Now if you have not heard of virtual reality or the Oculus Rift, you can thank me now, because I have been suppressing an almost overwhelming urge to talk about nothing else.
In fact I have talked so much about with family and friends, that most of them are hesitant to engage me in conversation anymore.
'The next best thing since the internet," I say.
"It's going to revolutionize everything we do," I predict.
"Going to meetings in person will someday seem as primitive as sending a telegram," I say as family members attempt to sidle out of the room without being seen.
So yes I am very interested in what is to come. And I will leave it at that, because most of you did not come here to listen to me rant about how boring today is and how awesome tomorrow will be.
Anyhow as you can see that cover is rather.....different. And because it is so, it received quite a lot of internet mocking.
However I stumbled across one photoshopped picture that seemed somewhat prescient to me.
Poopy time will never be the same.
I'm very excited.
Sad. You, virtual reality, loss of reality, and the future if this is it. Just sad.But happily, you are wrong. Becuase this is the same way that Skype and virtual meetings were touted - and guess what? it doesn't suffice for reality.
ReplyDeleteHey, it beats that stack of old Reader's Digest sitting on the top of the commode...
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that's the wave of the future or a blast from the past--early 90s specifically when that Jaron Lanier guy was on Ted Koppel every other week touting VR
ReplyDeleteI can see how this may benefit people who are unable to move about physically.
ReplyDeleteThis morning, one hour before sunrise, I ran three miles in a nearby park. I had pop, rock, and grudge piping in through ear buds. After my run, I walked another three miles with the ear buds removed. I watched the sun rise, listened to the birds and insects waken, and smelled mud, grass, flowers, and decay. I took photos of mushrooms, mist rising off a lake, and a baby toad. The last five minutes of my walk I put the ear buds back in and listened to Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante at full volume. Bliss.
There was a babe in a ponytail walking about 100 yards behind me, walking off her run, checking me out. Exciting.
Although I am curious about the virtual reality technology, I hope I never have a need for it.
Oh goodie, another way we can all become more disconnected with one another. just what the doctor ordered for a dystopian, disfunctional society, doncha know.
ReplyDeleteThe more we become separated from our fellow beings, the more we treat them as less than human. Color me not optimisitic this will do anything more than make it easier to kill each other.
You reminded me of that star trek virtual war episode.
DeleteSpot on, 5:47
DeleteYou should cite the redditor who made that meme. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteActually I bookmarked it and saved it and never saw the name of the individual that made it.
DeleteOr I would be happy to give them credit.
Prescient? Who died and will you a thesaurus?
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're in America, speak Spanish!
DeleteVirtual: " very close to being something without actually being it" (MW online)
ReplyDelete--------------------------------------------
I think I'll stick with actual reality.
Proves what a youngster you are Gryph, it would be a telegram not a telegraph. :)
ReplyDeleteOops, you're right.
DeleteI corrected that.
I can just imagine my virtual poopy time; me taking a dump in the compound in Wasilla.
ReplyDeleteWith Gryphen on this one.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm living in my own "virtual reality" anyway, I'm eagerly looking forward to augmenting it!
:-)
Ever seen the SNL skit about the "adult sized" baby who is an executive at a company? Yeah.. that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, too, the SNL commercial parody about "oops I crapped my pants."
teehee
Well, at least one won't run out of virtual bum wad!
ReplyDeleteFinally, someone whose "selfies" make Bristol's look dignified (well, almost.!) Although for all I know there may be a picture somewhere of Bristol on a toilet. She's got to something in between conceptions.
ReplyDeleteI see the Star Trek holodeck in our futures.
ReplyDeleteBut I fear this is just another way for people to become addicted, for others to take advantage of weaknesses, to make a buck....
However, also, too, I can see how it could radically change our future lives for the better.
Will it be used for enough good to outweigh that created by those who would use it for bad? That is the big question.
If it stops people from dropping into open manhole covers, tripping into fountains, or waking soundly into tree trunks while texting on their cellphones, I'm for it. As far as connecting people in a meaningful way, there's nothing better than virtual virtual reality, face to face, in the same room. Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteBUT I hope they find good "applications" for this technology, like the "Davinci Robotic Surgery" devices, etc. etc. Reminds me of the movie "Lawnmower Man", a work of fiction that touted VR with amazingly similar looking devices. From the mind of Steven King..... in 1992.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104692/?ref_=nv_sr_1
I guess I don't see why now virtual reality technology is all of a sudden going to take off... that has been predicted probably every decade since the 70's. I remember reading an interview with Jerry Garcia back in the 80s where he was all hip on it... (the digital trip)... but really it was just a fad, and heroin in the end was still the real deal (eh Jerr?).
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about the particular Oculus Rift VR tech, but I did read that facebook aquired it for 2bill. That right there is enough reason to stay far far away from it.