With our brains plugged into virtual worlds all day, what is real?

This article hits close to home.

I spent a day at Oculus when they were evaluating my product (pre Facebook acquisition) and we were able to play with some of their prototype headsets. They had games, space sims, etc to check out. But the most shocking simulation was just a bedroom, that was detailed out to the 9's. The developer was articulate around textures and shades and it felt like I was in a real bedroom. Taking off the headset, I felt shocked that that I wasn't removed from my virtual world, it felt like an extension of the real world. It really made me question what reality was and how sensory organs can be manipulated to the point to think something is real when it isn't.

Another example is I am starting to feel a connection to digital bits that probably shouldn't exist. I have built systems that have drawn a connection to my identity through media that I collect. This system has been up for 8 years (over a quarter of my life) and it has recently had a catastrophic failure. I genuinely feel sad, and feel that I am missing a piece of myself, my identity.

I agree with the article that virtual worlds, social media, and digital identity are skewing perceptions of reality. It will be interesting to see what is on the other side of tunnel of these advancements. Hopefully it will improve humanity and reality, not cloud or hurt it.

Boy, while I think the author and I share a lot of ideas about the way people are changing (perhaps not for the better) in response to the age of information, this article is full of misconstruals and accusatory speculation. The complaint is not new or original, and to me, the author's sentimentality undermines her argument.

Physical adaptations of humans have Increased, not decreased, with the invention of civilization. The last 50,000 years have seen more changes than the previous million.

Why? Perhaps because the pressures of living in villages, towns, cities requires a more sedentary, low-calorie low-aggression citizen. So we grow up but stay more infantile (hairless, small chins, eager to please, social) so we can cohabitate by the millions without killing one another.

'Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.' - Philip K. Dick

One way to find out what is real very quickly is to apply for a loan to buy a home.