Physical or Digital Infinities...
Is exploration as valuable as it once was? Will the new digital frontier enable us to seek out new environments - or perhaps - cradle us into something no physically further than a projection hovering a few inches from our eyes...
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how virtual reality might come with a digital handful of real-life consequences. Having access to an infinite virtual world might beat the physical world we know and love. I mean, why would we exhaust so many real-resources to discover more about our universe, when we could customize a universe all our own? This existential argument could actually take place within a generation from now. It might even be akin to today’s version - “why read a paper book when I could watch the movie?”
Human nature seems to point towards something a little grim if today is any indication of what the future holds. Our culture is exponentially product-oriented and customized. We love our apps and we binge watch everything. Augmented Pokemon pop-up on subway rides where commuters are glued to their phone screens like flies to a glowing bug-zapper.
Paradise can be found in contrast. There’s something alluring about contrast. Like a mirage in the desert, we are pulled in towards the possibility of oasis. Sometimes that contrast appears as a VR headset in your living room, a gambling mecca in the desert (Las Vegas) or a magic kingdom off the highway (Disney World).
High Tech v. High Touch
While at times it might feel as if we are careening towards an inevitable singularity-infused-apocalypse… there’s also a parallel push to better embrace our physical, natural world.
Nature School, an out-of-doors elementary school in Australia.
You might have heard the phrase “High-touch.” This movement is not about rejecting technology, but about harnessing it for the betterment of our place as humans within a larger natural ecosystem. High Touch is fueled by empathy… perhaps something that is instinctually more powerful than any digital reality we can create.
The thumbnail image is a screen grab from Blade Runner 2049... Can't wait for that movie to come out!
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@hitheryon
@voronoi | design collective @hitheryon