Will Virtual Reality define Who we Are by 2030?

From artificially intelligent computers that compute at the speed of light, to Digital Socialism, it would seem that the future of humankind is an inextricably technological one – more humanoid than human.

In his new book, The Inevitable: Understanding 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired believes that it is only a matter of time before living in a virtual world of make-believe is readily accessible to everyone.

Over the summer my two kids (9 & 7) got to view their first 3-D movies at the IMAX theater. We’re talking Ice Age: Collision Course, The Secret Life of Pets, and The BFG. And they were entralled . .

But this quasi-immersive experience pales into oblivion if one dons a synthetic-reality headset to enter the cutting-edge world of virtual reality – and where it seems to be headed. Kelly gives us a very vivid reality-check on what this experience is like in Wired’s (April) cover story, The Untold Story of Magic Leap, the World’s Most Secretive Startup.

In his view the Suburban Florida VR company Magic Leap is the best in the business at creating “the illusion that virtual objects really exist.”

Sensory Overload?

My tentative caveat in all of this is the unexplored consequences of the virtual reality immersive experience. As I understand it, this technological wizardry plays with our emotions, desires, and visual gullibility.

And then we have Ray Kurzweil’s hair-raising predictions of where AI and VR will have us by 2030. Like his vision of VR technology implanted in our nervous system via the neocortex. I explore many more of Kurzweil’s predictions in my upcoming book to be published in early 2017 by Patheos Press.

The Questions

No-one can deny that AI and VR are developing at an exponential rate. And this is not a time to bury our heads in the sand where ‘scary’ technology is concerned. Rather it behooves us to think critically and ask the fundamental questions.

Like: Who is monitoring what in this whole schema of innovation? Are there
ground rules? Is it safe for, and in the best interests, of humanity? Who or what are we striving to be or attain in this digital quest? When we allow AI and VR technology to immerse us sensorially in what isn’t real, what is left of the human spirit to express and experience who we truly are? Divine beings on a never-ending pilgrimage of spiritual evolution.

Just saying . . What say you?

Cover Photo: Pixabay

Image Insert 1: Pixabay

Image Insert 2: Pixabay