The ultimate virtual reality tech
A "holodeck" is a type of virtual reality device that completely contains the user(s). Potentially multiple people, and pets, can use it at once. It can unlock telepresence unlike anything we've ever seen. But it relies on its user's body, which may not be as able as expected. Invasive Neuralink or BMI style VR solves a lot of the issues with holodecks, including physical space constraints. But, they are invasive, and the privacy and security issues should be obvious to anyone with a brain.
Welcome back to Futurism, the only solarpunk gemlog on our quickly-burning Earth.
Climate news
(This section was added after the publication of the article. I originally intended to have it ready by publication time but I wouldn't do it without a citeable source.)
A new research paper, available on Arxiv, is claiming that "Low latency carbon budget analysis reveals a large decline of the land carbon sink in 2023."
The paper in question, arXiv:2407.12447 [physics.ao-ph].
The abstract tells us that they're seeing way, WAY more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than we're actually emitting. "This implies an unprecedented weakening of land and ocean sinks," the abstract states. Further, at the end, it adds, "record warming in 2023 had a strong negative impact on the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to mitigate climate change."
In the coming years if this decline continues, we may see a rapid acceleration of CO2 and global warming which was unforeseen in future climate models projections.
— Philippe Ciais, writing on Twitter about the study.
Basically, it's gonna get a lot hotter, a lot faster, coastal towns will sink faster, and storms and weather will be getting more extreme, even more quickly than expected.
Holodecks
You've seen them in Star Trek. You enter the room, tell the computer what you want to do, and the environment and NPCs manifest before your eyes.
I've thought up how that might work, although there's only one component missing: some kind of virtual matter: which can emulate any material, texture, color, temperature (probably within a range), or shape, hell maybe even smells and tastes; which can move way faster than the human eye can discern; and which can emulate solids and liquids; and a ton of other things I can't think of right now. You'd also have to have a ridiculously powerful, well-cooled computer or set of computers somewhere, probably within the Holodeck's walls, in order to coordinate all this, and use optical illusions and targeted light (like those fancy airport displays, except vastly improved and not screens).
I'm not completely sure such a thing can exist. You could probably get away with a small set of materials (probably a small set of main proto-materials, and actual water). Maybe some odd kind of forcefield that has yet to be figured out?
Another main problem with this tech is that it takes up a lot of space. That alone will make it quite inaccessible to most people. You'd have to share it, which would make connecting to people far away with it quite hard.
But if you can coordinate, maybe even book a regular schedule, you can be in the same room as someone even if you're far apart. Don't you think this would be wonderful for family gatherings? Plus there's endless room, if you need it (although there's still probably a limit to the number of people in one physical Holodeck).
The Brain-Machine Interface
Aside: Make STARSET Fiction Again!
Invasive VR is, well, invasive. It requires brain surgery, probably grants access to your thoughts, and definitely could cause permanent brain damage, even death, if someone managed to hack it.
All this aside, the technology is quite powerful: no need to invent meta-matter, and it can draw on your memories, thoughts, and intentions to create your experience or perform actions for you. Plus, unlike the Holodeck, it is with you wherever you go, it enables AR (augmented reality; holograms), and it doesn't require nearly as much space: if you have to have anything with you to use it, it'll probably be computer-sized at the largest.
STARSET's most recent main lore arc, in its Divisions album through their second book, A Brief History of the Future, covers this type of VR in great detail, both its allure and its dangers. In the book and music videos they imply VR sex (which yeah is possible with the Holodeck too), AR facelifts, VR vicarious living, and of course, a VR "prison for the mind" that turns your body into a lifeless husk, where time actually passes slower, only kept alive by a remote AI which pilots your body for the rest of its life once the authoritarian government ejects you from it.
Oh yeah, obviously that's the one an authoritarian government would use. It's mandated, even.
The secret third option: Dreaming
Dreams are probably the mechanism invasive VR would be built on. It's pretty powerful, really vivid and really convincing. At least as far as you can tell, it's completely realistic, apart from all the glaring "dream signs," like words changing as you read them (if you're not dyslexic IRL), being somewhere you aren't supposed to be like back at school or at an old job, or having too many fingers.
Controlling or incubating your dreams is absolutely fun, I've done it a lot (the former, at least). However, you don't need to be in control to enjoy your dream. Enjoy the ride, and write about it later so you don't forget (this also helps you remember other dreams, in the future. Recalling it helps tell your brain hey, this is important and I don't want to forget this).
I previously assembled a Google Site on the bloatweb with a bunch of guidance about lucid dreaming, including things like how to get lucid and how to fly (be creative! anything works!). I'm not the authority but the authority is on Discord these days so they're pretty inaccessible to me now.
Lucid Dreaming Resources, or LDR for short
Virtual reality, at least today, has two real uses: gaming and socializing. Sometimes they overlap. But where it's socializing and not gaming, it's more escapism than anything else: from a real world that doesn't accept or understand you (furries and trans people in particular), from a real world that is hostile to social activity (the entire US, except some small pockets in places like NYC), or just from a generally shitty real world. You really only go to VR to socialize if you don't have any other way to, or if that's the best way available.
Dreaming is only useful for the gaming case. Maybe unless you're plural, in which case you might be socializing with your headmates. Most people aren't, though. Dreams are inherently private, only in your own head, unless of course it's paired with some other invasive device, in which case "GOTO BMI".
I suppose one could invent a protocol, and train people to use it, that lets participants share dreams by sleep-talking, maybe by speaking in a text-roleplay-like structure. That, of course, would be most effective for couples, brothers, and other people similarly close, who know each other's mannerisms well enough to predict them the way dreams do. But it could work passably for strangers, too, if they agree to it (and have compatible REM cycles, and are trained in the same structure).
VR today
I have a Meta Quest 3 (eww Meta, I know. But it was cheap and also I wasn't the one who bought it, and PCVR isn't an option for me either). I haven't tried the Apple Vision Pro but the hardware and base software seem pretty cool, but also just a really expensive iPad for your face.
Aside: the AVP would be maybe passably useful if it had VRChat and/or Beat Saber, but as it stands it has neither and it's too damn expensive to justify it. I actually want to go to an Apple Store and get a demo with it someday, but at this price point and with how locked down it is, nuh uh I would not buy that. I might not turn it down if it were a gift though...
Like I said before, two real uses: gaming and socialization. Both are fun. It still has its limitations, though, some things that can't truly be done: VR sex (although, theoretically, you could get a remote-control Fleshlight and use it with VR porn that's made for it; and definitely not the way it was depicted in A Brief History), realism of any degree (thanks to how resource-intensive that is), or the ability to scratch your upper nose or eyelid.
Plus, until Google's or maybe Valve's upcoming headsets come out, the only real options for VR are PCVR (expensive, requires a lot of room), Apple Vision Pro (expensive, can't do shit), the Meta Quest line (can be remotely bricked at any time, is definitely selling you out), maybe HTC's offering (expensive, can't do shit), and I guess a couple Chinese headsets (can't do shit, may or may not be spying on you).
Or dreaming.
Closing thoughts
After I wrote the Fediverse thread that inspired this post last night (or a couple nights ago...), I came to the conclusion that a lot of the limitations of dreaming as VR could be solved: memory with training and drugs, awareness with training and drugs, social involvement with sleep-talking roleplay; and maybe dreaming, lucid or not, is the ultimate VR.
At the same time, these could still co-exist as they have different affordances. The externally-piloted technologies have externally-enforced rules and goals, which makes it more fair for competition. Holodecks let you interact with real people using your real body, or maybe an altered body if you wish. BMIs could still be useful for people with disabilities (or even those without) to control technology or bionic/prosthetic limbs with. Dreaming is private sanctuary, experimentation grounds, your ideal sexual partner and/or experience, whatever you make it.
If we get to a point where holodecks are business-accessible, we might see them appear for public booking, they might be brought into schools for in-house field trips (planetarium! war! civil unrest! the whole nine yards), maybe it would be a good training environment for various professions and trades too. I think that's worth hoping for.
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