Tuesday, 21 August 2012

8:45 AM, July the 31st, The Future

A.

A weekend off and then it’s back to work for the both of us. We can’t just jump on a motorbike and ride out into the Highlands to explore all the sparkling lochs and ancient castles like we used to, duty calls, there are pathogens that need containing here and criminals that need detaining on the other side of the world. At least we can enjoy time together even while we’re apart with personal virtual reality kits - it’s like the 4D cinemas except without all the other people loudly chewing popcorn and pouring soda down your neck. You just load up a preset scenario or custom build one and smells, tastes and sights will start to inundate your senses. I can feel the wind tearing against my leathers, smell the exhaust fumes mixed with fresh mountain air, see the sun’s glare over a mountain high up in the distance and taste that beer we shared at our last stop. If I wanted to, I could also get electrodes that stimulate specific neurons to artificially induce some emotions but I think that this is realistic enough. There are enough people who say that this is not real happiness and people can get addicted to it and just waste away and forget about real life. Of course, the thing actually senses who uses it and how often and it automatically locks you out after an hours’ use each day. I also disagree with it not being real happiness, it is still something you feel, even if it is artificially induced... just like painkillers artificially reducing your pain, but you don’t hear people complaining about having to feel less pain.

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