Life in the virtual world. Why won't anything change? Virtual life
Humanity today has gone so deep into high technology and virtual reality that the first assumptions appeared (not from ordinary people, but from famous physicists and cosmologists) that our Universe is not a reality, but just a giant simulation of reality. Should we seriously think about this, or should we take such messages as another plot of a science fiction film?
You are real? What about me?
Once upon a time, these were questions of a purely philosophical nature. Scientists were just trying to figure out how the world works. But now the requests from inquisitive minds have gone to a different plane. Whole line physicists, cosmologists and technologists console themselves with the idea that we all live inside a giant computer model, being nothing more than part of a matrix. It turns out that we exist in virtual world which we mistakenly believe to be real.
Our instincts, of course, rebel. This is all too real to be a simulation. The weight of the cup in my hand, the aroma of the coffee, the sounds around me - how can such a wealth of experience be faked?
But at the same time, there is extraordinary progress in the field of computer science and information technologies over the past few decades. Computers have given us games of supernatural realism, with autonomous characters that react to our actions. And we involuntarily plunge into virtual reality - a kind of simulator with great persuasive power.
This is enough to make a person paranoid. 
Life is like a movie
The idea of the virtual world as a human habitat was brought to us with unprecedented clarity by the Hollywood blockbuster The Matrix. In this story, people are so locked into the virtual world that they perceive it as reality. The sci-fi nightmare - the prospect of being trapped in a universe born in our minds - can be traced further, for example, in David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983) and Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985).
All these anti-utopias gave rise to a number of questions: what is true here, and what is fiction? Do we live in a delusion, or is delusion a virtual Universe, the idea of which is being imposed by the paranoid of science? 
In June 2016, high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said the odds were "billion to one" against us living in "basic reality".
Guru follows him artificial intelligence Ray Kurzweil suggested that "maybe our entire universe is a science experiment by some young high school student from another universe."
By the way, some physicists are ready to consider such a possibility. In April 2016, the issue was discussed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Proof of?
Adherents of the idea of the virtual universe give at least two arguments in favor of the fact that we cannot live in the real world. So, cosmologist Alan Guth suggests that our universe may be real, but so far something like a laboratory experiment. The idea is that it was created by some kind of superintelligence, like how biologists grow colonies of microorganisms.
In principle, there is nothing that excludes the possibility of "manufacturing" the universe with an artificial Big Bang, says Gut. At the same time, the Universe in which the new one was born was not destroyed. A new "bubble" of space-time was simply created, which could be pinched off the mother universe and lose contact with it. This scenario could have some variations. For example, the universe could have been born in some equivalent of a test tube. 
However, there is a second scenario that can nullify all our ideas about reality.
It lies in the fact that we are completely simulated creatures. We may be nothing more than strings of information being manipulated by a giant computer program, like characters in a video game. Even our brains mimic and respond to simulated sensory inputs.
From this point of view, there is no "flight from" matrix. This is where we live and this is our only chance to "live" at all.
But why believe in such a possibility?
The argument is quite simple: we have already done the simulation. We carry out computer simulation not only in games, but also in scientific research. Scientists try to model aspects of the world on different levels- from subatomic to entire societies or galaxies.
For example, computer simulation of animals can tell how they develop, what forms of behavior they have. Other simulations help us understand how planets, stars, and galaxies form. 
We can also mimic human society with rather simple "agents" who make choices according to certain rules. This gives us an understanding of how people and companies collaborate, how cities develop, how rules work. traffic and economics, and much more.
These models are becoming more and more complex. Who's to say that we can't create virtual beings that show signs of consciousness? Advances in the understanding of brain function, as well as extensive quantum computing, make this prospect more and more likely.
If we ever reach this level, we will have a huge number of models working for us. There will be many more of them than the inhabitants of the "real" world around us.
And why can't it be assumed that some other intelligence in the universe has already reached this point?
The idea of a multiverse
No one denies the existence of many universes formed in the same way of the Big Bang. However, parallel universes are a rather speculative idea, suggesting that our universe is just a model whose parameters have been fine-tuned to give interesting results such as stars, galaxies, and people.
And so we got to the heart of the matter. If reality is just information, then we can't be "real" either, information is all we can be. And is there any difference whether this information was programmed by nature or a super-intelligent creator? Apparently, in any case, our authors can, in principle, interfere with the simulation results or even "turn off" the process. How should we treat this?
Let's get back to our reality
Of course, we like the joke of the cosmologist Kurzweil about that brilliant teenager from another universe who programmed our world. Yes, and most adherents of the idea of virtual reality proceed from the fact that now is the 21st century, we are doing computer games, and it's not a fact that someone doesn't make super beings.
There is no doubt that many proponents of "universal modeling" are avid fans of sci-fi films. But we know deep down that the concept of reality is what we experience, not some hypothetical world. 
as old as the world
Today is the age of high technology. However, philosophers have wrestled with questions of reality and unreality for centuries.
Plato wondered: what if what we perceive as reality are just shadows projected onto the walls of a cave? Immanuel Kant argued that the world around can be some kind of “thing in itself”, which underlies the appearances we perceive. Rene Descartes his famous phrase"I think, therefore I am" proved that the ability to think is the only meaningful criterion of existence that we can attest to.
The concept of a "modeled world" takes this ancient philosophical idea as its basis. There is no harm in the latest technologies and hypotheses. Like many philosophical puzzles, they encourage us to reconsider our assumptions and prejudices.
But while no one can prove that we exist only virtually, no latest ideas do not change our view of reality to a great extent.
In the early 1700s, the philosopher George Berkeley argued that the world was just an illusion. In response to this, the English writer Samuel Johnson exclaimed: "I refute it like this!" and kicked a stone.
The real world is represented by the material component in human life. Yes, the man himself 
first of all, it is material, because it is born only with the needs of the body. Although this statement can be doubted, because. emotional experiences - an invisible virtual entity, inherent in the baby.
Virtual life is the possibility of wireless contact, it is the issuance of one's opinion, one's thoughts, one's experiences, one's dreams into the boundless space.
Now the virtual world is associated mainly with activities on the Internet. But the inner morality of a person, and his mental and emotional life, also have a virtual essence.
It is from this varying degree - the inharmoniousness of development - that the skew of the interests of a person and his behavior begins.
They evoke sympathy for both.
Virtual life on the Internet and filled the funnel of emptiness, for those people who live a rich mental and 
emotional life, because the overcrowding of their consciousness requires a way out. Understanding is required both for those people who have conceived a business project, and for the humanities - people of art and philosophy, and people involved in science, and people who have fallen into a psychological hitch - everyone who has left the psychological comfort zone of their own or not of their own free will.
Virtual communication even increased sensitivity nervous system person. Many can feel the energy of a virtual interlocutor. And this is also a significant step in the development of the person himself.
The Internet absorbed all thoughts, feelings, spiritual impulses, scattered them around the planet and helped to establish new connections, acquaintances, business contacts, and then set in motion the material basis of a person’s life - his movement, the movement of financial flows, trade parties, etc. significant, versatile and numerous. This indicates how long and strong the grip of the real world was, where not much attention was paid to the virtual invisible life of a person. This suggests that the possibilities of a person in terms of self-realization have now grown significantly.
Yes, it is impossible to say what is primary - matter or consciousness. They are so interconnected.
Of course, virtuality - feelings, for example, are also inherent in a plant, and even more so in an animal. But, even if a person descended from a monkey, then he still must develop in the direction of the priority invisible life of the mind and heart.
In general, life, both in the real and in the virtual world, is exciting, endless in knowledge and full of miracles. Future discoveries of man will still give us amazing opportunities and joys of life. You should definitely take part in them!
Check out a selection of interesting articles on the topic, as well as to deepen your question.
What do you think about this topic?
What statements do you find controversial?
Why is communication between people gradually turning from real to virtual? Communication using a computer is much easier. The virtual world and communication on the Internet has become so popular that many people sometimes forget about real communication. A real meeting puts people in a certain framework, obliges them to direct emotional contact, and the Network is always at hand.
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Photo gallery: Virtual world and communication on the Internet
Press a couple of keys - and you are already in the center of communication. If you want to confirm your importance, you open a page in Odnoklassniki, see how many people have visited it, and make sure that you are in demand. In addition, just sitting and working (if the profession is related to a computer) is boring, and in order to structure time, people go to the virtual world and communicate on the Internet, where it is always safe, there are no obligations, you can imagine yourself as anyone, fool others, and even get an emotional drive from it.
What are the pitfalls of the Internet?
The World Wide Web of the virtual world and communication on the Internet is addictive and almost addictive to its users. People have an obsessive desire to enter the Internet, but once in it, a person does not find the strength to leave web pages. There are two main forms of the virtual world and communication on the Internet: chat addiction - from communication in chat rooms, on forums, teleconferences, in email mode. And web addiction - from new doses of information (virtual surfing on sites, portals, etc.). And yet, the majority of Internet addicts are hooked on services related to communication. According to statistics, the most attractive characteristics of such contacts are anonymity (86%), accessibility (63%), security (58%) and ease of use (37%). Such a network is needed to receive social support, sexual satisfaction, the possibility of creating a virtual hero (creating a new self).
What is the essence of information dependence?
It is also called web addiction. Usually, people who are related by type of activity to the processing and search for information fall ill with it (journalists are the first at risk). They feel a constant lack of news, discomfort from the realization that at this moment something is happening somewhere, but they are not aware. The understanding that it is impossible to cover everything disappears. Intelligence has no limit: after one thought comes another, a third... To stop in time, you need to have in the middle the so-called cumulative sting - an alloy of willpower, spirit and purpose. It is formed in any activity. This is the ability to gather right moment, concentrate and direct all forces to the implementation of a certain task. Information sprays attention, the sense of time is lost, chewing gum is thrown to the brain, which it mechanically chews. So that information does not eventually destroy consciousness, a mosaic of perception is necessary. I read a certain thought, was inspired by it and implemented it. You should not process all thoughts in a row, but only those that you liked. And, if possible, put them into practice, and not just scroll through your head.
A person needs to be assessed from the outside, getting confirmation of whether he is following the right path in life, comparing himself with others. In the social network, the user starts his personal page - a beautiful picture - self-presentation. Children, husbands, rest are paraded, wishes, congratulations, poems are written to each other, assessments are collected, evidence of their beauty and happy life. Thus, the need for confirmation of one's own significance is satisfied. However, communication in in social networks- symbolic. Few people respond to the offer of a real meeting, and if the meeting does take place, it often turns out to be not as bright and beautiful as in the virtual world.
How is online communication different from the real one?
What are the signs of internet addiction?
Most eloquent: obsessive desire to check one's email, ignoring physiological needs for the sake of virtual surfing (I forgot to eat, go to the toilet), staying on the Web much longer than the time that was originally planned (I wanted to go for half an hour, but stayed for two). Experienced computer addicts forget about their family, friends, work responsibilities. Consequences - divorce, dismissal from work, academic failure. Briefly leaving the Web, they experience a kind of "hangover" - an extremely dense stream of consciousness and a sense of anxiety, an irresistible desire to get back into the virtual world and communicate on the Internet.
What mental disorders can be provoked by the virtual world and communication on the Internet?
An adult person seems to be likened to a seven-year-old child who wants to get what he wants right now. Another popular mental disorder is Munchausen's syndrome. It is based on the simulation of illness in order to attract attention and sympathy. Since no one will demand a medical card from you on the Internet, playing sick is easy.
Who is most at risk of becoming a computer addict?
How does the virtual world affect children's health and psyche?
A child up to 7-10 years old should develop physically - in the game, movement. After a ten-year milestone, the body's forces are concentrated on the development of metabolism, the heart, lungs, and other important organs. And only after 14 years the acceptance shifts to spirituality. Small children chained to a monitor are static. Instead of the physical progress expected at this age, there is an intellectual load - as a result, modern children grow old early. At 13-14 years old, vascular sclerosis, atherosclerosis and early cancers already appear today. At ten years old, a child can speak three languages and the basics of computer programming, but does not pass the banal test for physical development: exactly walk one floorboard and hit the ball on target.
The virtual world and communication on the Internet is credited with a lot of merit as a means of learning and broadening one's horizons. Perhaps, with the right dosage, it will help raise children with superpowers?
Parents are touched by watching how their three-year-old child manages a laptop. In fact, all these skills are formed at a superficial level and will not be useful in adulthood. It is easier for adults to put a child at a computer and occupy it for a while than to form other values in it. The idea that the computer develops and is necessary for the school is nothing more than self-justification.
USA experimented.: children from the age of 5 were taught externally, and by the age of 12 they completed a full course of secondary education. Their lives have been followed for many years. It turned out that none of them had a fate: they were intellectually brilliant, but the strong-willed and emotional components were absent. They didn't know who they were or what they wanted. After all, talent is 99% work and the ability to organize oneself, and only 1% depends on abilities.
Is it possible to derive rules for safe behavior for children at the computer?
Until the age of 10, a child lives in unity with the world; for him, the authority of his parents is absolute. After ten, children begin to separate themselves from the world around them, to wonder if everything is so good in this life, to be interested in: what is the past, what is the future. This is the age when you can join the computer. The correct dosage is no more than two hours a day: forty-five minutes at the computer, then a break for rest. You can not use the computer as a means of encouragement. It is important not to shout, not to turn off the equipment from the network, but to develop self-control in the child. Set an alarm for a certain time and put it next to it - so the young user will develop a sense of responsibility for their actions. Often, parents themselves create dependence on the computer. After all, how a young family spends their free time today: the father plays some kind of “shooter”, and the mother communicates with her friends in Odnoklassniki. What is left for the child? Also sit down at the computer.
What problems with women's health can turn into a passion for the computer, the virtual world and communication on the Internet?
Infertility and miscarriages are the companions of women chained to a monitor. Hypodynamia plus congestion in the pelvic area opens the gate to all kinds of inflammation. Often, information from the Web causes neurosis in women, especially for young mothers who are looking for all the answers to their questions on the Internet. Today, all sorts of “mom” forums are popular, where other, equally unenlightened mothers (it would be useful for some to check the state of mental health) anonymously give advice to their “colleagues”. Selected Recommendations reminiscent of dangerous experiments on their own children. Many anonymous people intimidate gullible interlocutors, putting their children in absentia terrible diagnoses. Mothers begin to wind themselves up, a mass neurosis is formed.
Popular today virtual internet consultations. Without leaving your computer, you can find out your diagnosis, get detailed description treatment and immediately order medicines in an online pharmacy. How safe are these methods of diagnosis and treatment? Today, a new type of Internet users has appeared - cyberchondriacs - they are ardent fans of the Internet, collecting expert advice about their health from almost all over the Earth. They are sure that they have terrible diseases that are nothing more than a figment of their imagination.
What criteria can be used to distinguish an Internet resource trustworthy, from dubious?
There are several signs or “stop words” that can give away an unscrupulous online medical resource. This is everything that is connected with “energy-information” - information matrices, water, aura, biofield, wave genome, astral projections, bioresonance or “diagnosis of 40 doctors in half an hour”, the removal of toxins and everything connected with them.
Today the Internet gives wide opportunities those who are looking for a second half. A lot of dating sites offer partners for every taste and color. How is the virtual search for love different from the real one?
Correspondence can be encouraging, they say, here he is - the one and only. But a meeting in real life often ends in disappointment. But on the Internet, these are just words with nothing behind them. The exchange of energies, attempts to understand oneself, others and this world - they are untenable in correspondence communication. If in life a person speaks about love with all his essence, then on the Internet it is just letters and symbols.
What gaps in life do we compensate for by going virtual?
To feel the fullness of being, a person must manifest himself in several areas of life. In creation, work - some kind of constructive activity for the benefit of others, in caring for the body, which is being improved and pays handsomely for the fact that it is healthy and taken care of. In spirituality - the personality that we acquire, the meanings we create, biographies. In communication with other people, which enriches and gives feedback: you live, you are recognized. And if we have not made this communication real, have not invested our emotions, our care in someone, we are left alone with our fear of death. Because before death, it doesn’t matter what doctoral dissertations you wrote, it’s important who will be next to you so that you don’t feel lonely.
How to get rid of virtual dependency?
Life is arranged on the energy balance "take-give". On the Internet, we give our energy to no one knows where and why. The net sucks it up like a sponge. life force we are given emotions, but not superficial, but aimed at acting. And emotions depend on the mood: "there are three of us." The mindset child needs to come together, put our emotions together, come up with some idea and get a fountain of energy to implement it. A person is able to throw himself into other areas of life, where there will be a lot of emotions, and he simply will not remember the computer. Energy is buried in real deeds, real action and real connections. And the Internet can become an assistant in their search. Use the virtual world as a tool to expand your interests in real life (get acquainted - met). Nothing can replace the luxury of communication, but not virtual, but real.
Computers until recently were a luxury that few could afford. Now a computer can be, if not all, then quite a few. The Internet has entered our lives in a powerful wave, knocking down the unprepared for the problems that it brought us. Communication, work, acquaintance, leisure and even sex on the Internet have become commonplace. Not many of the users of the World Wide Web now will be able to refuse it. On this basis, the question arises: is virtual life addictive and how dangerous is it for a person?
What is it that attracts ordinary people to virtual life? The answer is simple: the failure of a person in real life, the feeling of his worthlessness and loneliness. Creating a certain image for himself on the Internet that he would like, but for some reason could not, create in real life, a person experiences satisfaction from communication, games, blogs, sites, etc. He puts on a mask of the person he is not could become in real life. No, of course not all Internet users are like that. Few see the Internet only as a leisure activity and prefer virtual communication, real. Those who, for some reason, cannot, or are not able to "make" themselves in real life, easily do it in the virtual world. After all, for them it is much easier and more convenient. An ugly person can become handsome, a modest person who has never allowed himself to meet in real life can become macho, an old person can become young again. Subsequently, few can get out of the virtual web the way they get used to the image they created, get used to the role, find like-minded people. The Internet gives such people exactly what they want: mutual understanding, communication and even virtual love. Gradually, a person moves away from real life, where, as he believes, there is nothing that he found in virtual life. Troubles at work, in the family, addiction - this is what awaits people who have changed their real life to a virtual one.
The new generation of youth that is growing up is more exposed to the influence of the Internet due to the emergence of numerous Internet games. After all, what child, and often an adult, refuses to play? The number of people playing over the Internet is growing like mushrooms after rain. What are online games designed for? Of course, to receive income from the player, by involving the player's real funds in the game. But how to get a person to invest money in the game? There is no need to force anyone, the person himself will give money for the desire to continue the game he loves. Often these are huge amounts, reaching up to a million rubles! And sometimes investing real money in the game only exacerbates the situation. The player then simply feels sorry for quitting the game because of the funds he invested in it. Sometimes a game captures a person so much that a person does not notice the troubles that arise in him associated with it. Troubles at school, at work, in the family, feeling unwell due to constant lack of sleep. Soon a person will be more like a zombie, constantly sitting near a computer, completely.
It is worth considering, but do you need it? Will you be able to get out of the great web and overcome your virtual addiction? Will you just spend your leisure time with friends or immerse yourself in this world with your head? After all, in every person lives exactly the person you want to be. And the path of acquaintance or friendship, play or love, which is easy at first glance, can later lead you to a dead end, from which no one will help you find a way out. No wonder the world that the Internet gives us is called virtual, because it is not real, but just a decoration. Behind this scenery there is not this, every day a new, world, with its beauty and unexploredness. Or maybe it's worth deleting game accounts, chats, magazines, turn off the computer and just try to see all the beauty and uniqueness of this life? You decide.
