Constant Curiosity | #28

The Hyperstimulation Machine

🤖 The Hyperstimulation Machine

A strange future is around the corner.

Virtual reality continues to make massive improvements leading to higher immersion for a lower price.

Artificial intelligence is making mind-boggling year-over-year advances. The current state of the art can create human-like chat companions, and can also generate photo-realistic humans.

Personal vitals monitoring hardware is more prevalent than ever.

So what happens when you combine immersive VR + AI-generated photo-realistic experiences + advanced vital monitoring sensors?

The answer is: highly personalized, hyperstimulating experiences.

Imagine putting on a headset that will put you in an AI-generated world that is tuned to your exact wants and preferences? It’s hooked up to your vitals, so it can dynamically adjust the scenario by taking you on a heart-pounding, adrenaline-inducing adventure.

You’ll be able to make friends, fall in love, battle rivals, and anything else you can imagine. The author of the experience is AI, combined with real-time monitoring of your vitals.

I hypothesize that when such experiences are available (which will be within the next 10 years) a significant population will put on the headset and never want to take it off. (some people are already living full-time in VR)

It’s like a single-player version of the matrix, where you aren’t just a nobody office worker, but you are the hero of the world at the center of whatever adventure is most interesting to you.

The social rifts of the future will be between those who want to remain “plugged in” vs those who prefer good old-fashioned “base reality.”

Philosophical debates will rage about what makes an experience “real” in the first place. Some will posit that there is no way of knowing that what we currently think of as reality isn’t just another simulation.

While it’s impossible to know where exactly the future will lead, all I know is you need to be prepared for what may be the most important decision of your life: Once the hyperstimulation machine exists, will you choose to put it on?

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Thanks for reading and talk to you next time.

Best,

Isaac