Posts: 29101
Threads: 218
Joined: August 9, 2014
Reputation:
154
Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 4:47 am
(This post was last modified: May 15, 2016 at 4:52 am by robvalue.)
Sorry if this has been done before.
Imagine you're given a one-time only offer. You can be plugged into a VR machine, where you will live out the rest of your natural life. There's no coming back.
Once plugged in, you'll live your version of a perfect life, being able to do whatever you want to do. And you won't have any idea it's "not real". It will be your new reality. There will be no suffering (unless you want there to be).
Would you do it? For simplicity, please ignore other factors such as abandoning loved ones. They can all come with you, or whatever. It's purely a question of total happiness versus "reality".
Posts: 3541
Threads: 0
Joined: January 20, 2015
Reputation:
35
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 4:53 am
Sure, I'd give it a go. Can't be any worse than this sh*tty reality I'm living in now. A reality, which - for all I know - could be a simulated/virtual one anyway.
"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." - George Bernard Shaw
Posts: 12743
Threads: 92
Joined: January 3, 2016
Reputation:
84
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 4:55 am
Sounds a lot better than what I'm living now. So yeah.
Posts: 13900
Threads: 263
Joined: January 11, 2009
Reputation:
82
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 4:57 am
(May 15, 2016 at 4:47 am)robvalue Wrote: Sorry if this has been done before.
Imagine you're given a one-time only offer. You can be plugged into a VR machine, where you will live out the rest of your natural life. There's no coming back.
Once plugged in, you'll live your version of a perfect life, being able to do whatever you want to do. And you won't have any idea it's "not real". It will be your new reality. There will be no suffering (unless you want there to be).
Would you do it? For simplicity, please ignore other factors such as abandoning loved ones. They can all come with you, or whatever. It's purely a question of total happiness versus "reality".
Would I play "better than life" you bet I would.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
Posts: 20476
Threads: 447
Joined: June 16, 2014
Reputation:
110
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 5:02 am
The thought of not getting up early to go to work alone clinched the deal for me...
If you can't tell the difference, who cares?
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
Posts: 13900
Threads: 263
Joined: January 11, 2009
Reputation:
82
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 5:03 am
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
Posts: 9479
Threads: 116
Joined: July 5, 2015
Reputation:
22
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 5:03 am
(This post was last modified: May 15, 2016 at 5:04 am by Excited Penguin.)
As you describe it, I wouldn't know it's not real, so I presume I wouldn't remember anything about the old life or the fact that I entered VR, so that would pretty much be the same as dying, but then before dying, imagining you're reincarnating in some random bird you see on a branch.
It wouldn't be comforting to me at all that "some version of me" would live a happy life. It wouldn't be me, since apparently you'd wipe my memory first - everything that makes me, me. So I definitely wouldn't. But give me that choice without any memory loss and it's a no-brainer. Also, I see no reason why we won't be able to live infinitely in our VR soon enough for real.
EP
Posts: 29101
Threads: 218
Joined: August 9, 2014
Reputation:
154
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 5:18 am
Yes, you'd remember as much or as little as you'd like.
Posts: 13900
Threads: 263
Joined: January 11, 2009
Reputation:
82
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 5:21 am
(May 15, 2016 at 5:03 am)Excited Penguin Wrote: As you describe it, I wouldn't know it's not real, so I presume I wouldn't remember anything about the old life or the fact that I entered VR, so that would pretty much be the same as dying, but then before dying, imagining you're reincarnating in some random bird you see on a branch.
It wouldn't be comforting to me at all that "some version of me" would live a happy life. It wouldn't be me, since apparently you'd wipe my memory first - everything that makes me, me. So I definitely wouldn't. But give me that choice without any memory loss and it's a no-brainer. Also, I see no reason why we won't be able to live infinitely in our VR soon enough for real.
EP
MY EYES MY EYES!!!!!
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
Posts: 9479
Threads: 116
Joined: July 5, 2015
Reputation:
22
RE: Would you live in VR?
May 15, 2016 at 5:21 am
(This post was last modified: May 15, 2016 at 5:32 am by Excited Penguin.)
(May 15, 2016 at 5:18 am)robvalue Wrote: Yes, you'd remember as much or as little as you'd like.
But you said I'd have no idea it's not real. Is that just bad phrasing for it'll be so real I won't notice the difference or what did you mean? Can you describe the thought experiment again, briefly, if you're changing it?
EP
|
