[ExI] Virtual Reality is where the aliens are

[William Flynn Wallace]

 What will happen when the technology has evolved to the point that people
actually prefer virtual experiences to real ones?  (from singularity hub)

I argue that it's already so, in a way.  Substitute 'fantasy' for 'virtual
reality'.

Just think of the news:  political - probably won't affect us except for
small changes in taxes, yet people devote hours a days to reading about
Trump etc.;  sports - ditto (including the taxes, for those whose cities
build stadia for teams for bragging purposes); entertainment - celebrities,
movies, books, porn and other internet, surfing and so on.

I am currently spending my time with my nose in books (scifi, The China
Study), which is mostly fiction, except for The China Study, which is
changing my diet.  People already prefer TV, movies, internet, People
magazine, to reality, however defined.  Oh, I look at my 80 rose bushes
often and harvest my tomatoes, etc. but most of my time is spent in books.
Predictable since I am an extreme introvert.  My nonfiction reading
probably has little effect on my daily life.  But even the extroverts
prefer to talk with each other about gossip and movies and so on, and the
fiction they make up about their lives.

Reality?  Boring - same old same old - when it isn't truly frightening and
gruesome.  Give me a good scifi book and let me go to alternate universes.

Bill W

On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 11:19 AM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:

> We Can’t Find Any Alien Neighbors and Virtual Reality Might Be to Blame
> By Aaron Frank    Aug 20, 2015
>
> <
> http://singularityhub.com/2015/08/20/we-cant-find-any-alien-neighbors-and-virtual-reality-might-be-to-blame/
> >
>
> Quotes:
> To address the Fermi Paradox, futurist John Smart proposes the
> fascinating “transcension hypothesis” theorizing that evolutionary
> processes in our universe might lead all advanced civilizations
> towards the same ultimate destination; one in which we transcend out
> of our current space-time dimension into virtual worlds of our own
> design.
>
> Soon, we won’t visit the Internet from the glass window of our
> computer screens, but rather walk around inside it as a physical
> place. Philip Rosedale, the creator of Second Life, recently announced
> plans for a bold new virtual universe with a potential physical game
> map as large as the landmass of Earth. Essentially, he’ll create a
> virtual world with its own laws of physics, and once he’s pressed
> play, a newly formed universe will have its own “let there be light”
> creation moment.
>
> As we continue our plunge into virtual spaces, the validity of the
> transcension hypothesis will come into sharper focus. If technology
> trends toward a world of microscopic computers with infinitely complex
> realities inside, this might explain why we can’t see any alien
> neighbors. They’ve left us behind for the digital wormholes of their
> own design.
> ---------------
>
>
> Sounds plausible to me.
>
> BillK
>
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