%% Last Updated: - [[2021-03-03]] - [[2021-02-09]] - [[2020-12-28]] tags: [#kleur/groen] %% This form takes current forms of [[Virtual Reality]] to the extreme and posits a future where this reality has become the only reality that matters. ## Key features ### Inevitability or plausibility as an extension of existing virtual realities This form intentionally borrows elements from existing virtual realities, such as [[Second Life]], [[World of Warcraft]], or other potentially immersive experiences in present day. Doing so drives the point home that this is a very plausible future, not a far-fetched one. ### Absence or lack of some sensation In [[Ready Player Two]], pain cannot be felt, but other sensations are allowed. ### Ability to experience extremes of the human condition - Taboo sex, sadness, joy, extreme sports ### Emphasis on reality seeming less than real - The vividness of the simulation and the extreme nature of the experiences available often serve to convince users that it's reality that's not real. ![[Ready Player Two#^123661314]] ### Virtual reality is addictive - [[Video game addiction]] - Because there are no consequences - Because you can control it, and thus become the star of your own show ![[Ready Player Two#^123661320]] - Because it's ultimately more logical, less random, and more fair, than real life. ![[Ready Player Two#^123661322]] ## Physical side effects of permanent or long-term exposure to technology - Muscle atrophy due to inability to exercise - Forced removal of technology can be lethal Give the system [[Ready Player Two#^134031174|automatic safeguards against muscle atrophy]]. ## How to limit harmful side effects from overuse - [[Ready Player Two#^123661311|Impose automated limiting procedures]] - Just quietly kill the ones that don't make it - Automated processes to prevent "overclocking" (staying connected longer than recommended) ## The service provider - Whoever becomes the [[First to market]] for such a virtual reality stand to reap many benefits. ([[The Mirror Image]]) - They stand to gain a lot financially. - They have control (and potential manipulation or fabrication) of information ([[Control information, control the world]]) - They gain intimate knowledge of every user, down to their desires and fears. ## The escape from virtual reality is physical Interestingly, when virtual reality issues come to a head, it's the physical reality and the physical world that become the safe havens. Some societies react by returning to pre-technology ways of life. ## Reprograming reality Virtual reality can be applied towards changing reality itself. If everything's virtual, then everything about a person, including their physical appearance, personality, history, and thoughts, can be erased or modified. Virtual reality would require intimate knowledge of human brains to be convincing, but the interface used could then also be used in reverse, to influence physical reality. ## Tangential effects ### On entertainment - It changes the very nature and medium of entertainment in general, including porn - [[Panem et Circensus]]: It could be used as a distraction so that common folk don't realize other more sinister elements of politics or society. - ![[Ready Player Two#^123661322]] ### On porn - Could change people's perception of beauty - Mass empathy is reduced, because although people can more literally "walk in each other's shoes", the reality is that people would probably not relive those experiences. Instead, they'd be reliving more happy and positive experiences that only reinforce mistaken beliefs. Not feeling any pain also doesn't do anything to help people understand physical disabilities. ### On medicine - Use as treatment for depression or other mental illnesses - Physically disabled may be more likely than not to be addicted, because they get to experience things in virtual reality that they otherwise wouldn't be able to. ![[Ready Player Two#^134031164]] ### On education - Virtual reality as training, whether in knowledge or skill ### On diversity - Being able to experience others' experiences may lead to increased understanding and thus tolerance of those living other types of lives - Specifically, sexual orientation, gender, and race differences can be explained by virtual reality ## In media - [[Ready Player Two]], [[Book/Ready Player One]] - [[Movie/The Matrix]] ## In practice - [[Animal Crossing]]'s popularity during [[COVID-19]] - Kids dying or becoming ill after nonstop marathon gaming of [[World of Warcraft]] - [[Life Simulation]] as a genre in [[Video Games]] ## See also - [[Virtual Reality]] - [[Plot]] - [[Setting]] - [[Artificial Intelligence]] - [[Concerns regarding artificial intelligence]] - [[Tech]] - [[Adverse Effects of Technology]] - [[Diversity]]