggest effect that fitness has is on one’s financial position and length of life, rather than the major effect of whether one lives till puberty or not.
In a future society, where the majority of people can have literally any experience they could want at any free moment they have during the day, what would people value? I am inspired how first-world societies today have responded to overproduction of the necessities: some people are indulgent but everyone agrees that it is bad to be indulgent and limiting your intake and maximizing your output is what’s best to do. People value now more than ever to be physically skinny and sexually appealing. Following fashion is at a height because of the instantaneous availability of the media. We have so much information available that advertisement and the promotion of specific items has become a huge, immensely important industry. I have definitely heard, and likely the reader has as well, that companies pour an insane amount of money into advertisement, both online and on TV. The reader may have also heard the term “native advertisement” (watch this youtube video: Last Week Tonight: Native Advertising) which is in reference mostly to news websites showing advertisements in a way that could confuse you into thinking, at least at a glance, that they are part of the news content itself. The reader must have definitely noticed the rate of improvement in commercial quality over the lifetime of television has skyrocketed exponentially in the last few years. They shoot commercials as well as most cinema now, with the expert camera angles, video editing, and music composed specifically for a 30-60 second slot. Advertisement is important, its growing in many ways, and under capitalism and mostly-free economy, I don't think that it will stop. I think its pretty amazing – ads are turning into an entertainment of its own form. But I can talk about that in another essay, I’m moving aside from my point here.
So what will people value? I don’t know for sure of course, but I do have some ideas. I think that people will become intensely competitive, because nothing at all usually would take any effort. There will be so many things to do in VR that people will never be bored, but their values will get bored. People are instinctual very social (and again, I’m referencing “people” as the majority of people now, as I observe). Sports involving skill will become popular I think (sports + VR) = esports), because skill is just a matter of time spent practicing it in most cases. For something like a real sport (e.g. basketball, soccer, football, etc.), not only time and effort, but pretty much every part of your life must be affected by and dedicated to your success in that sport, if you are a professional. Most people would like to be really good at something that they do, though many times this conviction is not more than some other things holding them back, and that is why not everyone is the best or tries to be at the things that they do. But there are people that do feel that way, and in the right conditions some of them become world-recognized professionals. In today’s society, however, it takes a lot more to be successful than just being good at what you do. So many things, I cannot possibly explain it all thoroughly. But in VR, things can be different. You can work on your skills practically any time you want, and computer would be tapped in to it all automatically, and it would be easier than ever for employers to find you they are looking for. What exactly will people be doing for a job in VR? I don't know, but the amount of skill that people can acquire in specific fields would be pretty amazing I think, and that would open up a lot of things. People wouldn't have to be well rounded, all they would need is VR and they could specialize in exactly what they are interested in, no matter how specific.
I know that this sort of reality seems far fetched. Won’t people need to care about their real lives too? I’m sure that they will, and a lot, at the introduction of this sort of technology. But after a time, as the technology integrates into the society and larger populations, things will change. People will become more and more accustomed to VR, apply it to more of their life, and in a long enough time, practically all of their life. I actually don’t really want to use cell phones here as an example, but I will. At first, the technology of the cell phone made it clunky, unconventional, and unpopular. But things moved along. And now most first wold countries are dominated by cell phones and people try more and more to make them useful whenever they can; there’s always “an app for that”.
When VR becomes like this … and actually cell phones are in no way at their maximum now, with the improvements to computing and all that, cell phones have huge improvements ahead of them in the near future I think. I won’t try to predict them right now, but I am excited for them. And VR will reach past the current position of cell phones as well. Well past it, because I think that VR has an unrivaled potential to integrate with people. Its literally everything that reality is, in its potential height.
I think that VR will completely change society, in is ultimate integration. It will revolutionize widespread values even more, connect the world in pretty much every way, create an unbelievable amount of opportunities for everything, and even be really fun, the most fun that you can possibly have really. Unless you are intellectual, then it might not be the MOST fun you can have.
- RIIBFEED-
All of the nervous system in your body runs at one point through your spinal cord up to your brain, so it is plausible that by ‘hacking’ into your upper spinal cord you could interfere directly with the brains interface with your senses. I don’t know exactly how this would work, and its not completely possible with today’s technology, but in my opinion its not too far in the future.
Already, we are able to sense specific actions of thinking. Recently, the first man to wirelessly control two prosthetic arms with his mind did. Here is the video demonstration of the research at John Hopkins: http://www.popsci.com/world-first-man-controls-two-prosthetic-arms-his-mind. I think that what they accomplished is really amazing, and that it is a huge step in the direction of actual, complete integration of virtual reality, at least technology-wise.
What I am interested in also is the effects of virtual reality on our society. Let’s say that, at one point, virtual reality is able to hack into your senses and give you the experience of any experience programmed into a computer, things you could have in real life and even imaginary ones you might not even be able to dream of. And it would feel real. The computers by this time could be fast enough, considering the prospects of quantum computing power. Think of the possibilities of virtual reality with this integrative power: you can fly, play MMO’s, live in a completely separate world, eat and taste and feel full with whatever you want, have sex, not sleep, anything you can think of. You are basically having your brain detached from your body and put into a computer, and the computer can feed you input through any of your senses. There is a lot of danger to this. For example, if you play too long, you might starve yourself to death because you could turn off your hunger. Or you could not care about anything in real life, because you can have everything you want in your virtual life.
The social consequences of this sort of technology are hard to predict, but I do have a few ideas. In ancient times, society’s values were very different. People were highly materialistic, and there were basically the nobility and the aristocracy (in most places. I am making generalizations of course). A specific example is how in Italy (as depicted in many famous paintings) the rich would make themselves fat, physically incapable, and generally pretty stupid, because they didn't have to be. The peasants, on the other hand, desperately needed food, efficiency, and bodily ability. The nobility indulged in pleasure, which is the thing that our bodies and minds have evolved to crave all the time. Why do we want it? Because the drive for it prompts us to put ourselves in such a good position that we don't need ability. People are “lazy” by nature, I think. At least, they want to be, and they put effort in making it easier for them to be. People enjoy vacations and taking breaks, playing games, surfing the internet, being unproductive. But we aren't able to do that indefinitely. In order to sustain ourselves we have to, for example, make money. We have an inherent value (normally) for our reputation and standing in other people’s eyes and our own. We want to look nice, attractive, seem successful and good, to others and much less often to ourselves.
Not everyone is like the majority of everyone else. Of course there are disorders, and they are “disorders” only because they act out of the range of most people in certain ways. Disordered people seem to think and feel extremely in certain ways. Its considered “extreme” when it starts to interfere with “normal living”. For example, people with OCD are diagnosed because they aren't able to do everything in a normal range of normal tasks because of their compulsions (normal is just subjectively voted upon by high-ranking doctors). Disorders aren't a disability of the brain in all cases, its just that the disordered person has "extreme" thoughts, feelings, and compulsions that interfere too much with their life. In a certain way, they have certain extreme values. In general, disordered people have deviating values and views on the world (usually in specific ways).
So not everyone follows the general trend of the way that evolution has decided that people should think, there are the variations. And this is as you would expect, if you have a good understanding of the theory of evolution. Perhaps one day certain things we consider disorders now will become the norm, for that difference might be beneficial as our environment and society changes. This hasn’t been predicted to be extremely likely, at least in the near future, because evolution has been extremely slow for the Homo Sapiens Sapiens race. Its been slow because most people have been having kids regardless of whether they are more or less “fit” than the majority of us. The biggest effect that fitness has is on one’s financial position and length of life, rather than the major effect of whether one lives till puberty or not.
In a future society, where the majority of people can have literally any experience they could want at any free moment they have during the day, what would people value? I am inspired how first-world societies today have responded to overproduction of the necessities: some people are indulgent but everyone agrees that it is bad to be indulgent and limiting your intake and maximizing your output is what’s best to do. People value now more than ever to be physically skinny and sexually appealing. Following fashion is at a height because of the instantaneous availability of the media. We have so much information available that advertisement and the promotion of specific items has become a huge, immensely important industry. I have definitely heard, and likely the reader has as well, that companies pour an insane amount of money into advertisement, both online and on TV. The reader may have also heard the term “native advertisement” (watch this youtube video: Last Week Tonight: Native Advertising) which is in reference mostly to news websites showing advertisements in a way that could confuse you into thinking, at least at a glance, that they are part of the news content itself. The reader must have definitely noticed the rate of improvement in commercial quality over the lifetime of television has skyrocketed exponentially in the last few years. They shoot commercials as well as most cinema now, with the expert camera angles, video editing, and music composed specifically for a 30-60 second slot. Advertisement is important, its growing in many ways, and under capitalism and mostly-free economy, I don't think that it will stop. I think its pretty amazing – ads are turning into an entertainment of its own form. But I can talk about that in another essay, I’m moving aside from my point here.
So what will people value? I don’t know for sure of course, but I do have some ideas. I think that people will become intensely competitive, because nothing at all usually would take any effort. There will be so many things to do in VR that people will never be bored, but their values will get bored. People are instinctual very social (and again, I’m referencing “people” as the majority of people now, as I observe). Sports involving skill will become popular I think (sports + VR) = esports), because skill is just a matter of time spent practicing it in most cases. For something like a real sport (e.g. basketball, soccer, football, etc.), not only time and effort, but pretty much every part of your life must be affected by and dedicated to your success in that sport, if you are a professional. Most people would like to be really good at something that they do, though many times this conviction is not more than some other things holding them back, and that is why not everyone is the best or tries to be at the things that they do. But there are people that do feel that way, and in the right conditions some of them become world-recognized professionals. In today’s society, however, it takes a lot more to be successful than just being good at what you do. So many things, I cannot possibly explain it all thoroughly. But in VR, things can be different. You can work on your skills practically any time you want, and computer would be tapped in to it all automatically, and it would be easier than ever for employers to find you they are looking for. What exactly will people be doing for a job in VR? I don't know, but the amount of skill that people can acquire in specific fields would be pretty amazing I think, and that would open up a lot of things. People wouldn't have to be well rounded, all they would need is VR and they could specialize in exactly what they are interested in, no matter how specific.
I know that this sort of reality seems far fetched. Won’t people need to care about their real lives too? I’m sure that they will, and a lot, at the introduction of this sort of technology. But after a time, as the technology integrates into the society and larger populations, things will change. People will become more and more accustomed to VR, apply it to more of their life, and in a long enough time, practically all of their life. I actually don’t really want to use cell phones here as an example, but I will. At first, the technology of the cell phone made it clunky, unconventional, and unpopular. But things moved along. And now most first wold countries are dominated by cell phones and people try more and more to make them useful whenever they can; there’s always “an app for that”.
When VR becomes like this … and actually cell phones are in no way at their maximum now, with the improvements to computing and all that, cell phones have huge improvements ahead of them in the near future I think. I won’t try to predict them right now, but I am excited for them. And VR will reach past the current position of cell phones as well. Well past it, because I think that VR has an unrivaled potential to integrate with people. Its literally everything that reality is, in its potential height.
I think that VR will completely change society, in is ultimate integration. It will revolutionize widespread values even more, connect the world in pretty much every way, create an unbelievable amount of opportunities for everything, and even be really fun, the most fun that you can possibly have really. Unless you are intellectual, then it might not be the MOST fun you can have.
- RIIBFEED-
