[ExI] Convergence

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of BillK

>...Then there are 'entertainment' projects which suck whole populations
away into a non-productive euphoria. The worst case, of course, is humans
moving to virtual reality where nothing gets done in the real world...BillK
_______________________________________________


BillK a number of years ago, I had a vision regarding a kind of convergence
of getting things done in the real world and virtual reality.  The number of
developments since then encourage me to revisit that subject.  Gregory
Stock's book Metaman was a lot more recent then but not still warm off the
presses, so I am guessing my musing were made in about 1999, after Dr.
Stock's pitch at (I think) Extro4.

My sketchy vision at the time included some sort of VR glasses which could
make a kind of heads up display, along with audio such as we have today (and
had then) in the form of cell phones.  What has changed in the last 13 years
is that these kinds of glasses have improved and everyone has cell phones.

The notion is this.  We all have special talents and abilities, we all own
oddball items we keep around the house for no justifiable reason.  We can
imagine cases where we see something amiss, such as a broken sprinkler pipe,
spewing water and making a mess.  We can imagine a subset of people who work
for some kind of loosely organized online clearing house of some sort, which
knows one's home inventory and one's skills inventory.  It would call out to
everyone in the area, since the clearing house knows where every member is
physically located, sends out a message, broken sprinkler pipe, who wants to
fix?  I carry sprinkler parts around in a toolbox in the back of my truck.
No particular reason, I just do it.  Doesn't weigh much, doesn't take much
room back there.  So, broken pipe down the street, I either get the call or
call in, I go over, the clearing house tells me where the valve is located
to shut off the water, I fix the pipe, few minutes job to prevent a huge
mess, etc.  

We would evolve towards being a Borg, sort of.  Last time we got on this
topic, it devolved along the usual lines of privacy this and openness that,
but this group of volunteers would be all openness fans, have security
background checks to where you would even let a member be given a
combination to enter your home when you are not there, fix something that
could create a huge mess, such as a broken water supply to an indoor washing
machine.

Another example: I know how to fix cars to some extent.  We could imagine
getting a call to help a little old lady whose Detroit conked about two
blocks from where you are now standing, and do you have time to go take care
of that, etc.  Might be just changing a tire, or a bad alternator has
drained the battery, so just go swap out the battery, drive the car to your
house and use that oddball item you have on hand: in my case an alternator
with fresh brushes that will fit late 80s series Ford pickups.

The point of all this: I can imagine a convergence of sorts between virtual
realities and meat-world real realities.  We could have virtual currencies
that reward the good-deed doer, or for that matter, let people volunteer to
help little old ladies for nothing.   I would do it in most cases.  On a
completely legitimate non-illegitimate
not-expecting-any-extramarital-anything basis of course.  We could become a
super-connected super-organism of sorts, communicating constantly and making
so many cool things happen, legitimate things, and take care of our
collective needs so effectively, legitimate needs, such as mechanical
repairs and nothing biological you understand, unless the person has actual
medical training and skills.  

If you review Dr. Stock's Metaman, marvel that this cool vision was written
nearly 20 years ago.  We can use the technologies that have been developed
since then, and imagine converging a virtual reality game with real-world
skills of various sorts, particularly the kind that do not get us in trouble
with our spouses and so forth, completely legal, everything G rated, and
converged into the actual game somehow.

Suggestions welcome.

spike