Not Far At All

Just to think that my grandma can be in a virtual world makes me giggle vigorously. In Halting State the future does not seem far from it. The technology of Halting State is the sort of technology that is at everyone’s grasp and some people are afraid to use it because of it’s power and influence. The next generation of people seems fond of interactivity and hands on learning instead of reading from books. The economy could be virtual if it wanted to be, it’s only a matter of time.

Technology is an interesting thing, and everyone seems to find it interesting one way or the other. I remember in James Bond movies that Q would show 007 a room full of gadgets that he could use in awkward states of emergency. No matter how you look at it people are getting used to it more and more and sometimes without noticing. Have you ever been to someone’s house and have been told to use the microwave? Funny thing is, usually you could get the general grasp of what to do but the interface is changed from your own microwave so you don’t really know what to press. After 1 minute you’ll usually get the hang of it, because you’re starving or you’ll ask your friend how to turn on the damn microwave. The same goes for new cell phones, play with a cell phone for 30 minutes and I’m sure you’ll be fluttering through text messages like no other. It does not take long to pick up a new interface of some new technology for many people to pick it up and run with it. New technology is to make life easier in some way but why are some people so afraid of it? Is it because driving with a cell phone almost seems more dangerous than driving drunk or could it be that some people are afraid of change. Virtual or not virtual people change their interfaces all the time except some of them don’t really call it an interface, they would rather call it a dashboard, stereo, I-pod, cell phone, or computer screen. Getting used to them isn’t the problem, it’s what kind of damage that can be done with it that scares people so much.

It’s the abuse of technology that scares them even more. Several people are scared to shop online, because they think some computer hacker is going to get their credit card information somehow and take all their money. But whose to say that a burglar couldn’t come into their house and take their things. Robbing a house is just a bigger interface than hacking a computer system and a lot more hands on. I also remember when camera cell phones came out, and thieves started taking pictures of peoples credit cards in stores while shopping in line at the cash registers. That was a pretty clever stunt when I heard about that one. Thus, the reason why some people don’t like new technology, because it is another way to harm someone else.

I don’t doubt that their with be a generation, soon to come, that will be born with keyboards. Zeros and Ones will flow through their veins like blood and they will live, eat, sleep and breath technology. The next generation is becoming so technical it’s amazing. I’ve seen an 7 year-old with a cell phone. Of course she always dropped it but the point being that she knew how to use it is kind of scary and fascinating at the same time. Cell phones are starting to become a infrastructure for something new. Since you can technically access tons of information from them they are very fit to becoming the extension to a virtual environment. The thing with cell phones is that nearly everyone already has them and does not have to worry about buying another console to play a game that seems exciting. The gaming specs don’t seem too far off from a Bluetooth headset with a visor over it, or better than that the old Virtual Boy that was released by Nintendo ages ago. They even have glasses online that lets you watch movies if attached to a portable DVD player or an I-pod. Comes to show that cell phones could easily be a virtual console that could be used for a game.

Since it is already online, why not make your banking a fun experience. I could only imagine logging into my bank screen name and they would have an avatar waiting in a virtual world for my approval to add money to my account. It would be a neat way to have people spend more time banking and straightening out their taxes and stuff besides filling out paper work at a dull looking computer screen or a pile of papers using only a pen. Though hacking is relatively easy for some people and in the event someone should dress up like orcs and dragons to steal from the bank, that would be an interesting site to see, as long as he doesn’t rob me while I’m there making a deposit. Could also make a virtual stock room where players could put in stock and give advice about stock, but this too does also seem like a quirky idea. I wonder how would the virtual world respond to a stock market crash, would be interesting to watch the reactions but not a fun experience at all.

The technology is here for the use. Mostly all the technology is at the tip of our fingers and we have yet to grasp it because of the challenge or because of the dangers. Cell phones could possibly be the next virtual world if someone wanted it to be, due to the fact that it can already communicate to other people, find other people, has gaming applications, has an interface, and can connect to the internet. Interactive banking and virtual economies could be interesting, but still dangerous to open up the possibilities to more clever people to abuse it. I guess in a way I can’t giggle at my grandma anymore because I know several more people that are older than her that plays online games. I’ve never seen them before leaned over at a computer keyboard frustrated with Microsoft Word before either. So I guess I can still giggle at my grandma and I’ll have to let my grandma try World of Warcraft at Thanksgiving.