3 ms·
That’s tremendously optimistic. What’s really happening is that people are being pulled into fantasy worlds that align with their preexisting beliefs and prejud
by api 3y ago
That’s tremendously optimistic. What’s really happening is that people are being pulled into fantasy worlds that align with their preexisting beliefs and prejudices.
This, not helmets, is actual “virtual reality” and it’s quite dystopian.
In the US we are almost to the point where liberals and conservatives cannot even have a discussion because they have no shared context. They inhabit parallel universes with entirely different “facts,” many of which are either bullshit or cherry picked without context to support a narrative. At the center of each mob is a loose knit group of special interests and amoral online propagandists. It feels like the beginning of something incredibly dark. I can’t see it getting better since the incentives point the other way, including large monetary incentives and winning elections.
Some people are turning it off but I fear they are very much in the minority.
- ben_w 3y agoI think the words you're looking for are "consensus reality" rather than "virtual reality"
- api 3y agoI think it’s more akin to virtual because the vast majority are passive consumers or their reality. Reality is created by political propagandists, social media entrepreneurs, and soon AI. Consensus seems to imply that it’s a grassroots thing.
- ryandrake 3y agoI like your use of "Virtual Reality" to describe filter bubbles. That's really what filter bubbles are: virtual, parallel realities, built up from virtual, parallel first principles, distinct from everyone else's reality. They're even more virtual than actual "visual" VR systems.
- denton-scratch 3y ago> In the US we are almost to the point where liberals and conservatives cannot even have a discussion because they have no shared context. I don't think that's because of tech. I'm still optimistic about tech and the internet; I think the split society that we seem to have arrived at has other causes. The internet and cheap computers made it possible for kids to invent cool stuff in their bedrooms, without having to invest in expensive manufacturing machinery or employing people. That's still possible; CPUs, memory and storage are cheaper and more faster than ever, and 3D printers have democratized the prototyping of physical objects. I think the problem that hit tech was big money. Nowadays, if you invent something cool, one of two things will happen: either you'll get a cash offer so generous you can retire at 25, or you'll get hit with a meritless lawsuit that it's pointless to defend, because your adversary is backed by megabucks, and can litigate until you're bankrupt.