I'm sorry most of this post may seem a bit... thinking to far ahead... to be practical. I am really just brainstorming.
I am of the opinion that (providing human civilization survives past the 22nd century, that is still up in the air) human consciousness, and other artificial intelligence, will progress eventually to having the option to exist in fully virtual environments. Whether this take centuries or millennia after humans save themselves, I cannot say. I think it is likely that the lifeforms and intelligences of the future will be split into virtual and concrete worlds, with many beings existing and living perfectly satisfactory lives imbedded mostly or entirely within the concrete world, while still others whom live entirely or mostly in the virtual world. The nature of life and consciousness at this far-off stage of evolution may make it difficult to say with certainty whether there is a fundamental difference, though.
Anyway, that said, I suspect that most humans, and probably AI, would not voluntarily choose to exist entirely virtual lives until the technology and infatructures were large enough, stable enough, and long-lasting enough to feel confidant "living" in them.
I do not believe humans will have the capacity to make such stable infrastructure for a while. Our technology and productive capacities will need much development.
P.S. Not directly related to what I just wrote, but I figured I would say it now: I want to argue that "Matrix" like scenarios are unlikely or impossible. To argue this I would take largely from Daniel Dennet's book "Consciousness Explained" (a good read) which as an intro section where Dennet argues the same. It would be impossible to fully fool someone in a virtual world, as the capacities to make a fully complete virtual illusion for our brain are beyond practicality.
The MAtrix is also very unlikely in that a true AI is not going to just be logical, but it will have "empathy". AI at higher levels will just be emulating healthy human brain functions at a higher level. Entities like that can logically figure out that using all of humanity as a battery is not only terrible for energy resource, but also understand the psychological/emotional implications that can fuck around.
All of this said, this is a lot of theorycraft on singularity and what I personally call "point infinity". Point infinity is the area in which you get up in intelligent powers so much higher than us that everything we know just breaks down and we cannot even fathom it just yet. It would be like an ant understanding human consciousness-- or even an ancient Egyptian man understanding the psychology of a modern man today! stuff is way beyond our league for now. We just know that, in theory, it can exist. It's the same argument that one uses in understanding something like, say, an infinite God. There are also other philosophical arguments that we can place; but for now, I'm going to just stick with VR.
Meh, we were told we were at the dawn of an era of virtual reality back in 1992 when Lawnmower Man came out. I'll believe it when it actually happens.
Well, in a technical sense we were. VR has existed, just in its primitive states, and not really found in commercial use-- much like computers back in say the 1960's. I would addendum that we're close to a commercial use of a primitive form of VR-- that which produces visuals, sounds, and full range kinetic movement.
@yawning sneasel has posited ideas that conjecture against this, which I find interesting. Namely that this may create a form of "sensory overload" for the masses who are used to sitting around just looking at a screen.
We will soon see if that is the case or not. I mean, humans have adapt from farming and being in the physical world, to now using the internet and computers. Given time, I think humans will adapt in some way or another.
Anyone interested should look the "
The Experience Machine". It's a well known philosophical thought experiment, which I think is related.
I don't necessarily agree with its final conclusion myself... but I still believe that anyone interested in this topic should
definitely read up on this, at the very least.
Yeah, the conclusion on that is not the best. Namely because the man says "whatever you desire". When someone uses "Everything" or "whatever" in this context, I will assume this "experience machine" will output ANYTHING that is desired-- including the "want" for certain pleasures. The theory needs to be expanded more.
If/when VR comes into it own, as in a perfect same as life experience, I'd honestly expect a very large percentage of our population to die off practically over-night.
Just think of all the people who would love to hide from reality; hook them up to a life support and let them dream away their lives.
Hell if enough folks succumb it could be the end of us. After all who wouldn't want to have every fantasy fulfilled...that's awfully tempting.
I guess that wanders into philosophic territory, if a lived lived in VR of the same value as one lived in reality?
@MasterDisaster has come to this same conclusion of the population just shutting itself in VR. I would suggest looking at the "Matrioshka Brain", which is a computer that uses the power of the sun and has such high computational power that it can program the universe and the "happiest" experience for any one entity. People have conjectured that this solves the "Fermi paradox" for aliens, as maybe advanced races have indeed just shut themselves into a simulation forever and ever.
The Matrioshka Brain can be much smaller than the sun, of course, but have the same outcome, just on smaller scales. If its computation power is high enough, and VR experience, much like the "Experience machine" can do whatever in a virtual reality, then all bets are off and everything is possible. This gets into speculation and "singularity" theories, as these types of system basically get into the realm of "algorithms that produce improved algorithms at incredible speeds"-- we jut put it into the context of a VR computer. Again, philosophical conceptions of singularity are interesting, but we don't have empirical proof just yet besides the things we already have right now with our knowledge.
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And to end all of this, here is the following:
Humanity is, in the end, at an impasse. We will either continue growing and rise, or fall. Both these "rising" and "Falling" concepts are shrouded in mystery. One implies "evolving to greater heights" and the other implies "Death". Both are concepts that for ages have been debated, and in this big post I have gotten into brief concepts of the "rising" of humanity, and the "Falling" of humanity. This is why VR is interesting: it considers a lot of these scientific and philosophical groundworks. This is why it's important to discuss it and not put it by the wayside. The more you think about it, the easier it gets to imagine things that cannot be imagine just yet.
