We already live in virtual reality—through tv, books, games, Internet, music, and dreaming.

Yikes, good question. It would be the ultimate drug, wouldn't it?... my heart says yes, my head says no. I'm gonna let 'em duke it out a bit.

There is a site online called Second Life, which is a virtual word kind of environment. I spent a fair amount of time in there, it can be quite addictive. I have found a fair number of people in there seem to have some issue in dealing with real life; Second Life gives them an opportunity to experience things from a different perspective. It's far from full immersion, but with new peripherals, it is getting closer. If it did become full immersion, I would try it out just to see what it was like.

Sounds like a holodeck. I’d get addicted to it for sure.

Depends on my responsibilities outside the world. If you would have asked me about 35 years ago, I would have said, "Hook me up!"...the challenges of real life are kinda fun...I would probably use it as an occasional video game or video phone, but that's about it. Though, imagine two people who were far apart but loved each other, but didn't need to spend every waking hour together. You could maintain a decent relationship....possibly....haha

No, but I wouldn't mind visiting it...

Great post . I think we already are living in a virtual world , except we don’t know there shouldn’t be any limitations. “Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations.” -Ramana Maharishi.

With regards to digital simulation, other than the well-known Matrix, there’s The Thirteenth Floor which tells the story of a simulation created within another sumulated world...

In ancient times, the Chinese Daoist sage Zhuangzi said beautifully:

“Once upon a time,
I dreamt I was a butterfly,
fluttering hither and thither,
to all intents and purposes a butterfly.
I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly,
unaware that I was myself.
Soon I awaked,
and there I was,
veritably myself again.
Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”

So are we sure we are awake ?

From time to time it would be interesting and perhaps fun. Full time? Never. I like the world the way it is, though I don't accept everything that is here. Sober and alert is my preferred mode of existence.

No but I am interested in augmented reality. Where electronics superimpose a virtual reality on actual reality to improve the experience.

Most common current example is the Pokémon game.

Is already here.... people living on "cough syrup" are at a constant virtual reality vegetable state without computers... they are existing in lah lah land... without moving a finger. Mind Reality!!!!

In the adverse If everything was always perfect and nothing ever failed how would you ever improve your thinking. I would think if every thing you ever did as an avatar was redundant it would become very unentertaining and humdrum.

If you watch enough Fox News, you can live ina virtual reality where the food tastes good, Mexicans and brown people are evil and America is great... again...

So nope, I’d do everything in my power to destroy these echo chambers that virtual words would necessarily become. We have proven that humanity is far from ready for it.

Is this a yes or no question or one of sometimes, somethings? I take the latter. Here is a fun, and interesting link that might speak to what most of us are thinking.

[thehumanist.com]

I prefer reality.

no

Given the current state of affairs and the fact that my actual life is in a bit of a long time lull, not only would I partake in such a place, I would more than likely never leave.

Hell yeah I'd do that. But it would be super hard coming back.

Many philosophers would suggest we might be already: [en.wikipedia.org]

We already live in a virtue reality. We’re surrounded by religious zealots, who take books of literature written by people, whom they have no idea about and put their faith fully in in without no kind of real evidence and base their whole life off of it. If that’s not living in a virtue reality then I don’t know what is. Ha ha ha! On a serious note, though, I wouldn’t mind being able to take a step away from reality simetime to enter another world of fantasy, just woundn’t want to always live there.

Anyone who's watched Sword Art Online will say NO. Ugh... I don't want to be stuck in a death game.

Outside that, I would love it. I'd spend my spare time in that world... I just hope I wouldn't get addicted.

I probably would try virtual reality. Possibly hard to return to reality. I think that it would depend on your mindset, do you prefer altered reality (drug induced or digital) instead of reality.

Yes and yes. Bring it on.

You mean like the movie, Surrogates? It would be cool, but I think many people would become addicted to it. They would never leave and their bodies would waste away. Everything in moderation,right!

I think, as postulated in the novel "The Unincorporated Man" and its sequels, that virtual reality has a possibility of becoming addictive to where people will not attend to their actual lives in the real world. It is a great danger to provide an escape from real world problems altogether. In the novels, virtual reality was outlawed because peopel would immerse themselves in it and literally starve to death because they would never leave the virtual realities, or at best neglect their health and general monetary responsibilities.

I think we need to be more focused on the real world and less focused on fantasy worlds.

Nope.