Technology & Virtual Reality

I watched the first episode of Reverie, and it reminded me of similar ideas regarding immersive simulations and alternate realities. Topics discussed in movies like Other Life and The Discovery, or episodes of Black Mirror like "White Christmas", "Playtest", but mostly "San Junipero".

Now I would venture to say that most people, including myself, have a love/hate relationship with technology. On one hand, it is utterly fascinating and nearly incomprehensible what we can accomplish with technology these days. The limits, which seemed so clear-cut in the early days of computers and cell phones, now seem boundless.
On the other hand, because I cannot fully understand it, I lack the control. That usually means that I get upset enough to fantasize about throwing my phone or laptop or tablet against a wall at least once a day.

Watching these types of shows and continuously learning about what kind of capabilities have been expanded by technology, I can't be anything but in awe.

It can give someone who can't speak the gift of communication. It can allow the bedridden to actually show off their personality in virtual ways that could never be done in the physical world. People who are ill, injured, dying, feeling trapped or lost or bored - all of a sudden these people can have experiences they only dreamed of.

Imagine being able to go snorkeling around some of the most stunning waters in the world - even if you can't swim, can't travel, can't move. This idea of fully immersive virtual reality - finding a way not only to see the experience, but to feel it as well.

Imagine becoming a world traveler, without ever leaving your home. To be able to go to work in Canada during the afternoon, then for an hour in the evening being able to hop a plane to Paris and wander around aimlessly. To see views atop the Eiffel Tower, and then still go to work the next day. Imagine being able to transport yourself, in real time, to the streets of Madrid, and take in a live tour - so immersive that you can converse with the people physically there, see and hear and feel everything around you. To feel yourself walking the streets, to sense the rush of air as a car speeds past...

Stuck in the hospital? No problem. While we give you this scope, you can choose to immerse yourself in the culture of Portugal. Or maybe get a tour of a winery in Italy. Or maybe you can go hang-gliding in Australia.

People who can no longer walk might eventually be able to feel like they are walking through virtual reality. Maybe we'll be able to project images into our mind's eye... so the blind can see parts of the world they have missed out on.

Sometimes I think technology has become a parasite on our existence - full of corruption and an unreliable way in which to escape from reality.
Then sometimes I think that technology has provided us with magical opportunities.