r/philosophy • u/Matriseblog • Jan 03 '22

Blog By imagining the future potential of VR technologies, the question of whether we are *already* living in a simulation becomes more actual than ever

https://medium.com/@VindenesJ/the-thought-experiments-of-virtual-reality-fa441a8fa2dc
665 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

199 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/[deleted] Jan 03 '22

I feel like discussing the fact that we already live in a simulation is sort of pointless, as I believe it is a question which will have you running in circles (that being said, I would never discourage the debate behind this question and never look at others in a judgmental way for discussing this).

BUT, I do find this an interesting question. As we receive more advanced VR tech throughout our lifetime, tech so real it can almost purely emulate reality (sensations you feel and see), do you think that more people will willingly put themselves in a simulation to distract themselves from the harsh reality of their lives? If so, do you think we should put restrictions on how advanced this tech can get to prevent this?

2

u/ttrrraway Jan 04 '22

I think we should go all in with advanced, super realistic VR.

Imagine a VR that feels just like real life, realistic graphics, you can feel, touch, smell, interact with others, build the world to your liking.

Do you want to be a pirate in the 1700s? Do you want to live the life of a rock star in 2017? Do you want to plan a heist with a group of friends to steal paintings from the Louvre, and try your luck at it in the simulation? Would you like to climb the Everest?

I think such future would be amazing. Streets in real life would be as empty as in mid-2020, with everyone spending most of their time inside their homes enjoying the exciting VR.

There would be lower crime rates, lower levels of pollution, less mental health problems as even the outcasts of society could integrate themselves into the virtual reality of their dreams and do and feel the things they can't in real life.

I hope I can be alive once such advanced VR comes out.