Would you live in a virtualised world

[Sack of Cheese]

...if you have a chance?

Spoiler: Long post explaining the rule here!

Lemme clarify, your real body will be connected to a machine where you would live in an idealised virtual world that resembles the real world.

The thing is you are connected to that machine forever until you die because it was custom made for you only, hence the entire operation is very expensive and the machine doesn't fit anyone else blah blah just accept it as fact, okay?

You still have to work. Your simulated work will be chosen so it matters to the real life world, and hence, your earning will transfer into real cash to maintain your life support. To keep it simple: If you're broke, you become unnourished and eventually die. Since you live in your mind, hence time passes very slowly, 4-5 times slower than normal, and you "live" longer than usual.

To sweeten the deal, before you enter virtualised world you get to choose what kind of world you wanna live in. (could be fantasy or scifi, but the rule of physic or math won't change.)

If you earn a lot of cash than necessary to maintain your life support (maybe $100,000?), you may change the kind of world you live in. You can also ask them to make you forget you live in the virtual world before you turn on the machine.

Would you do it? Do you think it's still being "alive"?


PS: I was thinking how everything is virtualised today, which led to thoughts about how our real life might eventually be replaced too.
Maybe when that time comes, they will have some sort of automatic cloning/breeding techniques to maintain the world population so human won't die off.

 

[Nouw]

Nope. I have my entire life ahead of me, I plan to spend it in real life.

inb4 the Matrix

 

[Ryleh]

I don't doubt the awesomeness of the virtual world, but I do doubt my ability to overcome my human laziness. I'd probably start out all eager then die within a day.

 

[Esotera]

I'd do it if other people were also in the virtual world, the extended lifespan is the deal-maker for me. I'm also hoping that this virtual world would have some cool interfaces where you can interact with the programming and test things out...that would be awesome.

 

[Pseudoboss]

Not quite good enough of a deal. If I didn't have to work at things I didn't want to work about (and I had to work IRL) then no, I wouldn't do it.
If everything were virtualized down to the people, It would be a lonely place, since the world would probably die with you. A world where my actions no longer matter.
If I could talk to and form relationships with people who have done the same thing, and know that what I do in the virtual world is would impact others, and that the world would live on, for as long as other people used the technology, then it depends on the world is like.
If the new world had the same breadth, depth and sense that the real world has, but in a genre of my choosing, then very possibly. If the new world also violated some physical principles, had the presence of magic, or physically-impossible technology like artificial gravity, FTL travel and what not, then YES. I would definitely want to live in a world that is a realistic simulation (indistinguishable from reality without past experience) is effectively eternal, I am able to make a difference in, and has a slightly bent reality that is just as broad and detailed as our own, I would definitely spring for that. There are enough questions in our own universe that imply that we could already be in a giant simulation (and have no way of proving that we are or aren't with our current knowledge of physics. (though I don't really think that we are in the matrix.))

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

No no no. I like my perception of reality to be as unpolluted as possible. I know it's a silly thing to aim for, what with "What is real" and "Why are we here" and "Arpeggio", but hey, sidestepping The Matrix seems like a first step.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Hmmm, connect it to other people, like my friends, and then maybe I'd go for it. As long as the virtual world can simulate all the senses accurately and it's as if I wasn't in the machine, I imagine I'd have a hard time realizing the difference. Otherwise, if I was just alone, only with simulated people, no matter how accurately simulated they are, I feel I'd be able to notice that difference far more often. People just know people, you know? It's hard to get AI to pass as real for us.

Again though, if I'm just alone, I'd probably pass. I imagine we already have future technology where I could do something similar temporarily. Also, if it's technology, couldn't someone hack it? I mean, if you're stuck in this thing and someone starts wrecking shit up, you're stuck in there, and since you'll feel everything who knows what kind of twisted stuff someone could simulate to happen to you in there.

 

[Strazdas]

Lets just say the moment i can abandon my body and trnasfer myself into kibernetic conciuosness safely i will take the chance.

this however looks a lot more like movie Surogates than anything. I would still take it. What you seem to suggest is permanent inception.
Firstly, id live 4 times as long, so thats awesome in itself. Secondly, this new world would be much freeers and i could not die inside it, so no more "do these 4 guys following me are going to attempt nmurder or not" situations. Thirdly, the world would be able to be changed and altered over time, so no more "it would be interesting to see effects of a nuke but i dont want actual people dead" problems. assuming realistic simualtion of virtual world here and not like in movies "the lawnmover man".
Other peoples existence there would be a plus, but i would do it even if alone. I certainly wouldnt mind the apocalyptic (idilic?) scenario of everyone but me suddenly dissapearing.

 

[Zealous]

Well, I mean we're all in the Matrix anyway, so Inceptioning into another false reality would be kind of iffy...


Seriously though, not really. There are a lot of things that contribute to your health that can't be achieved by sitting in the dark eternally hooked up to a computer, having food and bodily functions whooshed in and out of you through tubes. That's just not going to fly with me.

However, if you could jump in for a couple of hours and in dream time stay there for a day or two due to time dilation (or whatever that's called) that'd be interesting. But for the rest of my life? Nope, no way.

 

[EHKOS]

Star Wars. If I choose smuggler as a profession, it's like Firefly with lightsabers and astromechs. Although I suppose, "even I get boarded sometimes" won't work on the scientists running the machine would it?

 

[Angelous Wang]

...if you have a chance?

Spoiler: Long post explaining the rule here!

Lemme clarify, your real body will be connected to a machine where you would live in an idealised virtual world that resembles the real world.

The thing is you are connected to that machine forever until you die because it was custom made for you only, hence the entire operation is very expensive and the machine doesn't fit anyone else blah blah just accept it as fact, okay?

You still have to work. Your simulated work will be chosen so it matters to the real life world, and hence, your earning will transfer into real cash to maintain your life support. To keep it simple: If you're broke, you become unnourished and eventually die. Since you live in your mind, hence time passes very slowly, 4-5 times slower than normal, and you "live" longer than usual.

To sweeten the deal, before you enter virtualised world you get to choose what kind of world you wanna live in. (could be fantasy or scifi, but the rule of physic or math won't change.)

If you earn a lot of cash than necessary to maintain your life support (maybe $100,000?), you may change the kind of world you live in. You can also ask them to make you forget you live in the virtual world before you turn on the machine.

Would you do it? Do you think it's still being "alive"?


PS: I was thinking how everything is virtualised today, which led to thoughts about how our real life might eventually be replaced too.
Maybe when that time comes, they will have some sort of automatic cloning/breeding techniques to maintain the world population so human won't die off.

This seems very easy to exploit.

You could just start in a medieval or younger type world and use your modern knowledge to become uber rich (more than you'll ever need), then transfer over to a Star Trek easy life future world and just play around forever.

That said I wouldn't do it unless I could leave the world at will (like Sanits Row 4).

 

[kickyourass]

Probably not, the way you describe it I don't see how there's any advantage to this virtual world over just living in the real world unless you were paralyzed from the neck down or something like that.

The only way I think I'd take this is if I could go into a fantasy/sci-fi setting and my 'job' would be some kind of Adventure TV/movie series. THEN I could see myself taking it.

 

[Heronblade]

If I'm in an accident of some kind and end up with a broken body that would leave me bedridden anyways, sure.

Otherwise, hell no

 

[Lightknight]

My line of work is particularly well suited to remote work and pays well enough. So I would consider this. That 4-5 times slower idea is something I've considered readily. I would posit though that this kind of 4-5 times slower means that it's impossible to interact with people in the real world aside from an assignmnet by assignment job because you taking 5 minutes to look at a question and respond means you can't possibly get information into the real world for 20-25 minutes per response. On the other hand, major multi-year projects would be completed in significantly less time so this would be something companies would fund.

Things that would likely make me say no:

1. No real human interaction, including this being the ipso facto loss of my wife. If we could share the 4-5 times longer life then absolutely.
2. The loss of your life if you lose funds. Weird condition.
3. Inability to enter/exit.

Things that have me tempted:

1. The longer life span.
2. The higher quality of life.

I guess it also depends on the quality of virtualisation. If I eat a steak does it taste wonderfully?

This would be fantastic for other things, like college or a weekend vacation. If I had the opportunity and this was affordable, I'd do this at home over the weekends or even in the evening to extend my day. I've always fantasized about such a device that seems to extend the hours in a day if even virtually.