So, people will be able to completely skip living in the real world, and instead spend their entire time plugged into a simulation, like a vegetable.

Sounds wonderful. May as well skip this and just spend my life hooked up to an IV drip of drugs.

▲ siva7 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Sounds like the plot from the movie matrix. Only difference between the movie and our real timeline - the ai didn't need to enslave humans, we willingly chose enslavement by ai for ourselves by continuing our google subscription.

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nilamo 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It also sounds like Ready Player One, where the real world is so shit, everyone spends all their time in VR, using rented equipment, making nearly everyone a slave to the corporations.

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0c3ca83 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The people building AI must be deeply unhappy, and won't be satisfied until they impose their misery on everyone.

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tsunamifury 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ultra nerdy point: in the matrix it’s revealed that humans did in fact choose to join it. And the meta point was that most of them still would choose it over reality [1] every day.

[1] reality is also somewhat in question in the films universe

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_diyar 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Is this from the original trilogy?

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rootusrootus 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's from Matrix Reloaded, when the architect explains past failures of the matrix and that they only succeeded when they figured out that they had to offer a choice, even if that choice was subconscious. That nearly everyone accepted the matrix, and the few that did not escaped to Zion. That's the whole point of Neo, to manage the outliers and keep the system going.

At least that's my recollection. I've watched the matrix a few times :)

	▲	underlipton 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You are correct. And it's not that they chose for the Matrix to exist in the first place - humanity fought a brutal war against machine rule and lost utterly, and signed away their bodies under duress ("Hand over your flesh, and a new world awaits you. We demand it." -Animatrix) - but, at least according to The Architect, everyone within is presented with a chance to leave, one way or another. Most choose to stay. It's worth remembering that the Matrix is an allegory for systems of labeling and control (notably, gender), which make life (and specifically life with others) easier, though not necessarily better. The Matrix sustains the large human and machine populations amidst Earth's ecological collapse; people who choose Zion choose a harder life where they are free to be themselves. However, when Zion grows large enough to threaten the system, the system comes after its residents and wipes them out. One person's freedom is tolerable, even necessary for the system to continue; everyone's freedom leads to everyone's doom. The movies have some weird-but-rational implications. ...Sorry, I lost track of my point, which is that we're already in The Matrix. The Matrix is society.

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gretch 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There was a guy named Cypher who betrayed the humans and cut a deal with the robots to live in the matrix as a rich guy. He fully accepts the steak he eats is not “real” but he enjoys it nonetheless

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georgemcbay 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Nothing in the original trilogy specified or suggested that humans as a group willingly joined the Matrix to begin with.

One individual human (Cypher) did choose to be plugged back in, though it didn't work out for him.

▲ gcanyon 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

People already do this in many video games. The simulation isn't perfect, and maybe there's a tipping point where the simulation becomes real enough that it (maybe) supplants "reality". In a sense, this is disintermediation: instead of actually riding horse, I can ride a virtual dragon. Does that make it worse, or problematic? Again, we already have this, for driving race cars, fighting in wars, etc. etc. It's just a matter of fidelity and immersion?

	▲	booty 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		`simulation becomes real enough` There's also all the ancillary activities. Riding a real horse isn't just about the horse ride, right? It's about the trip to the horse farm. The small but real danger. If you're doing it on some sort of multi-day trip, it's about the memories you make with others, the romantic time spent with your partner at night, or if you're single maybe the hope of meeting a romantic partner. For some maybe it's even about doing things like cleaning the stables, which isn't intrinsically fun, but probably adds to the feeling of bonding with the horses. (I've never ridden a horse. I'm surely wrong about some of those things) There's also the "abundance issue" with simulations. Have you ever looked at your unplayed games on Steam, or a folder full of ROMs, and just had a hard time choosing or enjoying anything, because (a) there's so much there, nothing feels special and (b) even when you're enjoying one game, part of you is thinking that perhaps the next game is even better? If things truly progress to Matrix-style simulation, I guess a lot of that is "solvable" by "just" manipulating/injecting memories. But I think that's how far a simulation would need to go in order to supplant real life experiences entirely. Or, there's the even darker route, also explored by much scifi -- reality gets so shitty that nobody can really even aspire to an actual horse ride anyway, so simulations are all anybody has. A lot of people already live some kind of version of this anyway due to lack of funds. Sorry for no coherent point. Just rambling!
	▲	6 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
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	▲	tsunamifury 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		People do it in all forms of “cinematic world building” including amusement parks, vacations, games books movies etc. Reality is very much blurry

▲ butlike 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The Bliss IV is an upcharge subscription, though.

▲ solyin 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is why UBI bad.

	▲	0c3ca83 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, but the other three options are AI failing naturally, AI being stopped, or people being unable to participate in the economy without UBI and starving. Right now we're fully on track for one of several dystopias.

▲ fallat 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For some... that is sadly a better existence in cases.

▲ 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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