vortech
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2012
- Messages
- 2,045
I just watched this video '11 Oculus Rift Crescent Bay Prototype Reactions '
To understand how much of a game-changer the imminent availability of convincing virtual reality is (to the average technologically-affluent population), all you need to do is watch these people's reactions to the newest version of the Rift. I've already been well aware that we are on the cusp of a technological revolution that has no precedent. What I was left wondering after this video is what the future holds for virtual reality experiences that are designed for or enhanced by psychedelic drugs. I imagine dissociative drugs in particular are going to have a new renaissance when people start realizing the synergy between their effects and the powerful potential of virtual reality to disembody one's consciousness.
What are your thoughts about the emergence of virtual reality and how this technology might ripple through the sociocultural economic fabric? More on topic, how do you think this will push the envelope for experiments in altered states of consciousness? Virtual reality can be seen as a drug in itself in this sense for how extremely it can alter consciousness. I'm seeing 'games' that are basically abstract interactive trips where you engineer the setting with the ease of manipulating some virtual objects and voicing some commands, stuff that bridges that gap between being a creator and a consumer, and then play around in that space together with your friends (and all manners of AI). Combining with a psychedelic to enhance the senses and presence is just icing on the cake.
It's already set in stone that this tech will blow up fast creating new industries and markets overnight, especially now that Facebook owns Oculus and plans to sell the hardware more or less at-cost to consumers.
The question is, what will humanity do with it?
Will we create beautiful art and stories to help find ourselves while we lose ourselves? Will we unite in constructing virtual cities of vast interconnected information engineered to exist in pure harmony so that we may learn how to do so in reality? Will it help humanity dissolve duality as the lines between 'self' and 'other' are crossed in innumerable ways? Or will virtual reality turn to be a primarily hedonistic playground to escape from reality, shooting aliens and having sex with computer generated models? Either way, it's an exciting time to be a psychonaut, whether as a developer or a consumer in this new technological age where the lines between worlds are continually blurred.
To understand how much of a game-changer the imminent availability of convincing virtual reality is (to the average technologically-affluent population), all you need to do is watch these people's reactions to the newest version of the Rift. I've already been well aware that we are on the cusp of a technological revolution that has no precedent. What I was left wondering after this video is what the future holds for virtual reality experiences that are designed for or enhanced by psychedelic drugs. I imagine dissociative drugs in particular are going to have a new renaissance when people start realizing the synergy between their effects and the powerful potential of virtual reality to disembody one's consciousness.
What are your thoughts about the emergence of virtual reality and how this technology might ripple through the sociocultural economic fabric? More on topic, how do you think this will push the envelope for experiments in altered states of consciousness? Virtual reality can be seen as a drug in itself in this sense for how extremely it can alter consciousness. I'm seeing 'games' that are basically abstract interactive trips where you engineer the setting with the ease of manipulating some virtual objects and voicing some commands, stuff that bridges that gap between being a creator and a consumer, and then play around in that space together with your friends (and all manners of AI). Combining with a psychedelic to enhance the senses and presence is just icing on the cake.
It's already set in stone that this tech will blow up fast creating new industries and markets overnight, especially now that Facebook owns Oculus and plans to sell the hardware more or less at-cost to consumers.
The question is, what will humanity do with it?
Will we create beautiful art and stories to help find ourselves while we lose ourselves? Will we unite in constructing virtual cities of vast interconnected information engineered to exist in pure harmony so that we may learn how to do so in reality? Will it help humanity dissolve duality as the lines between 'self' and 'other' are crossed in innumerable ways? Or will virtual reality turn to be a primarily hedonistic playground to escape from reality, shooting aliens and having sex with computer generated models? Either way, it's an exciting time to be a psychonaut, whether as a developer or a consumer in this new technological age where the lines between worlds are continually blurred.