Re. PC, internet, smartphone: what’s the next big technological epoch? | John Naughton | The Guardian / holograms of Elvis, Tupac, Abba touring etc., I wager that the next 'epoch' -for the rich part of humanity, that is- will consist of tailoring our personal -either private or communal (see below)- reality by peopling it with impressively re-booted (check out "deepfake") figures of the past or present.
Namely: immersive full helmet or bodysuit on, we will be able to live out our fantasies in our own dreamworld with our favourite celebrities who will never die. In this new re-created world, our loved ones will never leave us; our (political / religious / racial / sexual / class structure / sports supporting etc.) tribe will rule the Earth; we will be able to enforce our own ideology and standards; we will have sex with / slay whichever celebrity is available for digitisation and so on. Oh, and the Nazis -you knew this was coming- did not lose WW2.
In short, we will create our own reality.
The technology already exists – and I can't possibly pass up the opportunity to rehash the old William Gibson quote: “The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed”. With this fact on one hand and another side of the equation (see below) firmly on course on the other, I daresay we are looking at no further than a very real possibility of this happening in around twenty years' time, if not before.
Sure, this is -literally- “science-fiction”, but science-fiction at its most divinatory, and you can easily reference the likes of Phil K Dick, the Bruce Willis "Surrogates" movie, 'The Matrix', 'The 13th Floor', 'Westworld', 'Elysium', 'Land of the Dead', the 'Black Mirrrrr' episode with Jesse Plemons parodying 'Star Trek", and so on and so forth via countless variations on the theme. Inevitably, I seem to remember that there was an episode in the first season of 'Black Mirrrrr' along these lines + hasn't the Net and its sosholmedia already created 'silos' and 'echo chambers' where niches prosper away from reality and its attending alterity?
But this is not all.
Meanwhile, the rest of humanity -probably around 99% of it- will suffer the apocalyptic effects of Global Warming / Climate Disruption. Everyone with half a brain knows that this world will be seriously messed up by 2050, prompting local conflicts, mass migration, the rise of ever more aggressive religion, a chasm between “the West” and the rest, open conflict between the haves and the haves-not.
The objective of life will be to escape the burning world outside for however long as possible and to qualify for the cocooned shelter of such plugged-in alter-life. The high-tech havens will come in gradual levels of sophistication, so as to offer the seduction of possible admittance to the general public and ensure its active support. (Needless to say, the 0,1% of the 0,1% at the top will remain well out of reach, in New Zealand or Nebraska.)
In turn, these new high-tech microcosms will bring about the emergence of new working classes/strata trained to build them, maintain them, tend to them, service them, and safeguard them in exchange for the relative safety of living in their vicinity - think MASSIVE security at the borders of the enclaves. Not only that, but these technology-based communities will also boost military enterprising: they need raw materials and energy supplies (Ever heard of the curious appearance of Chinese scientists all over Africa? Ever wondered why?). Deals will be cut with tribal warlords, this is not going to be pretty but, hey, (PS added one week after my original argument -Talk about prescience!) people will be able to enjoy Zuckerberg's “metaverse” fantasy...
#augmentedreality #transhuman
...Pro'bly ought to write a story about it now. Loig Allix Thivend, All rights reserved.
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