I have a dream: That one day, all women, men and children will live in a virtual world devoid of social connection and existential meaning, suckled by a constant stream of saccharine liquids and delectable quasi-nutrients, and preoccupied by an unending wave of sensory distractions and entertainments.
Actually, that’s more of a nightmare, and we may be about to live it. Thanks to the increasing ubiquity of virtual reality headsets and the general physical ease of daily life, it’s going to be more and more common to see people living like the guy in this photo posted on Reddit. (“So I got a glimpse of the future of this morning“)
The problem is, we all want virtual reality headsets, and we all want to eat delicious food, and we often want to sit around if we can. But will all those temptations lead to a dystopian nightmare?
The answer is ‘yes,’ according to one interpretation in this prophetic scene from Disney’s Wall-E, in which the befuddled robot sees firsthand a physically satiated but spiritually bankrupt humanity. (Hat/tip to Sploid on connecting the dots here.)
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