I was going to post this in the weather service thread, as it seemed to be turning into a discussion about the fate of the world. But I figured I'd not totally derail that thread and start a new one instead. Silicon Valley will destroy the world, but give you a new shiny virtual world to escape to....for a price: https://www.wired.com/story/billionaires-use-vr-avoid-social-change/ Huge Elysium and Ready Player One vibes. Personally, I'm looking forward to a robust VR world to escape to in my dying days...beats watching reruns of Bonanza, which seemed to be how my wife's grandmother spent her final years. But, being somewhat of a Luddite at heart, and having no faith in any CEOs in the tech world (or any world!), I just view the development of VR as being an even stronger opiate for the masses than any of the previous ones (TV > internet > social media). Years (decades?) ago I heard about people working on Internet 2.0. Whatever happened to that? I think the only hope for humanity is tied up in those ideas - building a new internet that is less susceptible to commercialization/commodification. Wikipedia, Github (?), heck maybe even bitcoin/blockchain and Reddit. I'm not at all tech savvy, but those are the things that seem to be created by users for users. I hope that any sort of tech world is based on those ideals, rather than built by Fuckerberg/Newell/Carmack.
We are pulling closer and closer to a completely anthropocentric existence. It certainly can lead to a bit of dread about the state of affairs. As someone who feels like thinking about other possible worlds when ours is already impossible enough, I think VR will lead the charge when it comes to new, ludonarrative devices. That said, I don’t know how much VR will change the way we are heading into the sunset already. What I mean by that is that your eventual end will feel not much different from what your grandmothers must’ve felt like; at the end of a long line of social changes and technologies that even bring the moving image into your home, or in your case yourself into the moving image. folk investing into crypto should do it knowing that mining it uses human misery at a premium, so stay away unless you’re of dubious morals. But that’s a different convo. i can’t wait to get myself loaded into the cloud and let that version of myself run wild. Lol
@gatiio that is the most unsettling thing I've read on here. But still sorta cool. With that being said I don't think I'd embrace virtual reality and plugging into the cloud. I got weights to lift!
I know that bitcoin, specifically, uses a MASSIVE amount of power. And since most of the world's power is still based on fossil fuels, perhaps that equates to human misery? Or perhaps it's China's domination of BTC and their abhorrent human rights violations? But at this point there are SO MANY alt coins that have been developed to address BTC's many flaws...so I'm not sure if there's something inherent to crypto in general that gatiio is referring to. I too am interested in hearing more about this. Back to the VR article, these were some of the quotes that stuck out to me: These two guys just come across as bad movie villains. So concerned with maintaining the way resources are currently allocated, rather than looking at ways they could be better allocated. Not everyone wants a mansion or home theater or private island. But there are certainly more than enough resources in the world that a kid doesn't need to be plugged into VR goggles to escape the real-world hell created by the likes of Carmack/Newell in their defense of wealth hoarding. And Newell talking about creating the Matrix as being positive is just so...I don't even know what word I'm looking for. Edgelord? Is that what the kids were saying? The idea of IRL fidelity being "less than" is both terrifying and alluring. I want to see/experience that...someday. When I'm no longer mobile. But if it actually comes to be, that can't be good for society at large.
Replace the old episodes of Bonanza with old episodes of Gunsmoke and I'm good. You cyber punks can keep your creepy futures all for yourselves.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/09/...2I6VakiFuu0HtmyuE4uPEi2eXwK5hLNlVaHICrv1iuKAc I know I'm just yelling into the wind here, but I'd like to encourage anyone/everyone to leave Facebook AND Instagram. I truly despise Mark Zuckerberg and think he's one of the most easily identifiable villains in our world. Please stop supporting him through your use of his products/platforms. Ditto Amazon.