SpaceweaverSat, Dec 22, 2007 Wildcat, I share your frustration :-) Science fiction, most often than not, projects our current conceptual framework into some futuristic or fantastic scenario. Nothing changes in the essence of us. This is why it is science fiction and not reality. Concepts are derived from the so called reality, and reality I mean here is the reality of mind as it is now. We use language as the vehicle of our interactions in various mental spaces accesible to us now. This is where the shape of language comes from.
Nevertheless, I do not underestimate the influence technology might have on our state of mind and eventually on our language, conceptual framework, and self description. I emphasized fully immersive VR exactly because it will rival the hegemony of physical space from which we draw so much. I think we largely underestimate how much of our identity is based on our physical forms and our interactions in physical space. Even the Buddha already noticed that 2500 years ago, and probably he was not the first. It seems that very soon this is going to change. We will have to find other anchors to our identity. These anchors will be conceptual embodiments rather than physical embodiments. But first we must get free from our so called physicality.
Wildcat, I share your frustration :-) Science fiction, most often than not, projects our current conceptual framework into some futuristic or fantastic scenario. Nothing changes in the essence of us. This is why it is science fiction and not reality. Concepts are derived from the so called reality, and reality I mean here is the reality of mind as it is now. We use language as the vehicle of our interactions in various mental spaces accesible to us now. This is where the shape of language comes from.
Nevertheless, I do not underestimate the influence technology might have on our state of mind and eventually on our language, conceptual framework, and self description. I emphasized fully immersive VR exactly because it will rival the hegemony of physical space from which we draw so much. I think we largely underestimate how much of our identity is based on our physical forms and our interactions in physical space. Even the Buddha already noticed that 2500 years ago, and probably he was not the first. It seems that very soon this is going to change. We will have to find other anchors to our identity. These anchors will be conceptual embodiments rather than physical embodiments. But first we must get free from our so called physicality.