Virtual Death

Someone posted this picture on Reddit this morning saying that they saw a glimpse of what the future looks like.

We laugh, and jokingly mock someone sitting at a table with a virtual headset on their noggin, sipping back on a mochaccino and living their life through a surrogate superhero that doesn't really exist."That's the kind of stuff that only happens in movies" We say. "People like him are a minority." We laugh. "Crap like that is never going to happen." We vow.

But then a few hours later my boss e-mails me a scheduled appointment with a potential client who wants to develop a virtual reality campus tour where students can point and click on any building on campus and see what our university "virtually" looks like.

In his e-mail he states: "Imagine if directly on your website prospective students could take a walking tour of your campus, exactly like the one you offer families that are able to visit in person."

Wait, so let me get this straight, you want to create a virtual environment where people don't actually get to see the campus in person, feel what it feels like to have the warm sun beaming down on their faces in January, have an actual conversation with an actual human being, a human being with social skills and intelligence and a slight funny awkwardness that any college kid has in their voice. You are telling me that all of these real life experiences can be eradicated and people will have the chance to see what our campus is like through a pattern of 1's and 0's shaped like the landscape of St. George, Utah? You are telling me we are better off deleting the concept of interpersonal communication with another human being because wearing a headset and sipping a mochacccino is a more streamlined way to live our lives? You are telling me the world is a better place with technology wiping out the world we live in, one mouseclick at a time?

Yes. Sadly, that is the direction we are heading. Reality is nearing its inevitable execution.