It's time to prepare yourself for 'VR panic' (http://www.wired.co.uk/article/catherine-allen-virtual-reality)
QuoteThose of us who work in VR might not want to admit it, but a moral panic is almost certainly coming – and as VR succeeds, it will grow. There'll be a rash of VR-induced mental-health stories, ranging from post-VR panic attacks to episodes of psychosis. Then there'll be concerns about addiction: what if the virtual world's lack of limitation creates environments that are more enticing than the real one? Sex will be next – expect stories about teledildonic infidelity, lowered birth rates and lawsuits against unofficial sex experiences with CG versions of celebs.
Hysterical reporting from the usual suspects will undoubtedly provide a free hype-lunch to all players with the savvy to capitalise. My chamber of horrors project should only require a minor tweak or two to assure me a front page advertisement on the Daily Mail and a feature on BBC News :evil:
Imagine the religious implications. You think televangelism is bad wait until it's possible to register a server farm as your "church" and folks are immersed in a truly controlled environment, multiple "for donation" premium services, and with admins weeding out the nonconformity types.
I suspect that this potential could drive the tech at least as much as the porno or gaming aspects.
Oh hells yeah. Logic dictates it's going to be much easier to brainwash a mark if you have them in what's effectively sensory deprivation with complete control over the two highest bandwidth primate input channels. Any earners I'm looking at just now involve provision of legitimate art services but I've never been averse to fleecing dumbfucks if and when the opportunity arises.
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on May 17, 2017, 04:11:47 PM
Oh hells yeah. Logic dictates it's going to be much easier to brainwash a mark if you have them in what's effectively sensory deprivation with complete control over the two highest bandwidth primate input channels. Any earners I'm looking at just now involve provision of legitimate art services but I've never been averse to fleecing dumbfucks if and when the opportunity arises.
I just had a vision of a "heaven" where folks pay extra for custom halos... like modern "freemium" gaming applied to the very most superficial spiritual ideation. It could even qualify as a sort of new post modern faith.
... I hate to admit how down I am for fleecing me some virtual sheep. Might take 20 years to build such an empire, bur you make a point about the brain job aspects. Imagine if Jim Jones had no need to build a physical Jonestown. This could be profoundly dangerous, but what the heck!
Make no mistake, mate, what we're building, the "Metaverse" if you want to call it that is a conscious experience which, for a significant percentage of the populace will be a much more compelling option than base reality. Personally I expect to be transitioning to a state where I'm spending an increasing percentage of my time in VR and the rest in AR, with a foot in both planes of existence.
A whole bunch of folks will rail against this, same way a whole bunch of folks seem to freak out any time humanity starts behaving in a new manner, especially when new technology is involved.Yes, it's the end of the world. Of course it's the end of the world. The only constant is change. By the end of this century human beings are going to be living a life unfathomable to the majority of people alive today, in much the same way as we are living a life that our 1917 ancestors would scarcely be able to wrap their heads around. A significant portion of this new mode of existence will be our immersion in both virtual and mixed realities.
These are unlikely to replace, the real world as the modern equivalent of the Luddites will have you believe. We have no need of a replacement for reality. Reality itself is more than adequate for that task. Rather, these planes of conscious experience will supersede conventional reality. As a framework for existence, they will be, far and away a better way to work, learn and play than anything that could be accomplished using IRL, which will seem just plain clunky and old by comparison.
Same way sitting round a fire, in a cave watching someone scratch stick men hunting stick animals with a literal charcoal stick pales in comparison to a Michael Bay movie remastered in 4K. Right now the world is, as ever, experiencing conscious manifestation in the equivalent of a neanderthal squat, from the point of view of our future cousins.
Given that there's literally been a moral panic about fucking *vaccines*, there can really be no doubt that there will be one about any new technology.
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on May 18, 2017, 01:55:29 AM
Given that there's literally been a moral panic about fucking *vaccines*, there can really be no doubt that there will be one about any new technology.
Pretty much this. I'm not sure areas like Vaccines and the like actually benefit at all from moral panic, tho, whereas entertainment very often does. The Grand Theft Auto series being one of the poster boys for this phenomenon.
Metaverse... now that word has legs and even a certain poetic twist. I like it!
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on May 18, 2017, 10:55:08 PM
Metaverse... now that word has legs and even a certain poetic twist. I like it!
Not mine, I'm afraid, Neil Stephenson coined the phrase in Snow Crash. Would highly reccomend even if only for the fact that the anithero is a sea kayaker 8)
And the Dragon has "Poor Impulse Control" tattooed on his forehead.
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on May 19, 2017, 07:43:40 AM
Quote from: The Wizard Joseph on May 18, 2017, 10:55:08 PM
Metaverse... now that word has legs and even a certain poetic twist. I like it!
Not mine, I'm afraid, Neil Stephenson coined the phrase in Snow Crash. Would highly reccomend even if only for the fact that the anithero is a sea kayaker 8)
Didn't he write Cryptonomicon? Cuz that was amazing. I'll see if I can find a copy.
Yup. His track record for good books is pretty impressive. Snow Crash, Zodiac, The Diamond Age, Anathem... I didn't much care for his historic trilogy, but I'm not a history buff.
Quote from: LMNO on May 19, 2017, 02:44:45 PM
Yup. His track record for good books is pretty impressive. Snow Crash, Zodiac, The Diamond Age, Anathem... I didn't much care for his historic trilogy, but I'm not a history buff.
I'm trying to rebuild my reading habits after, no joke, like 12 years of neglect and depression. My councilor sessions made me realize that even as I gave up on serious academic work after certain traumas in grade school I somehow lost my joy in reading novels around the time I split from my ex.
These days I can barely focus long enough to read for an hour solid. To my horror I've realized that I'm long out of practice even thinking about reading whole books. Think I'll try Stephenson before I pick up Vonnegut again. He was a bad place to start reading again, but DID push me to a personal crisis I'm slowly working out.
Back to topic.... Virtual Theater could be a major outlet no?
Right now you'd need some expensive bespoke mocap kit to think about something like virtual theatre but I wouldn't be surprised if someone has thought of it. Haven't heard anything, right enough. There are some epic visual recognition chips starting to appear, tho, I'm expecting a dirt cheap mocap app or device pretty soon. That'll be a game changer, bringing hollywood-style mocap to the masses.
Books are cool. The original Virtual Reality. I kinda come and go with them, tho. Sometimes I'll be in the mood to read a book and sometimes not. I prefer comics and movies, tbh, much higher bandwidth. Books is like sucking your info through a straw at times.
... I am now resolved to have a VR library at some point in the future and enjoy the oddity of reading a book in a hyper information forged non-space.
ETA: spelling correction
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on May 19, 2017, 06:18:07 PM
Books is like sucking your info through a straw at times.
Interesting way to put it. Not to derail, but have you tried spritz? (http://spritzinc.com/)
Quote from: Bu☆ns on May 19, 2017, 11:50:53 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on May 19, 2017, 06:18:07 PM
Books is like sucking your info through a straw at times.
Interesting way to put it. Not to derail, but have you tried spritz? (http://spritzinc.com/)
That is a damn cool solution. Feels weird, I think cos it's a new way of processing the stream, but I got that bookmarked now. Looks like it could be an improvement.