Civilizational Cyber-Lethargy

File under ‘generally irrelevant to the general thrust of this blog,’ there’s a neat article in the Brisbane Times about the probably eventuality of totally immersive virtual realities (like holodecks of Star Trek fame or the matrix from The Matrix), and its social/societal implications.

The main question is of course that, if once entered, would we ever reemerge? I’d like to think that we humans would prefer existing in the physical reality of meatspace, even if it’s perceptually identical to a virtual reality, if only because reality is, well, real. Sadly, my intuition says ‘absolutely not.’

Other variations of this theme exist; most famous is a theory by Nick Bostrom (a philosopher at Oxford), who offers the possibility that we may be already living in a giant simulation. And even if we aren’t, then the rapid pace of computing power will allow us all to do just that within only a few centuries or, by some estimates, decades. Unfortunately, there’s a very legitimate possibility/probability that this will be a very big issue for our progeny.

Unfortunately, these hypotheses eerily explain a great deal about why we haven’t detected a peep of extraterrestrial intelligent life, despite what some say is its overwhelming statistical probability. Most commonly known as the Fermi Paradox - if it’s so darn likely, why ain’t we heard nothin? - the idea that an intelligent life self-destructs from civilizational cyber-lethargy seems a lot more likely than burying itself in nuclear weapons or all getting hit by giant meteors. Of course, there is just the possibility that humanity really is super duper unique, which is kind of an accidental nod to religious folk who take the great silence as proof of human exceptionalism by the divine.

It’s all speculative now, and generally restricted to the geekosphere, but its emergence as a legitimate question of public policy shouldn’t really be ignored either.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.