I was talking with another mind this week about virtual reality. We got into an exchange. I wouldn’t say heated, but friendly composition of intellectual measure. Which is philosopher talk for we talked for a while. We don’t make a lot of money, we have to get our victories in bloated speech.
He was under the opinion that a VR (Virtual Reality) world would be far better than an actual world. We talked under the conditions that in the VR world: you would be medically fine and taken care of, you had enough information about the world to shape it as you wished, you had potentially unlimited amount of time to be in the VR world. His argument was that he could do anything he wanted to, So why not live in that space? You could learn in this space via online classes, which are popular for the busy and the reclusive. You could go on adventures like in your favorite video games. You could also be a god to some measure, with the space around you bending to your will.
Sounds like a solid gig. You could be who you want, do what you want, and be with who you wanted to. That was his main argument.
My counter point was that VR is unnecessary to fulfill these goals, aside from the fantastical components. Something that we have forgotten in our lives is that we CAN do what we want, be who we want, and be with who we want to. The only thing holding us back are ourselves and physics, and both seem to change every day. Sure you won’t be able to fly in Real Life, but you might be the person to perfect it or develop a way to allow flight. Who needs some king giving you a quest, when you can make your own quest? Also, I contend that the feelings of experience would be more real and easier logistically in the real world to just use what is available to me today. This is also due to the fact that I shave with Occam’s Razor. Plus, the real world has better graphics, at least right now.
Do you wish to be in a VR world or a Real World? Discuss. Tell your claims!