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Abstract

you might choose to go into the machine.</p><p id="64ca">Since it will feel completely real in every way, from that moment on you wouldn’t know the difference. You wouldn’t care that you weren’t having a real effect on the real world, because you wouldn’t know. For you, everything you do would be real, so that’s all that would matter to you.</p><h2 id="774e">What would be your perfect virtual life?</h2><p id="6a33">If you would choose the machine, what would your ideal virtual reality life be like?</p><ul><li>What career would you be doing?</li><li>Where would you live? In what type of house?</li><li>Who would be your neighbours?</li><li>What would your career be?</li><li>What would your intimate relationship(s) be like?</li><li>What would your friendships be like?</li><li>What hobbies would you spend time doing?</li></ul><h2 id="6e27">What would keep you in the real world?</h2><p id="e411">If you would choose to stay in the real world, why? What would keep you here? If you wanted to stay to leave a legacy of good deeds that have a lasting impact on the world, what would they be?</p><h1 id="92f5">Which would I choose?</h1><p id="be8b">I would choose the virtual reality machine.</p><p id="6341">I’m selfish and want the best life for myself. The reason I do good things in the real world is that they make me feel good. If I felt like shit or experienced nothing but agonising pain every time I did a good thing, I wouldn’t bother.</p><p id="afcb">Also, if this machine is an option for everyone, the real world doesn’t matter anymore. If anyone can have the life they want by going into the machine, the real world no longer matters. If everyone is in the machine, that effectively becomes the real world for everyone.</p><p id="6dcd">And even in the real world, we’re all living a slightly different version in our heads anyway. Nobody sees things exactly as they really are. We see things filtered through our expectations, desires, fears, prejudices. We project part of ourselves onto who we think other people are.</p><h1 id="74a4">My perfect virtual life</h1><h2 id="05b2">Where would I live? In what type of house?</h2><p id="24e0">I would like to live in a normal-sized nice house on the edge of Tutshill, Gloucestershire, England. This would be overlooking Chepstow, Wales, on the other side of the River Wye. But I would make sure the house was built on solid rock and thus unlikely to collapse into the river.</p><figure id="0d8a"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*Z3y9kg-gLQoEiV7AMnAp5A.jpeg"><figcaption>By Roy Parkhouse, CC BY-SA 2.0, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3810716">https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3810716</a></figcaption></figure><p id="b191">I would like that location because it would still be in England, where the road signs don’t have to be twice as big to fit both languages on them. But I would be right next to Wales so I could easily go across the border to have adventures around the mountains.</p><h2 id="17d6">Who would be my neighbours?</h2><p id="7c0c">Friendly people who are happy to stop and chat, but who don’t interfere too much.</p><h2 id="39e0">What would my career be?</h2><p id="80c8">Earning 6 figures writing for Medium about whatever I want to write about. I would like to have the freedom to be able to go off on random adventures and then write about them. I would like to write about fascinating

Options

topics like this one. And I would also like to write silly stories that make me almost fall off my chair laughing.</p><h2 id="5085">What would my intimate relationship(s) be like?</h2><p id="b773">Someone low-maintenance who has their own house in another nearby village. They wouldn’t need to be around me 24/7, but they would stay over a few times a week. Sometimes I would paint their face in bright colours. I’m not sure why.</p><h2 id="244f">What would my friendships be like?</h2><p id="832e">The type of deep, reflective people with whom I could have 4-hour conversations and not notice the time. But with a daft sense of humour too. But as with the romantic relationship, they wouldn’t need to be in contact with me all the time.</p><h2 id="34d7">What hobbies would I spend time doing?</h2><p id="e57b">Getting lost in the woods. Visiting strange abandoned old buildings. Mountain biking. Going around unusual art galleries. Watching unusual films in interesting independent arthouse cinemas.</p><h1 id="a45a">What can we learn from this?</h1><p id="89be">This is an interesting thought experiment because it causes you to think about life. A fantasy feels more potent if it’s actually achievable. And by thinking about what your realistic ideal fantasy would be like, you are actually thinking about your ideal real life.</p><p id="e360">If your fantasy is possible, could it happen for real? Are there big steps you need to take, or barriers you need to overcome? Is there a plan you can form that would get you there?</p><p id="7f53">But if you would choose not to enter the virtual reality machine, there must be things in your real life that are keeping you here. If so, how can you maximise those? If you feel you have a real purpose to fulfil here, what steps can you take to maximise your chances of fulfilling it?</p><h2 id="f2a9">More from me…</h2><ul><li><a href="https://readmedium.com/that-time-in-1518-when-the-people-of-strasbourg-couldnt-stop-dancing-6eac727f4c92">That Time in 1518 When the People of Strasbourg Couldn’t Stop Dancing</a></li><li><a href="https://readmedium.com/the-planned-city-in-california-that-was-an-almost-total-failure-d66150514fe6">The Planned City in California That Was an Almost Total Failure</a></li><li><a href="https://readmedium.com/why-has-this-abandoned-pennsylvania-ghost-town-been-on-fire-since-1962-5a8c6f7a955d">Why Has This Abandoned Pennsylvania Ghost Town Been On Fire Since 1962?</a></li><li><a href="https://edward-john.medium.com/top-10-strangest-deaths-that-have-happened-since-the-year-2000-a452fbc9c9f4">Top 10 Strangest Deaths That Have Happened Since the Year 2000</a></li><li><a href="https://edward-john.medium.com/membership">Join Medium to Read Unlimited Articles or Earn Money From Your Own Articles</a></li></ul><div id="3974" class="link-block"> <a href="https://medium.com/alternative-perspectives"> <div> <div> <h2>Alternative Perspectives</h2> <div><h3>No niche — just a blend of compelling stories and authentic personalities, each one written from a unique point of view</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*pGTBcQE87YaV7aJouWjXTg.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Thought Experiment

Would You Use a Virtual Reality Machine That Gave You Your Perfect Life?

Real life or perfection: which is the better choice?

Imagine being able to step into a machine and experience your perfect life.

Would you choose that over living a real life? Come with me on a deep dive into this fascinating idea…

The perfect virtual reality machine

So, this virtual reality machine would replicate life perfectly. While in the machine, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish it from normal life. It would seem every bit as real. All the tastes, smells, sights, sounds, physical and emotional sensations would be just as real to you.

The question is, would you choose that over normal life? But before you answer, let’s flesh out the details.

Here are the rules

It costs no money to use the machine, and there are enough machines for everyone.

Once in the machine, you would stay in it for the rest of your life.

You would instantly forget you had entered the machine. From that moment on, for you, it would be your life.

Although I’ve called it a “perfect virtual reality machine”, it would remain true to normal life’s rules. Even though I describe it as giving you your “perfect life”, it would still need to be realistic. You wouldn’t just experience one continuous orgasm while laughing. And you wouldn’t be able to fly or be invisible.

You would have a normal life, but your perfect version of a normal life. So, you would still have to have a career or earn money in some way. But that would be whatever your dream career would be. Want to be a top football player or the lead guitarist in a stadium-filling rock band? That would be your job while in the machine.

For the people you leave behind in the real world, you would effectively be dead. They would never be able to meet you again in the real world. But they could go into the machine themselves and be with you in the fantasy world.

Anybody you meet in the fantasy world would not be a real person, but they would seem real to you. Anyone who goes into the machine will experience their own unique fantasy. They would experience you as they want you to be, and vice versa. So, everyone would be interacting with fake, computer-generated people, but experiencing them as if they were real.

If you die during the virtual reality life, you die for real.

Which would you choose?

Would you rather stay in this world, knowing that it’s actually real?

By staying here, you would be interacting with real people and having a real effect on the world. You might want to stay here and leave a legacy of good work that you have done for the world.

Or, you might choose to go into the machine.

Since it will feel completely real in every way, from that moment on you wouldn’t know the difference. You wouldn’t care that you weren’t having a real effect on the real world, because you wouldn’t know. For you, everything you do would be real, so that’s all that would matter to you.

What would be your perfect virtual life?

If you would choose the machine, what would your ideal virtual reality life be like?

What career would you be doing?
Where would you live? In what type of house?
Who would be your neighbours?
What would your career be?
What would your intimate relationship(s) be like?
What would your friendships be like?
What hobbies would you spend time doing?

What would keep you in the real world?

If you would choose to stay in the real world, why? What would keep you here? If you wanted to stay to leave a legacy of good deeds that have a lasting impact on the world, what would they be?

Which would I choose?

I would choose the virtual reality machine.

I’m selfish and want the best life for myself. The reason I do good things in the real world is that they make me feel good. If I felt like shit or experienced nothing but agonising pain every time I did a good thing, I wouldn’t bother.

Also, if this machine is an option for everyone, the real world doesn’t matter anymore. If anyone can have the life they want by going into the machine, the real world no longer matters. If everyone is in the machine, that effectively becomes the real world for everyone.

And even in the real world, we’re all living a slightly different version in our heads anyway. Nobody sees things exactly as they really are. We see things filtered through our expectations, desires, fears, prejudices. We project part of ourselves onto who we think other people are.

My perfect virtual life

Where would I live? In what type of house?

I would like to live in a normal-sized nice house on the edge of Tutshill, Gloucestershire, England. This would be overlooking Chepstow, Wales, on the other side of the River Wye. But I would make sure the house was built on solid rock and thus unlikely to collapse into the river.

By Roy Parkhouse, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3810716

I would like that location because it would still be in England, where the road signs don’t have to be twice as big to fit both languages on them. But I would be right next to Wales so I could easily go across the border to have adventures around the mountains.

Who would be my neighbours?

Friendly people who are happy to stop and chat, but who don’t interfere too much.

What would my career be?

Earning 6 figures writing for Medium about whatever I want to write about. I would like to have the freedom to be able to go off on random adventures and then write about them. I would like to write about fascinating topics like this one. And I would also like to write silly stories that make me almost fall off my chair laughing.

What would my intimate relationship(s) be like?

Someone low-maintenance who has their own house in another nearby village. They wouldn’t need to be around me 24/7, but they would stay over a few times a week. Sometimes I would paint their face in bright colours. I’m not sure why.

What would my friendships be like?

The type of deep, reflective people with whom I could have 4-hour conversations and not notice the time. But with a daft sense of humour too. But as with the romantic relationship, they wouldn’t need to be in contact with me all the time.

What hobbies would I spend time doing?

Getting lost in the woods. Visiting strange abandoned old buildings. Mountain biking. Going around unusual art galleries. Watching unusual films in interesting independent arthouse cinemas.

What can we learn from this?

This is an interesting thought experiment because it causes you to think about life. A fantasy feels more potent if it’s actually achievable. And by thinking about what your realistic ideal fantasy would be like, you are actually thinking about your ideal real life.

If your fantasy is possible, could it happen for real? Are there big steps you need to take, or barriers you need to overcome? Is there a plan you can form that would get you there?

But if you would choose not to enter the virtual reality machine, there must be things in your real life that are keeping you here. If so, how can you maximise those? If you feel you have a real purpose to fulfil here, what steps can you take to maximise your chances of fulfilling it?

Alternative Perspectives

No niche — just a blend of compelling stories and authentic personalities, each one written from a unique point of view

medium.com