by intelegant » Fri May 19, 2006 12:51 am
Harry: your articles are always a high point of my day, and Birth of God is as individually illuminating and a joy to read as are they all.
For those lacking time for , I'll here attempt an encapsulation:
On the basis that the already rapid pace of technological discovery and innovation is only accelerating, certain events may be taken as inevitable:
The blessings provided with VR will draw and consume the energies of many, to unproductive ends. A social definition of the condition will be established. Remedies will be provided for the afflicted who allow themselves help, and the furtherance of knowledge surrounding the issue will promote its healing.
Cyberspace will present us a new and powerful form of intimacy.
VR and Cyberspace will culminate to a persistent and perpetual experience that can be perceived as indistinguishable from ordinary existence: a simultaneous existence. All human endeavors will be adapted to this ubiquitous virtual world. Relevancy of distinguishing where experience originates will decrease. Quality of life will increase at the same rate that does technology today.
Consciousness will be recognized to reside in either or both existences.
Individuals will realize a new form of life: mutually combinative existence.
Increasing numbers of lives will coalesce, up to and exceeding the global scale.
An eventual Universal Being will culminate in full Consciousness.
I wouldn't say your contemplating is broad in scope as much as all encompassing; you outline well factors that will ultimately constitute milestones. Limiting complete immersion in a computed reality seems to be the degree of difficulty to which we interface with computers and how much we are fooled by their simulation.
I do say the hard work is done, not only in respect to the display aspect of the computer's evolution, but as well in the maturation of computer components and interconnects that facilitate instantaneous (for most intents and purposes) calculation. Besides the Holy Grail of AI, what now is left to do, but raise the sophistication of computers in simulating the remainder of human perception?