Should we actually embrace a Matrix type of future?

[Tenacity]

But if the Matrix feels like the real world isn't it the same as the real world?

By definition, no it's not "the same."

I wonder what long term (or not so long) effect it would have on people who knew that they were in a computer generated fantasy, that they were surrounded with non-reality and that their actions had neither meaning nor consequences.

Could you have a romance and fall in love, knowing that you are essentially alone in a bed hooked up to wires and tubes, being monitored by technicians and machines. Is the person you're in love with another people in another bed, or are "they" just a computer program created for you to interact with?

And how much of life's little annoyances could you have programmed out? No more sleep, you can go 24 hours a day continuously, no time on the toilet or showering.

Don't like White people, don't like Black people, don't care for children? No problem, in your matrix they are completely absent.

And no prisons either, you can do (and be) anyone you want. Murder, rape, torture.

Any pretty girl you see will immediately fall on her back if you want sex.

It's possible that (for some people) after being in the simulation for a time, they would no longer be able to exit and be in "reality" because they would be a danger to society.

 

[Jayson1]

By definition, no it's not "the same."

I wonder what long term (or not so long) effect it would have on people who knew that they were in a computer generated fantasy, that they were surrounded with non-reality and that their actions had neither meaning nor consequences.

Could you have a romance and fall in love, knowing that you are essentially alone in a bed hooked up to wires and tubes, being monitored by technicians and machines. Is the person you're in love with another people in another bed, or are "they" just a computer program created for you to interact with?

And how much of life's little annoyances could you have programmed out? No more sleep, you can go 24 hours a day continuously, no time on the toilet or showering.

Don't like White people, don't like Black people, don't care for children? No problem, in your matrix they are completely absent.

And no prisons either, you can do (and be) anyone you want. Murder, rape, torture.

Any pretty girl you see will immediately fall on her back if you want sex.

It's possible that (for some people) after being in the simulation for a time, they would no longer be able to exit and be in "reality" because they would be a danger to society.

I see some of those things being difficulties but I also wonder of that would only be a issue with the first generation of people who actually recall the outside world. After a few decades and the younger people would not know any world that ever wasn't the Matrix lifestyle. As for falling in love I think it would be similar to falling in love with someone online. Don't most people meet people these days anyways via the internet?

As for the racist,killers,sex offenders etc I actually see a benefit of these people basically staying inside their own matrix within the matrix. As long as they are in there they wouldn't be out hurting people, asuming they had the skills to somehow trick all the safeguards put in place to keep people safe. If they were able to do that then you could in theory exile them from the matrix. I imagine a government would still be in place to monitor life within the matrix as well and to try and fix problems that come up that people didn't expect to happen so any flaws that do show up in theory could be fixed as they happen.

Jason

 

[Tenacity]

As for the racist,killers,sex offenders etc I actually see a benefit of these people basically staying inside their own matrix within the matrix.

Are the people in your matrix (like in the movie) other real people?

Or are all the people in your matrix actually computer creations, and you're the only real person and basically alone?

 

[Jayson1]

Are the people in your matrix (like in the movie) other real people?

Or are all the people in your matrix actually computer creations, and you're the only real person and basically alone?

I would think that all the people in the main part of the Matrix would be real people. You can go home though if you want and basically recreate fake people if you wish at home, much like having your own holodeck if you want a more out of world experience or if you just want sex or some kind of adventure or if you just don't know how to deal with real people all that well.

Granted one issue I just thought about though is in theory is nobody would need jobs in this kind of world so I really wonder what the main world of the bigger Matrix world would be like. Would it be completely alien or would people want to create a fake enviroment that sort of feels like how the old world use to be before everyone went inside but then again that also brings up the issue of consensus and how does everyone come together to figure out what kind of world you would have and would this create a world were you have different communities that look really different form each other?

For example you might be living in a recreation of modern New York but if you want you can switch over to another community modeled after Ancient Rome and you might get some really weird looking towns and cities. Maybe that Ancient Rome community still likes the idea though of being able to drive cars and watch tv shows and movies. Also it also brings in the possibility like you mentioned of fake humans being part of the society to do menial tasks like working as a waiter or driving you around. In which case you might not like these fake people to look like real people so you might give them a more artifical look to them so they can never be mistaken for humans. That in itself would no doubt bring up issue's with people because you know people would at some point begin to wonder if these holograms I guess you could call them are living beings as well and if people decide they are alive would they be seen as equal as human.

I also forgot about the animals so clearly the future leaders would have to do some major planning to get this all set up before people hook themselves in.

Jason

 

[Tenacity]

future leaders

Elected politicians, unelected bureaucrats, Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros?

Probably be better off with the people who write code for games than "future leaders."

 

[Jayson1]

Elected politicians, unelected bureaucrats, Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros?

Probably be better off with the people who write code for games than "future leaders."

Elected politicians, unelected bureaucrats, Mark Zuckerberg, George Soros?

Probably be better off with the people who write code for games than "future leaders."

Yes but I would like to think that if humans have gotten this far that it means that we have somehow improved in who we elect to represent us. Clearly though the computer expert types would have to be important in shaping such a world if for no other reason than to let the leaders know the limits of what can be done with the tech. I do think I might have spotted one other issue though and that is the exploration of science. It would be hard to explore how the real world works if your living in a artifical world unless you had machines on the outside do all they heavy lifting and you simply look over the data which would be inputed into the matrix. Any experiments though would have to be done with the machines or robots on the outside.

Be curious though what people would think about when it comes to real space travel. At some point would people feel okay by leaving earth and just moving the Matrix system aboard space craft and going to MARS or wherever to start over or would the machines, who don't even need a earth enviroment, just do all the space exploration and report what they find.

Jason