{ VIRTUAL REALITY PEOPLE!!!! } ~ I just discovered the Chinese philosopher Philip Zhai ------ and hes ugggghhhhnnnnnnuuufnnnnn gooooooooooooodddd mmmmmmmmmm yaaaaaaa........ oh, woooooooooooooow....... wooooow.... OBSERVvv!!!: According to Zhai, the combination of the three technologies -- digital simulation, sensory immersion, and functional teleoperation-- in a well-coordinated manner amounts to a Re- Creation of the whole empirically perceived universe. This is not a mere metaphor of Trinity. Virtual Reality could literally replace the actual reality if we choose to live in this newly-created world. Zhai in this book provides an ontological proof based on astounding yet carefully crafted thought experiments and cogent philosophical reasoning. He leads us to realize that: 1) whatever reasons we have for justifying the materiality of the actual world will have the equal validity for justifying the materiality of the virtual world once we are immersed in it; 2) whatever reasons we have for calling perceived objects in the virtual world illusory are equally applicable for calling those in the actual world illusory; 3) whatever functions we need to perform in the actual world for our survival and prosperity, including production and procreation, can also be performed in the virtual world. The danger lies, however, in the possibility of a total reality blackout when the Reality Engine breaks down, which is comparable to a natural disaster on the cosmic level in the actual world. Zhai also provides a rigorous analysis of why strong AI as proposed by Daniel Dennett and other believers is impossible and why John Searles criticism is off the mark and also fallacious. He shows how the parallelism between the virtual and the actual world must hinge upon the unity of the human mind as the center of perception, which is the pre-condition for the spatial locality of the empirical world. Later chapters deal with the normative issue of the desirability of Virtual Reality. The discussion is based on the authors highly original concept of Humanitude developed in his previously published book. He draws on various classical philosophers and also argues with contemporary thinkers through masterful logical analyses and lively phenomenological descriptions. According to him, the only important difference between the actual and the virtual world is that we are co-creators of the latter: Gods R Us. webcitation.org/query?url=geocities/Athens/3328&date=2009-10-25+05:33:04
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 20:32:27 +0000
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