Bye-bye Reality, Here Comes Virtual Reality

I love VR, but i’m a little afraid of it.

Virtual reality is amazing. I am a technology geek and was thrilled the moment the Google Cardboard was released. Products like the Oculus Rift seemed cool, but were way to expensive. “Nobody is going to wear that around” I thought, and only the extreme video game players would actually buy it, after they tried it once.

The 1st generation cardboard

But once the google cardboard came out that story changed: The day they released the free plans to make it yourself out of cardboard, I hurried to make my own. We happened to have pizza that night and I spent the next 2 glorious hours cutting it out with an x-acto knife. It was amazing. I watched a few super hero trailers and the demos that google made with the app. There was some drawbacks; I got a headache for the next 2 days but it was worth it. Next I watched some 360 videos and that really changed the game. Being inside the virtual cockpit of a jet felt so real. I realized there was some serious potential with this technology. All you need is some cardboard and a phone and BAM, you’re driving a formula 1 car, or hiking in Turkey.

My attempt

So I love virtual Reality. I was even more excited when the second generation came out and I was able to get my hands on a starwars edition.

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But there’s also something scary just in the name: Virtual Reality. We are literally trying to replace reality with something virtual. And technology is rapidly increasing to make that a… reality.

Nowadays there are virtual reality headsets from Samsung, HTC, Microsoft, LG, Sony, and more. So I couldn’t help but comparing this technology with the rise of the smartphone. For better or worse, the smartphone has basically taken over our lives. It is with everyone, everywhere they go.

So I know what you’re thinking: “There is no way people are going to bring their own VR headsets along with them wherever they go or that it is ever going to be a problem.” And you’d be right. People will not carry these things around and use them all the time. It’s just not fashionable or feasible. Even the sleek Google Glass was pretty much a meltdown. But VR is so immersive and addicting it really could replace a lot of what is our reality for a lot of our time.

Take pornography for instance. Pornography is a horrible destructive force that is as addictive as drugs and it really kills love. But in the context of VR, it is seen as another medium. I just saw a headline the other day of pornography being a main event at a video game convention. Just think about that for a second. We are putting love in a virtual reality. Along with that Sports illustrated released their “Swimsuit” issue with women in 360 video. This is a dangerous road that is potentially taking away the very reality of love and replacing it with something virtual. After all who needs a relationship when I can get it on my phone? VR may be a cool experience for driving formula 1 cars, but it is not a replacement for love. And trust me, if pornography is getting bad now, just wait until VR comes more into the mainstream.

While I believe pornography to be the most destructive force VR could have, just think of other areas of our lives: sports, family, exercise, friends, or even going outside. Who really needs those things when I can get a better digital experience on my headset? You think I may be kidding but technology is addicting and has a way of getting into peoples lives. The potential is starting to remind me of wall-e.

And another frightening aspect is we our giving up our reality to the creators and CEO’s who make the software and hardware. They control us, not ourselves. Remember the Mark Zucherberg VR picture? Just google “Mark Zucherberg VR” and this is what you get:

It’s an image that could become all too real in the near future.

So while right now the technology is harmless and very entertaining (I still get chills watching that whale jump over my virtual boat in the Cardboard demos), it has some extremely harmful potential.

So I just ask one thing: In the future can we please limit our daily average VR use to maybe 5 minutes? I want to continue living in the real world.
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Medium

Land of the Guarded, Home of the Scared

Refugees, surveillance, and terrorism: How we’re forgetting what this country was built on

The pilgrims set sail from Europe seeking religious freedom and new opportunity. They said they wouldn’t tolerate taxation without government representation. They got it. America was the melting pot of the world where every race and background came for freedom.

240 Years later from the time of the signing of the declaration of independence we have a refugee crisis, terrorist attacks on our soil along with other countries, and inhibiting surveillance from our own government.

But think about it. How could we let in Syrians, the people who are causing these terrorist attacks with ISIS and other groups? And how can we NOT take new measures of surveillance to prematurely stop more terrorist attacks? How can we risk it?

Well actually I think we can… And we have to.

…But they can’t come here

Not letting in Syrians trying to escape oppression in their countries is a moral based on fear. We’re afraid of letting any attacks happen to us so instead we let thousands of men, woman, and children die?

What happened to Home of the Brave?

We have a duty to serve our fellow humans on this earth. They’re people just like us.

We see being guarded and afraid as justification to oppress others and give up our own rights. Instead of helping these people with love and kindness, we bring them fear, hatred, and war.

Our fear has led to proposed amendments to expand surveillance powers. Some members of the senate have just proposed giving the FBI the authority to access internet browsing history and email without a warrant. This along with privacy invasions with the NSA; we’re not so free anymore.

Hatred and fear is exactly the cause of terrorist attacks. How can we perpetrate it? There are other solutions to the problem.

Gawl! Hasn’t anyone seen zootopia?