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[half a moon]

-the matrix movie and allegory of the cave by plato explore the idea that the real world is an illusion.

-that matrix explores this idea using virtual reality.

-virtual reality is simply technology used to let people interact with computer environment. we have the power to do this currently. but, we can distinguish between the realities.

-"Simulated reality is the proposition that reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not know that they are living inside a simulation. In its strongest form, the "simulation hypothesis" claims it is possible and even probable that we are actually living in such a simulation."

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

So what happens to your body when you step into the NVE?

In the context of this discussion; where the NVE is at a technological level, capable of reading your brain, and also interjecting sensory stimuli directly into it...

I imagine it would be like a lucid dream. The body is paralyzed, but the mind is awake and in control.

A step beyond REM, where the body is paralyzed, the mind is awake... but your high level concisousness is not in control.

 

[Haly]

In the context of this discussion; where the NVE is at a technological level, capable of reading your brain, and also interjecting sensory stimuli directly into it...

I imagine it would be like a lucid dream. The body is paralyzed, but the mind is awake and in control.

A step beyond REM, where the body is paralyzed, the mind is awake... but your high level concisousness is not in control.

So basically, you just described cyberspace in William Gibson's Neuromancer and probably a bunch of other classic sci-fi novels I've yet to read.

If a virus hits your cyberbody do you die?

 

[Shockgamer]

Keep an eye on the TV - with the TV in your eye

It sounds like science fiction - contact lenses that transmit TV shows and tattoos that let us feel the emotions of the actors on screen.

Yet experts believe both could be reality within ten years.

They say the constant miniaturisation of technology will lead to TV sets being shrunk to the size of contact lenses and powered by body heat.

Channels could be changed by voice commands or a wave of the hand, says a report on the future of home entertainment.

Ian Pearson, a 'futurologist' who advises companies on new technologies, said of the TV contact lens: 'You will just pop it into your eye in the morning and take it out at the end of the day.'

Digital tattoos, meanwhile, will pick up on the emotions portrayed by actors in TV shows and create impulses allowing us to feel the same emotions.

This would allow James Bond fans to feel the thrill of outdoing the enemy or sports fans to experience the elation of jubilant players, the report, commissioned by electrical retailer Comet, predicts.
The report said that while the predictions may sound like pie in the sky, most of the know-how already exists.
While the wearer's eyes might seem a bit tinted to onlookers, they wouldn't be able to tell what programme was being viewed, a report on the future of home entertainment states.
It states: 'We could even get to the point where we'll be able to immerse ourselves in a football game, making it feel like you're running alongside your favourite player or berating the ref.'
Miriam Rayman, of the Future Laboratory consultancy, which compiled the report, said that while the predictions may sound pie in the sky, most of the know-how already exists.
She said: 'The technology is getting smaller and smaller and people are trying to work out how to make it more immersible. They are trying to bring it closer and closer to the eye.'
Bob Darke, Comet's commercial director, said: 'The future of home entertainment will go well beyond wafer-thin screens - we will be networked to our TVs emotionally and we will enjoy interacting with our home entertainment systems.
'The world, in all its multi-sensory forms, will literally come to us, just the way we want it. It will give staying in and slouching on the sofa a whole new meaning.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1139262/Keep-eye-TV--TV-contact-lens.html

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

So basically, you just described cyberspace in William Gibson's Neuromancer and probably a bunch of other classic sci-fi novels I've yet to read.

If a virus hits your cyberbody do you die?

I suppose it is similar to the idea of cyberspace found in the Neuromancer.

However, the meaning of that word has long since been coopted from its original form, to now essentially mean the internet.

Not that I've read the Neuromancer.

 

[Haly]

I suppose it is similar to the idea of cyberspace found in the Neuromancer.

However, the meaning of that word has long since been coopted from its original form, to now essentially mean the internet.

Not that I've read the Neuromancer.

I wonder if this would be the best of topics, it's feels very derivative.

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

I wonder if this would be the best of topics, it's feels very derivative.

In what sense?

 

[Timedog]

If we are living in a computer simulation, would we "feel" things to the same degree that our bodies would "feel" things in real life? Would reality be as real?

I liken it to analog vs. digital audio. Analog audio, if we discount noise floor, has infinite resolution. Digitally sytnhesized audio does not because of the 1's and 0's nature of digital signals. Would all of our senses and feelings be 1:1 reproducible in digital land, given enough technology?

 

[Haly]

In what sense?

Well, you're pretty much combining the mind-network interfacing components shown in the Matrix with the Internet as we know it. So you're already drawing from that, except The Matrix drew on novels like Neuromancer and Snow Crash (I have yet to read the latter).

To many readers of science fiction or someone who has an interest in virtual realities, it'll feel like you're rehashing decade old ideas.

Who's your target audience?

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

Well, you're pretty much combining the mind-network interfacing components shown in the Matrix with the Internet as we know it. So you're already drawing from that, except The Matrix drew on novels like Neuromancer and Snow Crash (I have yet to read the latter).

To many readers of science fiction or someone who has an interest in virtual realities, it'll feel like you're rehashing decade old ideas.

Who's your target audience?

We're getting a bit far ahead of ourselves

I'm not writing fiction though.

 

[LCGeek]

Yep

It's called halographic theory and the collective unconscious, the movie for the most part shoots out most sciencetific concepts in authenticity but some the basic are spot on in concept they just dressed up the film so popcorn people would find it cool.

 

[Haly]

We're getting a bit far ahead of ourselves

I'm not writing fiction though.

Well that much is obvious, it sounds more like a research paper.

 

[Chrono Helix]

ba-dum-ch

... I don't get it.

 

[BakedPigeon]

HALP im stuck in a dream.

 

[BakedPigeon]

dp

 

[pjberri]

Ok... so we all know the Matrix; a movie about a virtualized environment, that's created electronically by stimulating the sensory feedback parts of our brain directly...

But is there actually a proper term for this idea? Virtual Reality? Virtualization? Something along those lines right? But those two terms have already been taken by... lesser ideas. So what do people that want to write about this idea refer to it as? The matrix? Surely there's a better name to refer more specifically to the idea rather than the movie, and the name of the construct (of the idea) in that particular movie.

And more importantly, if I want to read about this idea, what do I look for to find it?

Specifically... has anyone written a book that goes into details about the implications and possibilities that this idea has on our real world?

As was mentioned by another poster, if you want reading on similar topics, look at Baudrillard. Ideas like the simulacra are already commonly observed, and therefore would be a good model for whatever it is you want to know.

 

[xsarien]

'Stupid.'

Why do you ask?

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

In response to the OP, I would like to suggest the term: captivation.

We are stuck in our lives, and even find ourselves stuck in our dreams. In either case, the outer world only seems to offer the illusion of being in any way changed by our desires and feelings towards it: perversely, the greater the autonomy we appear to have achieved, the more it seems we have simply made ourselves into puppets of the immovable, relentless grand scheme of things.

No matter what explanations we try and apply to our existence - be it divine creation, an accumulation of logical chances, or enslavement by superior machines - we are unable to get around the personal revelation of the simple fact that we cannot escape it. We are captives.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

dp

they must have changed something...

 

[super metroid]

... I don't get it.

duuhhhhh

 

[54-46!]

The idea behind the Matrix? Till all are one!

I kid, I kid.. Isn't The Matrix just a virtual reality without people being aware that it is exactly that?

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Simulacrum.

 

[Frog]

In the film, Morpheus calls it a "neural interactive simulation."

 

[KRS7]

Dumb math geeks. Matrix obviously revers to where nail formation begins.

 

[RotBot]

Also, "singularity" as used in Ray Kurzweil's book, doesn't appear to have been coined yet as such back in 1999.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
Wikipedia says it's been around since the 80's.

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

I think a more classical interpretation is that it is simply a relative of solipsism - the theory that no-one exists but you, and that the rest of the universe is a dancing whirligig created to entertain you. This last part I may have added myself - I don't believe solipsism really requires an explanation of why this situation might be the case. However from here you can parallel it with the idea that God created man because he was bored of his own company (or that God divided himself up into mankind so that, if he was going to have to talk to himself, he could at least make a decent show of not being so crushingly aware of it).

The theory generally draws groans from the Philosophers, just as if one suddenly raised the question of how one might know if one's will was truly free. However I'm convinced that in its stark, abhorrent simplicity, what Philosophers really cannot stand in solipsism is the absence of any frilly edges to nibble away at and tramp into unbearable obscurity. Either that or cowardice in the face of the implications.

I believe it to be significant that one can only ever have intimate knowledge of one's own state of being. In this respect, throughout one's life, no matter what, one remains utterly and unswervingly alone. At this point I think one may just as well reconcile an acceptance that even those individuals closest to us really, truly are ciphers at best. Does one really have a relationship with one's wife, or is that relationship best understood as part of one's absolute and never-ending relationship with God?*

How do you deal with or make sense of your encapsulation by the rest of existence?



*or whatever.

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

I was talking with a friend about this... what's the better acronym?

NVE; Networked Virtual Environments

or

VEN; Virtual Environment Networks. (he suggested this one)


I prefer VEN myself, because it does create an easy to pronounce acronym.

Also, the idea of a VEN is a pretty broad one. Indeed, a MMO can be considered a primitive or a predecessor form of a VEN; it really is literally, a virtual environment, networked between many computers. It doesn't say anything for the quality of the VEN, but at the same time, why shouldn't it be a broad encompassing concept? Even before you reach the sort of brain jack-in style technology, a lot of what can be achieved with VENs will be done in some way or another before then.

So with that in mind, the idealized form of VENs; where it's considerably more useful, and the ease of use barrier is considerably lowered, that is, when some sort of neural interface becomes possible, would be referred to as NIVENs. (Neural Interfacing Virtual Environment Networks).

So... whatcha think GAF?

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I was under the impression the Matrix consists out of a single reality (the City), so networks (plural) would not accurately describe the technology behind it.

Perhaps a distributed network facilitating a singular virtual realm?

 

[Chipopo]

I love how this science and technology thread brings all the wannabe philosophers out of the woodwork simply because the matrix was referenced. Come on guys, you don't even have the impulse control to read the op? What would Zeno of Citium think??? D:

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

I was under the impression the Matrix consists out of a single reality (the City), so networks (plural) would not accurately describe the technology behind it.

Perhaps a distributed network facilitating a singular virtual realm?

That's way too unwieldly.

But I guess I wasn't very clear with the idea I had in mind in the OP.

That said, I did evolve the concept with help from this thread, so it's hardly been useless, even if it has been noisy and all over the place.

 

[Mookee]

Isn't there a theory that in the future computers will be so fast and powerful that they will be able to simulate worlds and universe and that we could be a complete computer simulation?

Yep.

http://www.simulation-argument.com/

http://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html