Microsoft Word Kurzweil, Ray The Singularity Is Near doc

 
Full-immersion virtual reality doesn't seem very inviting. I mean, all those nanobots running around in 
my head, like little bugs. 
R
AY
:
 
Oh, you won't feel them, any more than you feel the neurons in your head or the bacteria in your GI tract. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Actually, that I can feel. But I can have full immersion with my friends right now, just by, you know, 
getting together physically. 
S
IGMUND 
F
REUD
:
 
Hmmm, that's what they used to say about the telephone when I was young. People would say, "Who 
needs to talk to someone hundreds of miles away when you can just get together?" 
R
AY
:
 
Exactly, the telephone is auditory virtual reality. So full-immersion VR is, basically, a full-body telephone. You 
can get together with anyone anytime but do more than just talk. 
G
EORGE 
2048:
 
It's certainly been a boon for sex workers; they never have to leave their homes. It became so 
impossible to draw any meaningful lines that the authorities had no choice but to legalize virtual prostitution in 
2033. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Very interesting but actually not very appealing. 
G
EORGE 
2048:
 
Okay, but consider that you can be with your favorite entertainment star. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
I can do that in my imagination any time I want. 
R
AY
:
 
Imagination is nice, but the real thing—or, rather, the virtual thing—is so much more, well, real. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Yeah, but what if my "favorite" celebrity is busy? 
R
AY
:
 
That's another benefit of virtual reality circa 2029; you have your choice of millions of artificial people. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
I understand that you're back in 2004, but we kind of got rid of that terminology back when the 
Nonbiological Persons Act was passed in 2052. I mean, we're a lot more real than ... umm, let me rephrase that. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Yes, maybe you should. 
M
OLLY 
2104:
 
Let's just say that you don't have to have explicit biological structures to be— 
G
EORGE 
2048:
 
—passionate? 
MOLLY
2104:
 I guess you should know. 
T
IMOTHY 
L
EARY
:
 
What if you have a bad trip? 
R
AY
:
 
You mean, something goes awry with a virtual-reality experience? 
T
IMOTHY
:
 Exactly. 
R
AY
:
 
Well, you can leave. It's like hanging up on a phone call. 
M
OLLY 
2004:
 
Assuming you still have control over the software. 
R
AY
:
 
Yes, we do need to be concerned with that. 
S
IGMUND
:
 
I can see some real therapeutic potential here. 
R
AY
:
 
Yes, you can be whomever you want to be in virtual reality. 

---

S
IGMUND
:
 
Excellent, the opportunity to express suppressed longings ... 
R
AY
:
 
And not only to be with the person you want to be with, but to become that person. 
S
IGMUND
: