Now
that we have so many different expressions of modern technology in our world,
one of the next steps seems to be the combination of different expressions in
order to have them reinforce each other, in order to improve the potency and
efficiency of each one. An excellent
example of this is virtual robots. When
I first heard about them, I thought that it sounded a little like avatars. But avatars are computer representations of
us, the human users. Virtual robots
serve a very different purpose. First of
all, they exist in virtual reality, not the screen reality of avatars. Secondly, they are created in order to
maximize the development of new practical applications for robots. Supposedly, it costs less and takes less time
to develop an application using virtual robots, than it does with real robots
in the real world. The application is developed
through programming the virtual robot.
To the extent that this robotic simulation accelerates the development
of new applications, it expands the pervasiveness of robots in more and more
areas of our lives. To the extent that
this development of new robotic applications requires humans spending more time
in virtual reality, it reinforces the reality of virtual reality in our daily
lives.
These
two expressions of modern technology, in being combined for the purposes of
robotic simulation, provide for a double layer of experiential immersion in
mediated experience for the person involved.
A double layer of separating the person involved in this technological
research from the real external world of primary experience. The manipulation of mediated figures, namely
robots, within the mediated pretend grounding, which is really a vacuum based
in virtual reality, provides for a compelling immersive life experience that
distances a person more by far than the involvement in any simpler
technological expression. Together,
these layers of mediated experience block out participation in any layer of
primary experience in external world reality.
Developing
robotic applications in the real world, where the force and the motion of the
robot would be experienced as a kind of external world friction, a person could
be recovering at least some kind of friction that would keep him somewhat
connected to the external world. This is
because a real robot is a phenomenon that performs actions that separate people
from direct performance in the real world, but whose physical presence is
sensorily received as a primary experience.
So on
a subjective level, what is it that happens to these people who get involved in
robotic simulation in virtual reality?
In getting swallowed up by these two distinct layers of mediated
experience, they become much more separated from the primary experience
external world than if they were separated from the external world by just one
of these layers. And the separation also extends to the primary experience of
one’s internal mental world. So much
sensory mediation ultimately leads to becoming numb to oneself. And we start to experience ourselves as a
mediated experience. Not that the
external mediated experiences connected to virtual robots are the only external
mediated experiences today that can transform our experience of ourselves into
that of a more distant mediated experience.
Look at the metaphors we use for our minds today. We think of our minds as computers that are
wired for this or wired for that.
Granted that some scientists are moving aware from this notion, but it
is still a very common metaphor. And
layered mediated experiences can only reinforce this metaphor which ultimately
becomes conducive to our thinking of ourselves as machines, as robots.
Because
if we are to continue functioning in our daily lives as a numb entity in a
layered mediated living environment, we have to become a complex behavioral
entity that is capable of functioning in an experiential vacuum. And the one kind of complex behavioral entity
that thrives in such an environment is that of a machine or, in particular, a
robot. But it is functioning in a very
special sense that we are talking about here.
It doesn’t mean functioning in the sense of feeling fully alive, having
rich vibrant experiences. It doesn’t
mean functioning in terms of making, receiving and preserving organic
imprints. It doesn’t mean creating a
personal surrogate immortality through bundling together preserved organic
imprints. It doesn’t mean building a
flowing blendable continual life narrative.
In other words, people pay a price for immersing themselves in the
experiential vacuum of virtual reality trying to manipulate virtual robots in
order to create applications for robots in the world of primary experience,
robots that are being created to drop into the narratives of ordinary humans
and replace chunks of these narratives.
And more and more people are getting involved in robotic simulation, to
create apps for the robots that are ultimately going to push humans out of
different aspects of the flow of human life.
Such people are going to have increasingly truncated empty lives.
The
notion of having layers of mediation ultimately threatens to lift people
permanently out of a traditional primary experience life, both physically and
mentally. Will there come a time when
virtual reality and the mediated figures of robots become our constant
companions? Will there come a time when
we can no longer distinguish virtual reality from primary experience external
world reality and we live our lives in our minds without really touching
anything directly in the external world.
This might sound like a crazy idea, but many people are finding ways to
limit their contact with the external world.
Think of all the people who order practically all of their consumer goods
on line, so that they don’t have to continue a primary experience narrative of
shopping at stores. More and more people
do much of their library work on their computers. Many people, rather than thinking of
something interesting to do themselves, spend their time watching other
people’s life narratives – real or imagined – on a movie screen, on television,
on a computer, on a smartphone, or on a tablet.
So people are already starting to fill up their lives with many
individual layers of mediated experiences.
It’s just that now we are finding ways of deepening the disconnections
from primary experience through increasing immersion in layered mediated
experiences.
In
this article, we talked about the combination of two layers of mediated
experience to create a deep immersive living environment. But soon we may be able to find ways to
combine three or more layers. At that
point, we may decide to stay permanently in mediated experience – probably
something that utilizes virtual reality.
Then the only reason we may absolutely have to return to primary
experience will be to eat, drink, go to the bathroom and sleep. And sleep is not a time when we are actually
conscious of our connection to the primary experience world. And I almost forgot that many video game
players wear diapers so that they don’t have to temporarily break away from
their game playing. So for many people
involved in machine-based mediated experience, the only sure outlet for primary
experience in the external world will be consumption either of solids or
liquids. Perhaps someday, if a way is
found to keep the human mind, spirit or soul alive after the body decays and
dies, even eating and drinking won’t be around to tie people to primary experience
and the external world. And then life
will be entirely a mediated experience.
We will be like ghosts living in a dream world. A human living in a permanent living death.
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