Will we be immersed, or will it immerse us

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:41:27 GMT

I am a strong believer of Clarke's third law - Arthur C. Clarke's Profiles of the future quote :

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

That is for the technology we call the 'net' will become indistinguishable from magic, or in other words, reality itself will be indistinguishable from it - the net. Thus I do not believe in the construct as our eventual 'net' destination (one with connect/disconnect emergence). I do not believe that Second Life + evolution of this meme represents the future. I believe that rather than us going into the 'net' as second life suggests, the net will come to us, it will actually seep into reality through the pores and cracks of our bombarded attention. Attention is our subconscious barrier or front to the emergent 'net', it is the battle field for our very consciousness. Emergent technology may eventually pierce that facade permanently to the point the net will be indistinguishable from reality, the two will become one and we will move forward.

I should also indicate some examples rather than just waxing lyrically here. In the net coming to us I mean it will actually start manifesting itself more physically, it will become more a part of every day life rather than viewed through the glass of our displays. Let me give you some examples that could point the way :

1) Multitouch - here we are not just passively interacting we are becoming more physically involved, engaging in touch with the 'net' interface, waving our hands, physically jesturing. check out the demos to get an idea if you haven't already seen this.

2) Voice and audio communication may well emerge for some situations, we already see this with in-car navigation equipment, this could be extended to more complex interactions with the net whilst in one's vechicle.

3) Other things such as RFID implants that mean the 'net' knows where you are, this will extend to medical monitoring, 'your collestral is to high - suggestion take some ..' you get the picture.

4) Sub aural gestures from the net whispered in your ear 'You should clean up this meeeting within the next 5 minutes Al, or you will miss the flight which is currently scheduled on time'

in fact the real second life will be the escape from the 'net', it will be vacations where there is no technology, where we unwire and allow our attention shields down.

Oh and yes I know, I am missing the flying car from my list, I did it on purpose we are never going to get flying cars. In fact if we let the governments get there own way, they will actually ban personal transport in the future.

P.S. Roo motivated this train of rant, not that it was Roo's fault, it's been in the old noodle for a while, it's just his post triggered it's release!

Sorry rant over for now..

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Will we be immersed, or will it immerse us