# The Virtual



## ThatOtherGuy (Apr 13, 2010)

Normally you do not go onto websites about plastic space men to read essays about thought, but I would like to share this essay I had to write for class. Not because it got an A on it, but because I personally feel like it is a great reflection of our society and ways of thought right now. This essay is loosely based off the movie Waking Life and some of the other readings in my composition class.


*The Virtual*

The pursuit of happiness is a seemingly never-ending quest for mankind. Every day we look around ourselves and see what we can do to cheer ourselves up or take us to another high. But yet this subliminal desire for the better has been an almost fruitless quest in our modern world. Everywhere we turn we witness the rules that we have built stopping us from achieving our personal desires. Even if we accomplish the material goals of tomorrow, we still feel unfulfilled, still yearning for something that truly has merit to our happiness. 

This is reality. This is the constrained world we live in, in which we fight each other for the better through social and physical means. This is the set world in which we are powerless against the set laws of Mother Nature and Father Time. This is the world in which we must play by the rules which have been set before us, regardless if they are fair or not. But even with that realization and truth before us, we still continue to try to find the perfect form of joy in which is unobtainable by this reality. But that’s the golden catch right there: it’s fruitless to find the perfect joy in this reality. 

Since the day that mankind realized that he could achieve only so much in a constrained world he began to build the alternate reality known as the Virtual, either through dreams or simulation. This realm that we are building is one free from the laws that we have created, free from the laws of nature and science, and free from the jealousy from others. It is a universe in which is created according to the unattainable desires that we lust for. A selfish universe one can claim, but nevertheless it is an Elysium in the eyes of the beholder. In short, the Virtual is the universe according to our desires and not by others.

But why should we try to build such an unattainable and intangible universe? Why not simple try to cultivate the society of today in a better place? The simple answer is that even though we desire it, we simply cannot pull ourselves together for it. It is easier to escape into the Virtual rather than mold the minds of others into something they may not desire. It is easier to flee into the Virtual than to fight the rules of man. It is simply easier to escape into the fantasy of one’s self rather than change the monoliths of old. And who can argue against the idea and dream of living in a world of ultimate pleasure and gratification? 

Besides the benefits of a universe of our creation, the Virtual world is also a personal world. The job you could never get in the Real is simply obtainable at your command in the Virtual. The perfect woman or man is easily yours in the Virtual. Anything that you desire and long for is possible in the Virtual. It is the realm of you.

While such an idea and dream has existed as long as we have, it is of today in which we are getting closer to the Virtual. Through the works of technology and creativity we are getting closer to living through the realm of our possibility that was once only somewhat achievable in our dreams. The Internet, video games, movies, and all matters of digital media have slowly been taking us out of the constraining Real and placing us into the Virtual. But while this movement of desire may be that of great transition and joy to the individual, is not without concern or opposition.

Though the commoner may see this as sort of a dream come true, the culture of society sees it as an abomination. To abandon the Real for the Virtual seems to be a sacrifice of what is to be human in the eyes of the conglomerate society and our reflected history. How can we leave the Real, the only true world in which mankind achieves anything, for something that is fake and intangible, only existing in the minds of men and in the machine? How can we forsake the mission of truth and experience for a world in which truth if falsely created under our own desire? How can we forsake our humanity for a fantasy? The only answer to these demanding questions is like I said so many times before: the desire and the personal.

But even with the opposition and consequences of leaving the Real for a dream, the Virtual remains to be an irresistible quest for us to ignore. To some this journey into the land of artificial heaven may be seen as the ultimate destiny and salvation for man, but to others with greater ties to the Real, its appears to be a damnation of a new level. But with the increasing dissatisfaction of the Rea and the development of technology to achieve the complete access of the Virtual, it won’t be long until the Real is nothing more than the dream itself.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

An interesting work; it certainly addresses the prevalence of Second Life and such.

However, I feel it is too focussed on material possessions; the Virtual you describe is a source of unreal representations of things we cannot have in the Real. Therefore, as there are non-material joys to be had, for example, from overcoming obstacles and from community, that can occur as easily in the Real as the Virtual I do not accept your conclusion that the Real will atrophy.


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## ThatOtherGuy (Apr 13, 2010)

Dave T Hobbit said:


> An interesting work; it certainly addresses the prevalence of Second Life and such.
> 
> However, I feel it is too focussed on material possessions; the Virtual you describe is a source of unreal representations of things we cannot have in the Real. Therefore, as there are non-material joys to be had, for example, from overcoming obstacles and from community, that can occur as easily in the Real as the Virtual


I understand what you are getting at, its just that to the majority the satisfactions of accomplishing the desirable in the Virtual is so much easier than the Real.



> I do not accept your conclusion that the Real will atrophy.


I don't really think so either, but anyone can argue with the other way around. I picked that because not only was my essay going in that direction, but it also seemed to be a little more interesting than some herp derp school essay ending.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

ThatOtherGuy said:


> ...to the majority the satisfactions of accomplishing the desirable in the Virtual is so much easier than the Real.


The lack of challenge is why I feel the Real will never be overcome; I can beat any game by turning the difficulty down, but will always know it is easy because I made it that way. Reality is more pleasing because my successes are overcoming obstacles beyond my control.

Of course, not everyone thinks about things as much as I do, so there are probably a significant number of people who do not see the correlation between lowering the difficulty and lack of satisfaction.


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