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In a not-so-distant future you will likely render your own reality and see / hear / taste what you want to without it actually being there.

With an external device that alters your brain signals, it’ll be as easy as putting on EarPods.

Gloomy but want to see sunlight? You got it. Want to see someone nude? Think it and it’ll happen. Only have pizza but feel like eating steak? Think it and your mind turns it into steak.

It sounds crazy but I think this may become a reality. It may take several iterations of a neuralink or some competitor.

It’ll be a toy at first, but as things improve continuously, it’ll be difficult to tell what is reality.

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Discussion

ladidai 🇳🇬🗽 2y ago

This is what Elon is working on to an extent. All that is interesting until there’s a bad hack 😅

yunginter.net 2y ago

will the brain need real mechanical resistance of steak, as in would your muscles need to simulate the resistance change between pizza and steak?

HoloKat 2y ago

My guess is no. Everything we experience is within our brains. If you can dream eating a stake then you should be able to think it.

SMS 2y ago

Which makes time an effect of life, since there is no external force but life.

🫶🏻

SMS 2y ago

Intelligence as beauty is in the mind of the beholder.

yunginter.net 2y ago

as far as the dreams I recall they don’t involve much food

nobody 2y ago

But is this really reality ?

HoloKat 2y ago

Ok think of it as a simulation within a simulation if you like. Neil Degrasse Tyson thinks it’s a 50/50 chance that we’re in a simulation now.

nobody 2y ago

Sounds like a black mirror episode !

HoloKat 2y ago

It’ll probably be a much more pleasant experience than we imagine. Sci-fi always trends to scary but reality is rarely that horrifying.

nobody 2y ago

Only time will tell ! 💜 Indeed I’m now seeing a human, that was a cat yesterday !

Joda 2y ago

"Only have pizza but feel like eating steak? Think it and your mind turns it into steak.

It sounds crazy... "

Exactly. Why would you not want #pizza

HoloKat 2y ago

It could be a cardboard box, just an example.

R4 2y ago

that's crazy talk

HoloKat 2y ago

If you told a medieval pleb that in the future we’ll be able to talk to anyone in the world instantly, they’d call you crazy too.

R4 2y ago

just kidding.. everybody knows it'll happen.

we've seen the matrix.

it's just a matter of time.

(you're welcome kids)

jpfrogmd 🏴‍☠️⚡️ 2y ago

Ser. I’m having a much harder time taking you seriously now that you’re no longer a cat. 🤣

Chilidem 2y ago

What a dreadful existence.

HoloKat 2y ago

Why?

mutatrum 2y ago

Chilidem 2y ago

The pleasures of life come from overcoming struggle. If you can just plug into a machine and get whatever you desire, as illusory as it is, that's not an existence worth living.

Chilidem 2y ago

We have shit like this now. It's porn. It's drug addiction. It's excessive gaming. It's fast food. It's everything in our culture that taps into base human desires, but is also the reason our society is depressed, anxious, lonely,, and sickly. Purpose and community bring happiness. Your alternate reality machine is a nightmare.

HoloKat 2y ago

What makes something worth living? If you can’t tell the reality, does it even matter? You could be living this dreadful existence right now and not know it.

SMS 2y ago

Oh come now, caving to depression when the false cores implode doesn’t really make any difference to the facts of life.

Happiness is the light at the end of that darkness when surrendering to better understanding.

It’s not human nature but the man standing when who knows.

🫶🏻

Chilidem 2y ago

So you're whole statement boils down to we're soon going to be living in a simulation, but we're already in a simulation?

HoloKat 2y ago

I said it’s possible not going to be. Likely? I think so. By simulation I don’t mean completely detached from your current reality (for starters). We don’t need to go full matrix but I think that’s where things will trend to.

As a result of this we could see complete societal collapse as there might be insufficient population levels to keep up growth.

Chilidem 2y ago

It's a very anti-human scenario.

HoloKat 2y ago

Human as in meat bags? Yes. But the full digitized versions of us are probably still very far off. It could become a necessity though. You and I will be long gone before this happens if it does.

Chilidem 2y ago

Digitizing human thoughts and emotions are probably a long way off if ever. We can't even realistically predict human behavior, let along mimic in it in some digitized form. Transhumanism is a disease.

HoloKat 2y ago

I’d say 300 years max - wild guess.

You can dislike it all you want but at the current trajectory it may become a necessity.

I think it’s foolish to think that humanity in its current state is sustainable for any meaningful duration.

Chilidem 2y ago

And a digital version is going to be more robust somehow? That's foolish honestly.

HoloKat 2y ago

Robust? Meaning last longer? If I had to guess - yes. If you automated your own “maintenance” then you wouldn’t need to worry about surviving extinction levels events as much - since you’d be able to exist in much harsher climates.

Chilidem 2y ago

For Christ's sake, Twitter, a multiple billion dollar company, can't even rollout a paid API feature without crashing their entire website and you think we're going to replace physical humanity in 300 years? Ok...

HoloKat 2y ago

People in preindustrial society had no idea — hell they’d think it insane to think that we could send a rocket into space and land it on a floating ocean pad.

The past does not predict the future. To look at prior events gives little to no insight to future developments when it comes to technology. One breakthrough can flip the whole thing upside down and invalidate all prior beliefs.

SMS 2y ago

To understand time better, we must first understand that the Big Bang is the temporal now, and from there, much closer to our experience of the universe, rather than trying to prove an intentional creation at the Dawn of time.

Chilidem 2y ago

The mind is the final frontier. Sending rockets to space is a touch more simplistic than playing God and reducing an entire species' emotions and behavior down to bytes. Sometimes we need to ask, not only if we can, but if we should.

HoloKat 2y ago

It doesn’t matter if we should or shouldn’t, the fact that it may be possible will be enough for it to happen. You can stop yourself from playing a game but you can’t stop others from continuing in your absence.

Chilidem 2y ago

Yes. You can. With force. Transhumans aren't human and don't deseve the same right to life. Change my mind.

HoloKat 2y ago

You are already an augmented human. You hold a device in your hand at this moment, extending your ability to communicate with this device. Why don’t we send an army at you? What exactly do you think early stages of transhumanism will look like?

Chilidem 2y ago

Not really the same. A hammer doesn't make me less of what I am. A device to control my thoughts, emotions, "improve" congnition is not the same as utilizing a tool. At what point are we more machine than man? Just a mindless hive that's controlled by some singular application? This is what concerns me.

I don't think we're anywhere near that, obviously, but it concerns me that people are hopeful about a theoretical future.

HoloKat 2y ago

The device you are interacting with now is already controlling your emotions…

Btw, I’m not advocating for any of this, just playing out some thoughts of what could happen.

Chilidem 2y ago

“The foundation of all mental illness is the unwillingness to experience legitimate suffering.”

- Carl Jung

I'm somewhat from this school of thought. That meaning is brought into our lives from purpose and suffering. I believe our lives are getting so devoid of struggle that we should be happier, but everyone is so depressed, disconnected, and miserable. Technology has the ability to become a tool, but is often just a crutch or a noose. Maybe I'm a bit of a Luddite. I don't know.

Seth 2y ago

Transhumanism is a fantasy. Ancient wisdom is steeped in story of eternity. Consciousness however, has a different layering, and it seems that we are on another phase transition there

vectr 2y ago

The watershed moment will be when we have wireless machine-brain interfaces that have even rudimentary access to online info or even other people. The brain is very malleable, even more so at younger ages. Parents will face a decision about whether to have their young children or even infants “updated.” Does holding back relegate them too second class (or second species) status?

Game theory says if it becomes possible then it will be inevitable and unstoppable.

HoloKat 2y ago

Yeah I can see that happening.

Gary ₿usey 2y ago

It's interesting that you brought up population levels as a potential issue. I read not too long ago that men of the Millenial and Gen z generations are, on average, more sterile than the prior generations. Keep in mind, I'm not sure how accurate this is. I didn't delve that deep into the topic.

BITwise 🐳 >>= RIGHTish 2y ago

Are the things you experience now an absolute truth and 100% accurate reflection of reality anyways? Or is it just your brain's interpretation of the inputs it's receiving from your senses?

HoloKat 2y ago

Everything is within your brain.

BITwise 🐳 >>= RIGHTish 2y ago

Our brains are just interpreting electrical impulses sent by our sensors.

Hack the signal, hack the brain. Hack the brain, Hack reality.

Andy The Bitcoin Adviser 2y ago

Hard to tell what’s reality now to be fair.

SMS 2y ago

🫶🏻

Rimbaud 2y ago

Assuming species persistence, under approximately similar conditions with respect to socioeconomic stability and biosphere viability, these engineering and innovation advances with respect to 'primary modes of interface' and the various iterations of their associated hardware, seem something of an inevitability.

HoloKat 2y ago

I think so too.

やトナ 2y ago

Our brain already partially allows something similar without a device. This is a weird factoid i learned a few weeks ago but look at an object and imagine what it would feel like on your tongue. You’ll know almost immediately.

Chilidem 2y ago

Lolwut

やトナ 2y ago

Did you try it

Gary ₿usey 2y ago

It really doesn't sound that crazy. Given how quickly technology is advancing, it sounds like a perfectly plausible possibility. My main concern with this type of technology is how it will be implemented into our bodies and how smooth the synchronization process will be when it integrates with the CNS. Of course there are ethical concerns, as well. For instance, if a corporation like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, or Apple create a product for such a purpose, can we trust them to not abuse it and it's users? I think not. Just my opinion, though.

HoloKat 2y ago

Yeah it gets wild just thinking about that ethical parts. If it does happen I don’t think it’ll go over smoothly without a severe conflict or 2.

Gary ₿usey 2y ago

I agree.

Leo Wandersleb 2y ago

Maybe we are already there? Maybe your life is just a simulation? How do you know you have a past? Maybe your memories are an implant and you live the same day over and over again. How do you know people are dying around you? Those people in wars or your close relatives? You haven't died yet. Maybe it's all a sophisticated program to entertain you or a spectator.

HoloKat 2y ago

Yes, precisely. We could be at the end of such journey already. I concluded an essay I wrote a while back with this exact thought.

SMS 2y ago

When able to break free from shackles of chaos as slaves to causality, only then we are able to mold our futures rather than being slaves to it.

🤔

Leo Wandersleb 2y ago

"The Matrix" explained why the machines entertain human brains with this whole simulation. I couldn't find the scene in half an hour of searching for it but the argument is about the stimulus needed for humans to thrive.

SMS 2y ago

Maybe you’re dying around them.

However, does that really matter when rent is due?

🫶🏻

Leo Wandersleb 2y ago

Then there is the all too understandable drive of people wanting the best for their babies. Child mortality was basically eradicated but children still die in stupid accidents. We build playgrounds without concrete corners and put up barriers wherever it could get dangerous. We don't want our off-springs to suffer debilitating injury but don't want to wrap them in cotton wool neither. I want my daughter experience danger without serious harm. I would employ a deus-ex-machina that would make sure she won't die while I'm not there to protect her. How far would that go? Did my parents do exactly that? Are we maybe even immortal? Or did we get full circle and invented the same protection for our children inside the Matrix, not realizing we already were in the Matrix to begin with? How many levels are there?

HoloKat 2y ago

There’s a ln episode on start talk that discusses the levels. It could be levels all the way down.

El_monty 2y ago

Just watching an old German film - world on a wire where they've simulated a whole world in a computer, the human constructs in the simulation don't realise they're not real. Now one of simulation scientists isn't sure that their world isn't a simulation too... Have another film - the thirteen floor based on the same book to watch next. Eventually I'll read the book - Simulacron-3.

Matthew Storm 2y ago

Soooo the matrix just… optional.