RSS - PostsVirtual Reality
Posted by CHAND on February 29, 2008
Get ready to read something which you believe is a post.
I had a discussion with a friend of mine , I would rather say irritating discussion.
The point of discussion — “Virtual Reality” , though I was not really interested in the discussion. Next I went to my room and time to contemplate. What will happen if we suddenly come to know that the world in which we are living is virtual. Something that we saw in the movie “Matrix”. We are made to see things that we want or even worse if we have some one dictating what we should see. Our thoughts and sensations controlled by someone ,could be sophisticated computers. You are sitting in a room you have some object beside you but you can’t see it , it could be virtual or YOU can be virtual? Its so complex and fascinating. VR is not just collection of technologies like a head mount display but a very complex phenomenon.
We see movies, the actors what do they do ? They try to be someone else, someone virtual?? They enter the character, try to make it real. Though the body is real but they try to bring alive a character which is virtual.
Can we prove that the world is virtual ?? We cannot even prove that it is real. Now let us think of another situation , Everyone believes that the world is virtual and when you are born you are continuously fed that the world is virtual , you are made to believe that it is virtual, and suddenly you realize that the world is real, every object you thought to be virtual exists,then the question that will crop up ” is the world real ?”.
Did you ever meet virtual people? No I am not insane. You know a person who pretends to be what he/she is not. What do you call them? They try to be someone they are not,living in a facade. Sad that we have many people around who are living a virtual life.Though the scenario here is entirely different from the one I mentioned before. We talk about “Self” something which can be felt but cannot be seen. Many of us believe that there is something called as Self, another case of virtual reality.
There are so many things we do not know yet they exist or believe to be present. We are unaware of them , may be because we are not capable enough to feel or know them or we live in a world which we have made virtual, ignorant of the things around us.
I have many questions unanswered and many things unexplored.
Well does this “I” really exists ?
Devansh Mittal said
Nice Post!
The way you shifted the context from people in virtual world to the virtual people in real world, is good.
You talked about many issues and raised many questions. I have few observations which I would like to share,
Self (I):-
1. Desire to live with happiness in a human being is always present with the same intensity. It is not the need of the body but it is “my” need. It is ever actively present. It can not be simulated in a robot. This continuity of this feeling all the time within me makes me to think that there is something which is continuous within me.
2. I have a deep sleep in the night and when I wake up in the morning I say “I had a nice sleep”. If I was sleeping then who observed that “I had a nice sleep”? and who was sleeping? Will a robot ever sleep? What is this phenomena of sleeping?
3. I drink water and say “ohh my thirst is quenched”. Who gets this feeling of “quenching of thirst” and can this feeling be simulated?
4. When a doctor pinches needle in my body I feel pain, who is feeling the pain? I can simulate the expression which comes in my body when I feel pain, but can I simulate the feeling of pain?
5. I feel jealousy, greed, peer pressure. I sympathise, I empathise, can these feelings be simulated.
6. Look at the chinese room experiment at this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room
7. When I see TV through my eyes, I can see the 2D picture on the TV screen and my eyes are seeing just the 2D picture but I can still recognize the 3D characters in the TV, so who is seeing? who is the seer? can we simulate this feature in robot?
8. A human being has the faculty of verification and can distinguish between what he knows and what he assumes. Will there be any difference for a robot between “Knowledge” and “Assumption”?
9. A human being has faculty of realization-verification, faculty of generalization-determination, desire-imagination, logic-analysis, and taste-selection. Can these be simulated in a robot?
10. A human being has the desire to live with relationships. Can feeling to live with relationships can be a characteristic of material? can this “feeling” be simulated?
11. Can any feeling be the characteristic of a material?
12. A physical body can transmit the motion but it can not originate it, since human beings can originate the motion so are we just the physical bodies?
13. Can a robot ask himself “what is the goal of his life?” and even if we asks then will it need to explore for it?
14. When I am eating something tasty then I generally overeat. Will a robot or just a body will have a feeling of liking and disliking? will a robot ever overeat?
15. Can a robot ever learn? There is a difference between learning and training.
16. Will a robot or material be able to recognize harmony in nature?
17. Will a robot or material be able to recognize relationship between any two entities.
18. Will a robot find pleasure in eating, playing, watching movies, listening to songs, etc?
19. Will a robot ever feel depressed and need a counselor?
20. Will a robot ever suicide? Remember a human being suicides when he has no hope of being happy anyhow.
21. Will robots feel alone due to lack of relationships?
22. Will a robot ever revolt? Remember a human being revolts when he is kept under “unfavorable” circumstances for long time.
There are many many more example which makes us suspect there is something extra within us.
Virtual People:-
What makes them to be virtual?
This feeling to be in relationships is there within all of us. We want unconditional acceptance from others. It hurts us when others mistrust us, or disrespect us. To ensure the continuity of Trust and Respect from others we wear different masks in front of different people. It is also us who make others to wear different masks. We lack competence to accept them unconditionally. We apply conditions so they wear different masks to satisfy our conditions, because our mistrust and disrespect is unaffordable to them.
This is again a problem of Relationships..
Virtual World:-
1. We can never simulate a virtual world which is similar to this world which we are living in and has complete harmony in nature. If we can then it won’t matter if we live in real or virtual world. If we can not and port human beings into them then that would not be comfortable for a human being to live so either they will come to know that the world is virtual or they will suicide.
2. Even in the virtual world the feelings of a human being to live with Happiness and Relationships will be ever actively present.
3. Recognition of human being among themselves and feeling of relationships among them will remain the same.
4. Basic nature of human being will remain the same. Just the senses will be deceived.
This is what I feel and I may be wrong in some or many or all the points.
Devansh Mittal said
Self(I):-
23. I can not see more than what I know. But I see that I am seeing or recognizing more day by day. How it is happening? Can it ever happen in a robot? Can a robot recognize something in nature which is independent of its knowledge base?
Devansh Mittal said
24. Generally when we sleep we have unconscious dreaming. Can robots have unconscious dreaming?
Devansh Mittal said
Hey you deleted my comment
I am sorry if I should not have commented that long or anything ..
CHAND said
Sir I did not delete your comment .. I mean I did not get any comment ….
Devansh Mittal said
Ohh, actually if you see the first comment then it is starting from point “23″, I commented very very long, 22 points were listed in that and there were many more things.
Anyways fine. Probably the spam filter of wordpress did something because it was a very long comment, longer than your post even.
Check in your wordpress account if you find there in spam or for moderation then kindly approve it for some time I will take a copy of it and then you can delete it if you like
I just spent long time on it and was thinking to keep a copy of it.
Devansh Mittal said
Great!!
My comment is back!
Thanks
CHAND said
yeah got tht … thanx for the comment … well I can call this a post
Devansh Mittal said
If you like then you can give you views on it.
Vipul said
agreeed … actually i can say that the virtual world exists becoz i have come across some so called “virtual” ppl who try to show themselves something else than wht they actually are … but its very good that u wrote it as i had never seen that in this sense
infernoabhi said
chup be !!!
Manish Arora said
tujhe JEEVAN VIDYA ki zaroorat hai .. a shift from I and body … to … I and reality … wtf … pehle kam dimaag kharab tha jo tu aur karne par laga hua hai …. btw, your “Azeem-o-Shan-Shahanshah” is damn good, just post it yaar …. Mathur would love to read about his ” heaven in Paradise”
and Shrikant, without any doubt, is going to like it 
…. I’m anxiously waiting for the next part of that, be quick and yeah, start shooting if possible.
Namrata said
Phew .. now that was some post. I did not actually read through all of it but got the hang of what you were trying to convey. Keep blogging!
Himank said
That was some writing be.. Didnt think much of the first part of the post but when you started relating it to real world with the examples of actors and people who pretend before other people, that was real good. Tell me one thing.. wasnt the last thing which you wrote in the post the main thing which made you write the post and you just sugar coated it…
harsh said
virtual reality in other words is called conditioning. a conditioned mind believes what it has been conditioned for and not what is real. there have been two kinds of thoughts. one as you see the world it appears that way to you. second, you see the world as it is. the first thought refers to conditioning of mind or virtual reality. the second thought refers to seeing everything as it is.
neuron said
don’t be such a oxymoron (that first thing that came to my mind when i saw ‘virtual reality’) socrates! yeah, yeah sometimes when i hear the phrase ‘get real’ i laugh coz what exactly is ‘real’ da, does it mean ‘real’ w.r.t you, me or some other observer. something quirky w.r.t me might be unreal for you. anways, i hate this bucket-loads of philo gibberish that you have posted over here. fuck you, bring out something other than JV.
neuron said
for the love of god, robot stuff!? (for eg: Will a robot ever suicide?) total ROFL , Will a robot find pleasure in…double eww. this inspires me to write a funny take on ‘how to survive a robot uprising’
CHAND said
@Neuron have you seen the movie bicentennial man … It shows robots having emotions… interesting… and waiting for “how to survive a robot uprising”
@Harsh We come across many instances where we fail to recognize what is beneath the facade, Something like we see everything as it is… but it may not be the truth
@Himank Yup my main focus was on the real world becoming virtual…
people living in a virtual self ….
@Manish I will complete the second part soon … but unfortunately can’t post it here
@Pappu I know tht this post is hard for you to understand , don’t worry I will wirte a post on kids
@Vipul and Namrata Thanx for reading the post and posting a comment
Harsh said
If y ou see everything as it is, then that IS the Truth!
Thats how a Truth is defined. How else will you define Truth?
Karan said
Interesting. All I’ve got to say is that it depends on a person and his thinking. I believe that everything is “real” because someone whom I believe in says so. He’s given examples for the same. Y may not believe the same. Ultimately, it does not make a difference.
Devansh Mittal said
No post since a long time!!
rahuL deV said
nice blog.. nice perspective..
hmm.. if this VR is true then you are the bug in the system..