Just a few idle thoughts late at night on little sleep.

So computer games are getting faster, more fluid, more realistic. The last ten years have seen a huge improvement in the visual quality and complexity of games. Though development has slowed somewhat recently, we’re not far off being able to render Toy Story in real time. So, let’s assume that the technical stuff is beaten and the artistic stuff is good enough: in another ten or twenty years, we can simulate reality on our home machines. Effectively, we have our own Matrix.

What does online society do then? Do we all meet up online because we’re too afraid to meet in real life? Do we live out alternate realities as different people? Do we learn kung fu? Do we get addicted to online soap operas where we live as characters in a cheesy plot? Or do we just use it for interactive porn?

Note your predictions on your blogs now people, and the Wayback Machine will let you know later how clever you were now.