“The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.”
—Charlie Chaplin, 1916
From PBS Frontline, a documentary about growing up on line called Digital Nation. Interestingly, those groups funding virtual reality the most (if I understood) are the military (ie the taxpayer), marketers, and the government (the taxpayer).
What that all means I truly don’t know.
But if you watch the last half hour of the film, you’ll see how clearly war video games—and video games—at least appear to have been geared towards military recruiting, the use of drones from 7,500 miles away, increased detachment to so many things one might have once considered important, or human, and other truly confusing, even perverted, processes.
What can be done today with technology is truly remarkable. And there was a sense, in at least one school, that technology was helping them learn something. But I can’t say I felt much excitement, joy or hope (overall) with the technology I witnessed watching this film. Indeed, quite the opposite. But perhaps this is my nature. My brother, for example, I am sure, would have loved it—just as some of those talking about it in the film loved it.
The war stuff was too much for me. And science, as always, continues to create with little or no sense or appreciation of ahimsa, a word used by Gandhi, which means ’cause no harm’ or ’cause as little violence as possible.’ Science seems to create and evolve as if no responsibility comes with the production and discovery. Sort of like the perverse comment: “Guns don’t kill, people do.” Yes, but certain guns are specifically produced for people to kill people, and thus, they are used for just that…
And I realize technology somehow probably, simply, has to move forward as it does today, as it has forever. I am typing on a remarkable computer right now. I know, I know. And I should smile right now—okay, I’m smiling—just to not get too heavy.
Still, the film, for me, just seemed to show (again, overall) how little we as a species have actually learned about human behaviour, addiction, and the potential for being continually farmed out by bigger, more powerful, interests. Others see virtual reality as allowing people to live however they want to—a form of freedom. A different sort of addiction, of course, but one could, in theory, say the same about drugs. By the way, I have my own addiction to information-seeking/research on line. It might sound noble, but there are problems inherent—like sadness, sometimes inertness, from too much negative, distressing information. We are, after all, what we eat. And the eyes and ears also “eat.” Swallow joy, if you get the chance. Smile. Laugh. Hug! Love. Care.
It is also not a particularly revealing film in that studies on the effects of new technology cannot even keep up with the rapid-fire changes in said technology, thus leaving the studies largely obsolete. By the time the study is complete, the technology has changed. Also, the degree of indoctrination, particularly in the area of the military and war games, seemed to me severe. But the film, I think, is still very worth watching—here.
Please write back any positive thoughts, if you really have them. I am sure my luddite-leanings, genetically, leave me missing something, or missing a lot.
Good luck. God help us, and lots of love,
Pete xo
Hi Petesy, Your comments of funding virtual reality are astute. So what we see are three levels in which we become less grounded, after all it’s make believe. But all three levels encourage war not love, as if whomsoever wins the fight is the winner and successful. Success here presumably leads to ‘our’ freedom and not for the ‘bad guys’. It’s so hard to make positive comment without firstly having conversation with the protagonists. Remember schizophrenia and dementia patients live in their own world as I do! Love Dad
I think, like most technology, virtual reality and its use in gaming is neither good nor bad. Everything in moderation. Regardless, the internet and its attending technology are here to stay, so it’s a matter of how we handle it.
Children born today will never know a time that a vast amount of information wasn’t at their fingertips. What were the odds of us ever meeting without the internet? Used appropriately, blogs, some online publications, and the like can be amazing, but what’s “used appropriately” and consumer beware seems to apply here. Sites like Facebook and MySpace scare me. Consider the information you have to supply. Do folks not realize these are the mothers of all data bases, complete with cross referencing? Perhaps we also should remember that most communication via the internet denies us the dimensions of visual contact and body language in our conversations. The ubiquitous use of emoticons points to the importance of that lack.
The segments in the PBS piece about subjects feeling full after watching a generic arm and hand put candy into what would be their mouths, and the children who, after watching a virtual depiction of themselves swimming with whales, incorporated the experience into a false memory were just plain scary. Subliminal advertizing was outlawed after the Coca Cola experiments in movie theaters. Will we be as vigilant with virtual reality? And I think we can assume the government/military funding of this work is not with the intent of protecting us from it.
I was especially struck by the pro-video–game researcher who said she believed them to be as deep and rich as any novel. I can’t help but believe while the plot of a video game may be complex, nothing laid out on a screen can come close to the worlds we can create with our imaginations when we read even the worst novel.
Regarding the segment about the use of remotely controlled drones in war, and in relation to the overarching concept of violent video games desensitizing society to violence, how many people did we watch die in the footage on the drone strikes? Did we flinch?
But I still don’t think it’s hopeless. We can’t underestimate our power as examples to the children in our lives. Our children will emulate us (please see smoking, fast food, and sedentary lifestyles), so we still have a chance to set a positive example with these new technologies. Take a child you know for a hike and enjoy some real reality together.
Love to you and those you love,
Karen