Dark Futures

For the Digital Cultures and Technologies module I've been watching several sci-fi films, to see some different possibilities/interpretations of what the future may hold. A particular standout was eXistenZ, which I think confronts a very important issue with immersive gaming. With peoples desire to become more and more deeply involved with their game playing experiences the question has to be asked, if you are that deeply immersed in the experience, how do you know what's reality anymore? The film ends with the people who entered the game at the start of the film not being able to tell whether they've actually left the game or not. An important message there methinks.

I also read the novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, which also goes heavily into people immersing themselves into virtual worlds, and it is cited as being the book in which the term 'cyberspace' was first coined, and was also the inspiration for the film the Matrix. I'd previously read another of Gibsons novels, Pattern Recognition, which personally I enjoyed significantly more than Neuromancer. I guess as I've already seen the ideas laid down in this book brought to life more vividly in the years since its release, It didn't have the impact it would've had, but I can see that at the time of its publication it would've been a pretty big deal. Some of the ideas in it are very interesting, the concept of being able to jack into someone elses body, see through their eyes and feel the sensations they're feeling is definately something that I'd like to see in reality, it could do a lot in helping peoples empathy for others.