Just yesterday when my wife and I visited the dentist, we were in for a surprise! In the waiting room, a little boy of four or five years was sitting in a corner sobbing and weeping even as he held a mobile phone in his hands. At first, we thought he was sobbing because he was apprehensive about getting a tooth extracted-gradually, however, we realised that he had come with his grandfather and grandmother. His grandmother was being treated by the dentist while his grandfather shuttled back and forth from the operation theatre.
As time passed, waiting for our turns, we realised that the little boy was talking to someone on a voice call and he was first addressing his mother speaking to her sobbing and asking her to come and get him, then the next moment he would be on the next line talking to his "Dada", Daddy. He was adept in calling both his parents on their separate mobile phones. All this while he sobbed, promising that he would be a good boy, even as he wept, huge drops of tears that dropped from his eyes, rolled down his cheeks and then splashed on the screen of the phone. It really wrung my heart! Strangely enough, boys can be so vulnerable and definitely closer to their mothers than their fathers. The mother on the phone cajoled him soothed him most calmly, she told him she had to cook dinner and listening to her voice and her image on the screen. He seemed calmer when talking to his mother than to his father!
Perhaps the greatest cause for concern was that the little boy was fully engrossed in a virtual world where he could see his parents, hear them and respond emotionally to them. Here was a little child, cut off from the rest of the world ensconced in his own virtual world, weeping and sobbing, least affected by the presence of others! Internet-enabled gadgets have created a situation where the users are capsulated, insulated and cut off from the real world even when they are very much in the real world. I have seen how children playing PubG, sitting in a corner might suddenly should out to their online mates loudly to run, fire, or board a bus without realising that they might have been heard by others.
Perhaps the greatest cause for concern was that the little boy was fully engrossed in a virtual world where he could see his parents, hear them and respond emotionally to them. Here was a little child, cut off from the rest of the world ensconced in his own virtual world, weeping and sobbing, least affected by the presence of others! Internet-enabled gadgets have created a situation where the users are capsulated, insulated and cut off from the real world even when they are very much in the real world. I have seen how children playing PubG, sitting in a corner might suddenly should out to their online mates loudly to run, fire, or board a bus without realising that they might have been heard by others.
It is a strange world indeed, that gaming and live-streaming have created. It is addictive, engrossing, and strangely unsettling for others to hear instructions being shouted sometimes, if not often, with complete disregard to others in the vicinity. A few years back, this glimpse of the virtual world thanks to the cell-phone was brought about when we saw men and women talking loudly on the road, gesticulating, exhorting, pleading and sometimes shouting instructions seemingly into the air. We often thought that people who talked to themselves or the air were raving crazy, hallucinating, delusional, doped guys! But then, ... on looking closely we realised that this rather strange act on the roads was thanks to the ease of communication brought about by the glorious hands-free earphones. These earphones were initially tethered to the mobile by their cords but then even these went away, replaced by wires-free, blue-tooth earphones that were perched, rather precariously on top of the ears. The antiques were to become more vigorous with each advancement in technology!
In a world of virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence, we are fast losing touch with reality as it really is! Imagine having to look at the world through the eyes of Artificial Intelligence which decides which colour tones to mute and which ones to highlight. The images that you see on the screen of a DSLR Camera is an electronic image, a re-created image of what has been received from the objective lens. The real image can be seen from the view-finder. It is for this reason that the image[s] that the little boy was seeing on the display screen of his mobile phone was a synthesised virtual image of his mother or his father. The same can be said about the voice of both the parents. We all know that anything that is synthesised out of the real world is virtual and thus definitely an electronic synthesised version of the real world.
The unfortunate fact is that nothing can replace the experiences of the real world, not even virtual reality because no machine can re-create the world as it is and depending on machines is equivalent to accepting an ersatz world rather than the real one! Imagine how that little boy at the Dentists would have reacted if he had been played back a video of his parents instead of a live stream! He wouldn't have been able to make out the difference, and that is what virtual reality does to you! The increasing dependence on smartphones, tablets and laptops has led to a growing disconnect with the real world. The dependence on a synthetic version of the real world has resulted in a warped perception of reality.
Our dependence on technology has affected us like never before. It is a matter of concern today that this has become a vicious cycle from which there is no escape! Sometimes one wonders if this dependence might not be intentional! As a result of our dependence on technology for almost everything, we have become disconnected from reality. We are at a further remove from the real thing when we send birthday gifs and memes from our mobile phones than when we actually talk to our dear ones to wish them a Happy Birthday. A matter of concern is that this dependence on technology and a virtual world created thereby is making us less authentic, more artificial and insensitive to the finer human emotions. We have lost the ability to express our love and affection in words when face to face with our family members, relatives and friends. One wonders if we are headed towards an Orwellian world or even a Huxleyian world where everyone is forced to conform to fixed patterns. It is like forcing square pegs to fit into round holes or even vice-versa! The almost infinite variations in the genes of each human being have resulted in the uniqueness of each individual. Even identical twins are not exact copies of each other. Even clones might have difference brought up by their experiences. It is for this reason that it is important for each individual to experience the world as it is, not a world interpreted and perceived by machine intelligence.
We are all aware of the psychological impact of virtual games like Wolfenstein and Mortal Kombat that altered the mental health of those who were addicted to them. Virtual games like Pokemon Go and PubG have come under a lot of criticism by educationists counsellors and parents. Children who were playing Pokemon Go would often cross streets and roads without being aware of cars rushing up and down. Children and even adults playing PubG are known to shout out loud commands to their online cohorts, exhorting them to shoot, escape or help them after they've been hit! One might wonder if these virtual games might not lead to aggression and emotional instability in people who are exposed to them in excess!
In a world of virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence, we are fast losing touch with reality as it really is! Imagine having to look at the world through the eyes of Artificial Intelligence which decides which colour tones to mute and which ones to highlight. The images that you see on the screen of a DSLR Camera is an electronic image, a re-created image of what has been received from the objective lens. The real image can be seen from the view-finder. It is for this reason that the image[s] that the little boy was seeing on the display screen of his mobile phone was a synthesised virtual image of his mother or his father. The same can be said about the voice of both the parents. We all know that anything that is synthesised out of the real world is virtual and thus definitely an electronic synthesised version of the real world.
The unfortunate fact is that nothing can replace the experiences of the real world, not even virtual reality because no machine can re-create the world as it is and depending on machines is equivalent to accepting an ersatz world rather than the real one! Imagine how that little boy at the Dentists would have reacted if he had been played back a video of his parents instead of a live stream! He wouldn't have been able to make out the difference, and that is what virtual reality does to you! The increasing dependence on smartphones, tablets and laptops has led to a growing disconnect with the real world. The dependence on a synthetic version of the real world has resulted in a warped perception of reality.
Our dependence on technology has affected us like never before. It is a matter of concern today that this has become a vicious cycle from which there is no escape! Sometimes one wonders if this dependence might not be intentional! As a result of our dependence on technology for almost everything, we have become disconnected from reality. We are at a further remove from the real thing when we send birthday gifs and memes from our mobile phones than when we actually talk to our dear ones to wish them a Happy Birthday. A matter of concern is that this dependence on technology and a virtual world created thereby is making us less authentic, more artificial and insensitive to the finer human emotions. We have lost the ability to express our love and affection in words when face to face with our family members, relatives and friends. One wonders if we are headed towards an Orwellian world or even a Huxleyian world where everyone is forced to conform to fixed patterns. It is like forcing square pegs to fit into round holes or even vice-versa! The almost infinite variations in the genes of each human being have resulted in the uniqueness of each individual. Even identical twins are not exact copies of each other. Even clones might have difference brought up by their experiences. It is for this reason that it is important for each individual to experience the world as it is, not a world interpreted and perceived by machine intelligence.
We are all aware of the psychological impact of virtual games like Wolfenstein and Mortal Kombat that altered the mental health of those who were addicted to them. Virtual games like Pokemon Go and PubG have come under a lot of criticism by educationists counsellors and parents. Children who were playing Pokemon Go would often cross streets and roads without being aware of cars rushing up and down. Children and even adults playing PubG are known to shout out loud commands to their online cohorts, exhorting them to shoot, escape or help them after they've been hit! One might wonder if these virtual games might not lead to aggression and emotional instability in people who are exposed to them in excess!
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