I saw Surrogates recently, which stars Bruce Willis as an FBI agent in a world where people minimise risk to themselves by living their life through an artificial being which is an idealised representation of who they want to be.
Sound familiar at all?
The whole idea seems rather far fetched, even if we are living an artificially created life through Second Life. Or is it?
A decade ago, a Spanish university conducted experiments which concentrated around the neurophilosophical theory of “body swap illusion”. It looked at how you could project your own body experiences from another being, believing that you are experiencing the same sensations as they would be.
The team recently took the study a step further and demonstrated the same theory will apply to virtual reality situations. The participants in the experiment responded as if the virtual limb was their own, and their mind had incorporated the virtual into the reality.
So it’s entirely possible that in the near future, we’ll be able to experience the sensations of the virtual world. But experience alone doesn’t mean the world can be replaced by immersive avatars. You’d need an artificial presence yourself too, and try as you may, your gorgeous avatar’s not leaving the grid anytime soon.
But the solution could well already be here – AnyBots in California are a company which produces telepresence robots. A robot which can give you eyes and ears when you’re in a remote location. It’s pretty functional, allowing you to move around, interact with objects and perform tasks (like washing up!).
The concept means you can be in two places at once with more ability to interact with your environment than through more conventional methods.
Combine the two methods I’ve looked at, and you have a functional, artificial being which you can control remotely, and experience the sensations that it experiences. Although, that robot isn’t very human looking..
Introducing the Actroid. It replicates human breathing, blinking and speaking functions, whilst looking humanoid. Uncanny Valley, maybe, but we’ve come to accept the premise of prim feet.
Combine all three technologies, and you suddenly realise that the concept of Surrogates is actually only around the corner.
And then you get into all the different types of issues that the film brings up. Drastic decreases in crime and a world of idealised-aesthetic beings. But also a complete breakdown in social skills, an awareness that the person you’re speaking to may not be who they look like they are, and.. well, pretty much all the other issues we see in daily life in Second Life.
That’s assuming we’d want to live life through an immersive avatar. Simple question – if Second Life could be real, would you want it to be?
SarahTheRed on October 11, 2009
I’d like to be able to create objects in RL as easily as we do in SL. But I’d rather have my physical body; I don’t want a virtual version. I’d rather just be able to teleport to avoid crime and danger.
Saffia Widdershins on October 11, 2009
One point you make … which I’m not sure we should take as a given.
Again and again, people point to things like Second Life causing a breakdown in social skills. But isn’t it actually, in many cases, fostering the development of new social skills – and enabling a different level of communication?
Think of, for example, the divorced Dads who play computer games with their kids several evenings a week – whereas before they would have perhaps been able to visit once a month.
I know several rl family groups in SL – in a couple of cases sisters who have found they meet up and go shopping together or who socialise more than they would do in rl, where distance separates them.
I do see social networking as evolving new forms of communication, just as, for example, the telephone did – and as the mobile phone did (e.g. the way the need for location became significant – I’m on the train – and then the evolution of txt).
And there’s a broadening of working communication – not necessarily beneficial, as we can move into the 24/7 work area.
Salvatore Otoro on October 11, 2009
I too believe that a similar type or surrogate could be around in the near future. I’m not sure if I would like this for a long term but it sure would be interesting to try out. Being able to teleport along with being invinceable and impervious to bodily harm would be a big plus. Some of the benefits will include aiding those that are disabled or have some impairment and the lessened risk of spreading communicable diseases. It would have some very nice benefits to humanity. That being said, a scoiety that were to live via avatars and remaining home would eventually be more succeptible to disease and possibly socially disfunctional.
We may be living virtual lives now, but a setting like the movie ‘Surrogates’ will bring about a whole new set of benefits and take-aways that we may not be ready to deal with yet.
Mayala Loon on October 11, 2009
creepy … as much as I love SL, it’s possibilities for communication and creativity … I wouldn’t want an ‘idealised representation’ of myself or anyone else … guess I love RL too much the way it is now … even with all it’s flaws
Tweets that mention Immersive Avatars - Metaversally Speaking.. -- Topsy.com on October 11, 2009
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Indigo Mertel. Indigo Mertel said: Immersive Avatars: if Second Life could be real, would you want it to be? via metaversally speaking http://bit.ly/ORqId #SL #SecondLife [...]
Milton Broome on October 12, 2009
Yes, bring it on. The sooner we can escape our physical bodies the better. It’s the transhuman perspective. I think control of the physical by the mental is preferential than control of the mental by the physical. The adoptation of a virtual surrogate strikes me as being a pretty healthy idea.
Vonba Elcar on October 12, 2009
People .. Open your minds more .. Less than 60 years ago people said that TV our(television) would never replace the radio (wireless) in peoples homes as a source of entertainment. SL is merely a new stepping stone on all our Journeys towards the Future.
Lizzie Lexington on October 12, 2009
Regardless of how much this concept of immersive avatars may change our concept of reality, I refuse to give up the notion that being present in the same room with another living, breathing, flawed human being is the way to go.
Emerald Wynn on November 5, 2009
I’m behind in reading these posts. Why isn’t my blogroll updating? GAH!
I just want my Second Life boobs.
And a bunch of wigs.
(This blog would be so lost without my mind-blowing intellect.)