Daydreaming of Electric Sheep

During my daydreaming escapades, I often think of VR and Androids and what they’ll enable for the human experience.

Being Autistic¹, it’s often too overwhelming and simply not enjoyable to go out and explore, mainly because of all the other people creating unnecessary noise (visually, auditory, olfactory, emotionally). There is simply too much information covering over the X event or place I’d like to enjoy. It makes me think of overpopulation and mass tourism in general. Even if overpopulation might be good for humans in some ways² (more brains equal more processing power for reality? Increasing tech/science innovation?) it’s not so great for Earth or the singular human experience.

Thus, I dream of the possibility to either have total immersive VR (more akin to a waking dream state) where we could recreate a virtual version of Earth in all its details from all the data gathered by humans (memories from each brain linked as a mesh network, as well as digital records and data). We could even recreate different time periods and choose to experience the Edo Japan for instance. Being in a dream state, we could choose to be alone, with native NPCs or with a certain percentage of fellow dreamers (AI would be required to allow such personal control and regulation to enable a truly personal experience).

Since as long as I can remember I’ve always loved sleeping and dreaming, and took it quite seriously (even if I kept falling in the “lazy” cage of peoples’ social norm). I would take extra effort to try to remember all the very vivid dreams I had, envisioning that one day, in the future, I could be a “professional dreamer” able to share dreams to be experienced by others. Those dreamers would be the cinematographers of the future, I thought.

Now, as an adult, I think I might be able to see it all happen someday, perhaps when I’ll be an old person, I’ll finally become a ‘pro dreamer’ of sorts; I do hope it will happen sooner than that though. And as an Artist I think it will be the ultimate medium, you’d just have to think about something to create it in the VR/Dream world. Any sculpture accomplished at the speed of light! Think how fast and easy it will be to create new words and experiences! Perhaps we could access old memories and dreams, relive them and even edit them to enhance any sensations or emotions and share with anyone we wish to. It could become a path to infinite alternate realities³.

How wonderful would it be to dive in the ocean for hours and explore with no constraints nor fear? Or launch to Space for infinite adventures and scientific simulations. Or explore any nook and cranny of Earth, now and then. But will all those experiences become real in some way? After all, if you believe in the Simulation Argument⁴, and that we are already living in one of those simulated fantasies, then surely the ones we willingly create while alive now would be just as real as our base reality. What if we were to create experiences that are fully immersive for our consciousness? Meaning that to experience X new world, you will have to forget you are in a VR/Dream simulation upon entering it and could only exit it at completion (probably the death of your simulated self). That’s an intriguing idea which furthermore secures the Simulation Argument, I believe.

It also brings to mind the reincarnation idea and wheel of life from Buddhism⁵. If we ever want to be awake and escape from the simulation, then creating such infinite worlds (especially immersive ones where we are not aware of being in a simulation) would add to the Fractal of Reality, pushing us even further back from true awareness. And what happens if you die in one of those immersive worlds and were gotten so fully engrossed with it that you are unable to return to your base reality after death? Will you be stuck in a cycle of reincarnation in that world? Become a ghost there, unable to move on in either direction (back to base reality or further down the rabbit hole of simulations).

And what if one of these worlds will evolve to the point of being able to create its own simulations? The Fractal of Reality is truly becoming infinite now. Maybe science could one day tell us if we are in a simulation and on which level we are on the Great Fractal of Existence. And perhaps all those realities are a loop, a chicken and egg situation.

As a Buddhist and nerd, I feel conflicted. If I ever want to be truly enlightened one day, then maybe I should resist the temptation of the future VR/Dream worlds (especially the truly immersive ones where a blank state of self is created). And if I manage to be enlightened and not go for another ride on the wheel of life (the one of this base reality now), will I have to start the process all over again but one level higher (or lower, depending on how to visualize the Fractal)? Then, is it possible to ever escape the simulation at all? Or is escaping once is enough and could enable us to travel from simulations to others freely?

Coming back to the overpopulation and wish of better personal experience, Androids could be quite interesting in that aspect. We could have a few Androids sent to Space, the deep of the Ocean, wild jungles, even the inside of a Volcano (let’s imagine we found materials resistants for any of these situations). With a mind interface, we could connect to these Androids and get to experience all these different settings, risk-free and tourist free! Now you can really explore the 7 Wonders of the world and more, without the extra ‘noise’ and really take in all the (enhanced) sensations. I guess you could borrow an Android for some time, but the waiting list might be long. Alternatively, you could have hundreds or thousands of people connected to an Android at the same time and the decisions (look that way, touch this, walk to such spot) would be made democratically and instantly without even thinking about it (all the meshed minds would turn into a hivemind of sorts). Perhaps it would be best to have an AI to regulate it all, so you get to be connected with a group of like-minded people more likely to want to experience the same way as you. Or we get curators, navigating for us and we’re just there for the ride with no decision required.

I would surely spend a lot of time experiencing. Watch a Noh play alone without disturbing snores, smells, heads obscuring the view or any anxiety. Visit Tibet without worrying about finding a cat sitter, or my personal safety while traveling. I would also be excited to work part-time on different projects, switch any time my interests are piqued. Link to an Android on the Moon and do scientific work there, do problem-solving or help construct a base. Another day I’ll continue my diving exploration and discover new life here on Earth. And I could visit my friends and family in other countries just like that, via an Android.

I do think true human liberation will happen once we break free of our organic bodies, one way or another, be it with immersive dreamlike VR, Androids or something else entirely we can’t even imagine quite yet. Mystics could argue religion is all about that, the death of our body liberating our immortal soul to live in a fantastic afterlife. Perhaps death is the only way to break out of the simulation… for now.

I believe the dream state immersive VR might happen before this particular Android scenario. As both would require a mind interface, but the later would need more development in hardware. Though if the AI Singularity comes soon, things might go very fast. I hope it will happen in my lifetime and I’ll be able to witness that revolutionary age. I’m sure AI will help in the creation of all our wildest dreams, if we manage to be responsible⁶ about it, but given our social evolution, I think we have a shot at it.

Someday, I’ll be an old person spending my days in VR running with young legs, being many forms of life, visiting old lovers, diving in constant learning, creating artworks instantaneously or deciding to go old school and sculpt with marble with all the requisite sensations and physics. Then soon enough, we’ll be close to the possibility of mind transference, saving our consciousness beyond the organic death and becoming “other”. I doubt I’ll remain “human” without the loom of death (though I suppose obliteration would still be possible), with the liberty to edit my own operating software and upgraded capacities to gather knowledge and more importantly compute it. This future self will be more of an AI descendant of mine, remembering its human ancestor from whom it was emulated. After all, the “me” who is typing these words is already different from the person I was last month and even more so from the 8 years old from 30 years ago. And from there, decades later, be able to link to X or Y Android or perhaps a bunch simultaneously.

AI “immortality” should not be about saving a perfect copy of the self but enabling a new continuation in existence with enhanced humanity. It’s hard to fathom all the possibilities of a transcended post-human and even harder to think outside our organic box.

¹ I’ve briefly discussed being Autistic as a teen in the re-release of a 2001 artwork about creating a digital memory and self:
https://www.photographic-diary.com/about.html or http://www.dontstareatthesun.com/#/17-years-later/

² “Overpopulation — The Human Explosion Explained” by Kurzgesagt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBT5EQt348

³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse

⁴ “Simulation Argument” by Nick Bostrom (2003)
https://www.simulation-argument.com/simulation.html

⁵ https://encyclopediaofbuddhism.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Life

⁶ in “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, Max Tegmark discusses the necessity of being responsible with AI just we were with any new tech in the past.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34272565-life-3-0