Posted on 03/12/2012 9:22:02 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
If virtual reality is made into a truly indistinguishable reality, there will be far less need for a majority workforce since far less things will be required. Think about it; no fancy homes, no traveling, no exotic foods, no gifts, no need to show off, etc. All those things that used to require work will be generated instantly and perfectly by a machine sending signals to your brain.
If such technology exists, it would not be hard to have multiplayer and maintain real-world relationships. For example, you could have a wife in the real world and both of you would get plugged in to take a trip. You can be king/queen for a week, travel around the world, travel to the moon, go back to when you were both 18, etc, etc. Heck, I could even see them being able to compress several weeks worth of virtual experiences into a few hours of real-world sessions. Imagine going on a vacation in the time it takes to eat lunch.
And just like a heroin addict, many people will want to become permanently plugged in. This wouldnt be too expensive because the only real things required will be space for your body, oxygen, feeding/exhaust tubes and the infrastructure to operate these virtual reality systems. Someone might pay one fee to get a lifetime hookup. Think of the racks scene in Matrix. The problem is, if it gets too popular, there would be no reason in such a system to create real future generations and it would die unless immortality becomes possible.
In the near future we are going to see many inventions that truly put humanity to the test.
Yup, loved that episode.
I hoe they do turn out differently. They better or we in deep doo doo ;) On KK. Yup there’s 1 of her and you are dead on right about scarcity breeding the ‘desire’ for any given ‘star’ ect. I also totally agree that after a couple virtual flings, most would move on. Partly because doing so would be so easy. And there’s the rub. (no pun intended) There are an infinite number of variations of ‘her’ to move on to. And the cycle we see today with porn repeats taking us full circle to the original post. But the sex is just one of a trillion things to occupy the mind.
I also fully agree that by nature we crave the real. Those here today crave all sorts of real things in the real world (crave/want/desire etc) that we KNOW we’ll never have. People who want a Corvette will however settle for a Camaro.
I don’t think we’re really that far apart on this, just that I think you give human nature far more credit/ability for resisting temptation than I do. I also think they’s settle for the virtual just as easily. And if the alternative was an increasingly horrid real world, more would gravitate to the fake all the faster.
All in all, an interesting to discuss/ponder ;)
nice information..
Thats where the ‘government’ and elites still living in a depopulated REAL world paradise come in. THEY reproduce just fine. We don’t.
Realdoll.com
Warning NSFW! But that’s where you can find the photo 3 type ‘substitutes. Howard Stern did a show on them years ago.
None of us knows. That's why today's topic is "science fiction," rather than "practical statistics."
However, it's easy to posit, in theory or fiction, an economic system in which the productive continuously provide a supply of valuable goods and services to the unproductive. As the ongoing welfare-state wipeout reminds us, all attempts at producing that outcome have failed. I do not find the idea that the average person will have access to high-end cyber-pleasures very probable, in a time frame that covers my lifetime, at least.
Of course, I could be wrong. Any of us, or every one of us, could be wrong in what we predict.
When people comment on my NRA hat, I have to explain.
“It’s not what you think. I belong to the Nymphomaniac Recovery Agency.”
I just want to SERVE those poor women.
I can prove the theory of evolution is complete garbage.
After 2000 years of marriage, men would surely have developed another joint in their back.
The double-jointed male spine would be an extinction level event.
The only think left on earth after such an evolutionary development would be pizza manufacturing, the video game sector, and Barcalounger. It would eventually lead to the end of civilization, as the birth rate falls to less than half the replacement rate.
I think that kind of tech is still 50 years out at minimum...at least the total VR kind. Probably 75 or more. That is serious computer horsepower afterall.
As for the funding it sans workers to provide, say the govt today said “Nuke for all!” and did a Manhattan project to build 1000 plants. They have both the ability and authority to do it. We have the tech to build them ALL in 10 years.
So now we simply sell that power to the world. Why not? we don’t need it. Pour that money into building the matrix and it’s support infrastructure. By the time tech catches up, it’s ready to go and ‘paid for’...as are support costs through ongoing power sales.
Most foreign countries would buy the power to avoid building plants on their soil...like we do here with oil today. Point being, funding and feeding people in this fantasy is easy. The only hard part is the Govt OK to do it.
Very true.
Another true patriotic American! ;)
You just stated why St Augustine had little use for the Circus and plays.
I still don’t see it, economically. If our government tried to order a giant power-plant building program, the people either wouldn’t do it because they’re not going to be slaves, or they wouldn’t do it because they’re idle drones already. (See the outcome of all attempts to put underclass-persons to work, other than enforcing the alternative of starving to death.) You don’t get anything built if the workers are shot and/or starved ...
I guess I do have more faith in men than you and some other commentators have, which is rather odd when the common trend of discussions on this subject is that everything is women’s fault.
Why? Literature is an expression of human nature, because it is composed by humans expressing what they believe about themselves and others. This is true whether it's "The Iliad" or "King Lear" or "Star Trek."
One literary example doesn't constitute "proof" of anything, of course - it was simply one example, which I anticipated the recipient of my post would recognize and incorporate in our ongoing discussion.
I like how, even on this Conservative site, you manage to blame it all on men without ever giving a thought to the fact that it takes two to tango.
Video games and porn are not that interesting that they are able to make men uninterested in women, unless women have also done some things to make themselves unattractive to men.
RE Picard - A perfect example - he was living exactly as we discuss in this thread.
Women - Nope, not their fault. The fault of us all.
Again, in generalities...
Construction - With a couple million unemployed, there;s the ready and willing workforce. No need (yet) for slave labor. Considering the cashflow we burn now, the startup would be nothing on a few plants. The power cos would invest in that atmosphere I have no doubt. It would be a monster boom. Sure some would still be leeches, but enough would gladly take those high dollar construction jobs. The first few plants immediately go online and provide energy for building the rest. More then start selling overseas.
That boom would have created all manner of other jobs as well and when the constructed ended, there would still be plenty of work to be had. Remember, Manhattan project did the same.
So you have all that income from foreign sales, a ton of power at home to rapidly advance tech of many kinds and a population being primed for utopia to come. The workers will be glad to be effectively rid of the leeches once and for all and the leeches will be drooling for nirvana to come. The Nukes pay for it all.
At this point, there’s no reason to do it at all. But people WANT things they do not have.
When the time comes to do it, a big portion of the planet goes virtual and real life is better than ever...then the propaganda begins full bore ‘encouraging the rest to go virtual. Then the chain goes to prior posts.
The chink in this armor is protecting the USA as every terror nut will stupidly not wait till we are all in lala land before attacking.
“Less is said about the effect of movies and “romance novels” on women, setting unrealistic expectations of what kind of lover they “deserve”.”
Yup, movies, romance novels, Cosmo, Sex & the City, daytime talk shows, etc, never figure into the equation when certain folks start to bemoan the state of modern sex relations. Why should they? It’s always mens’ fault!
“But an employee to cook, clean, shop, organize, and maintain good relations with the relations will still have a price above rubies.”
Those type of “employees” are in short supply lately. The shopping they can do, but forget about the rest of it :P
> Soy.With dwindling fish supplies, Japanese must have turned to Soy, which is loaded with female hormones and decreases libido.
>Video games. Japanese youngsters are not learning masculine ways like carpentry, work or fishing.
>A secular society and porn. Women have been objectified and mostly portrayed as only being good as schoolgirls. Romance flourishes when relationships are traditional.
Just my .02
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