Going Virtual
I just got off a 14-hour flight, a perfect opportunity to abuse in-transit entertainment and especially catch up movies that I’m vaguely interested in but never got around to. I’ve gotten recommendations to check out this latest Spielberg film since I am a huge sci-fi geek and it contains some interesting insight into what a VR-dominated future looks like.
Overall, I think the movie presents an interesting, thought fairly predictable future premise where virtual reality takes up most of our time and serves as the main vehicle to pursue friendships, romantic relationships, entertainment, and so on. This movie is like a PG version of Blade Runner, both films presenting a sci-fi future not distorted with aliens and other anomalies.
There are a key number of interesting premises presented in the movie that I thought were worth a dive. The following are the inevitable concepts that I think will bleed from this mainstream film into real life.
Everyone will game
E-sports today are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to leisure entertainment for the future. As high-end technology becomes more accessible through increasingly powerful handhelds, more and more people will get deeper into engineered experiences straight from their phone. No need for consoles or high-powered PCs, bringing virtual experiences to everyone everywhere since smartphones are more ubiquitous than TVs and bank accounts.
It seems almost inevitable that we’ll be shifting from real-life experiences to more dynamic, more vibrant, faster-paced digital ones. Heck, we do most of socializing and even dating through interfaces at this point, why wouldn’t we do the same for sports, concerts, travel, and so on when the product eventually catches up in tech and cost accessibility? Not everyone can afford a trip to Paris, but everyone could probably hawk up 5 bucks for a virtual version. No need for brain damage in football anymore as we could recreate a fully digital simulation.
The reason I use the term “game” instead of “use VR” for example is the fact that future digital worlds will be more flat out ‘fun’ and purposefully engaging than some random screen-dictated activity. Look at AR and its only rise in popularity due to Pokemon Go.
VR is R
The only thing preventing us from going whole-hog on VR as a default daily experience is the tech. If the game Second Life were to be recreated 5 or 10 years from now, we would have exponentially fewer people opting to interact in the ‘real world’. It’s only downfall at the time were lackluster generational graphics. But when phone quality reach the point of consoles now (again, within 5-10 years), online life will outpace and out-engage typical life experiences.
This is a common thread through any of the more ‘realistic’ sci-fi future scenarios - the vast majority of people opting to check out completely into virtual worlds. Here are a few examples -
Tron. Source
The Matrix. Source
Even with The Matrix, I’d much rather choose an alternate reality…
Full Alter Egos
The greatest offering an immersive virtual experience entails is that ability to be someone of your choosing. Your height, weight, appearance, bodily functions, skills, abilities, and so on, all transcend the limited body given to you by the world. Why be another average human when you could be a rocket-shooting cyborg or tune-blasting rockstar? Biological humanity is overrated, and I’m excited to see what kinds of ridiculous personas people choose to be once this tech goes full blown.
That’s all from me today. What do you think? Is this type of reality terrifying or the greatest evolutionary opportunity ever for the human race? Let me know below!
