I'm thinking we're at the living life vicariously through an avatar/online persona portion of that narrative, I just read that people who are suffering from loneliness have taken to Virtual dating on Animal crossing:
I think that Second Life showed it's potential, and now this has solidified it as a viable alternative to something like Tinder--which was always incredibly odd to me.
Which is so weird, because I've encountered the complete opposite; now that more people have so much free time most people want to engage in way more small talk randomly with me.
And despite what anyone tries to tell me, simulated dating is a waste of time to me; half of the thrill from interacting with potential partners is from the social cues and the innate responses/reactions you get from them when flirting and such. I'm unlikely to ever get that butterfly feeling from an emoji or heart icon emitted from an Animal crossing character. I've had my share of long distance relationships and even those are a strain on one's psyche an enough to warrant appreciating a maybe less appealing, but more readily tangible partner.
What this has also taught me is how sad loneliness becomes, especially in old age, and the things some people will do/pay for just to escape its pitfalls. Some people's relationships in my inner circle seem like the worst of all possible outcomes to me, but the alternative of living alone when your kids are grown up and out of the house must be incredibly empty if you're divorced and away from all of them and all you had was work to keep you distracted from it all. I need to learn from their lessons for what lies ahead and apply it to my own Life.
But personally, this is making me miss my analog Life even more; I want to go outdoors in Nature and go for an aimless stroll, or freely sunbathe while I surf at the beach and then go to restaurants and clubs at night and meet more new people. I just had my first experience with an online meetup, aside from the novelty of talking to people in voice with strangers rather than text on telegram chat groups, it had no real appeal to me and I'm unlikely to wake up so early for it next time.
Robots are for replacing the need for Human drudgery into more time for leisure, passion projects and hobbies for us, not supplanting Life itself. So if they can do that form of 'take over' than I'm all for it and it cannot come soon enough. I just hope we have the good sense as a species to adapt to that transition with sensible infrastructure in place to support it.
https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/15/21220911/animal-crossing-d...
I think that Second Life showed it's potential, and now this has solidified it as a viable alternative to something like Tinder--which was always incredibly odd to me.
Which is so weird, because I've encountered the complete opposite; now that more people have so much free time most people want to engage in way more small talk randomly with me.
And despite what anyone tries to tell me, simulated dating is a waste of time to me; half of the thrill from interacting with potential partners is from the social cues and the innate responses/reactions you get from them when flirting and such. I'm unlikely to ever get that butterfly feeling from an emoji or heart icon emitted from an Animal crossing character. I've had my share of long distance relationships and even those are a strain on one's psyche an enough to warrant appreciating a maybe less appealing, but more readily tangible partner.
What this has also taught me is how sad loneliness becomes, especially in old age, and the things some people will do/pay for just to escape its pitfalls. Some people's relationships in my inner circle seem like the worst of all possible outcomes to me, but the alternative of living alone when your kids are grown up and out of the house must be incredibly empty if you're divorced and away from all of them and all you had was work to keep you distracted from it all. I need to learn from their lessons for what lies ahead and apply it to my own Life.
But personally, this is making me miss my analog Life even more; I want to go outdoors in Nature and go for an aimless stroll, or freely sunbathe while I surf at the beach and then go to restaurants and clubs at night and meet more new people. I just had my first experience with an online meetup, aside from the novelty of talking to people in voice with strangers rather than text on telegram chat groups, it had no real appeal to me and I'm unlikely to wake up so early for it next time.
Robots are for replacing the need for Human drudgery into more time for leisure, passion projects and hobbies for us, not supplanting Life itself. So if they can do that form of 'take over' than I'm all for it and it cannot come soon enough. I just hope we have the good sense as a species to adapt to that transition with sensible infrastructure in place to support it.