The Analogue Dangers of Digital Love

I recently watched the new Spike Jonze movie, Her. The premise is about a man who is recently divorced and adjusting to his return to single life. It takes place in the near future in which artificial intelligence has become very sophisticated. One day he decided to purchase a new AI based operating system for his electronic devices. It isn’t long before the female personality he installed evolves into the love of his life.

Her is the most emotionally powerful movie I have ever laid eyes upon. Everyone is so open, vulnerable, and believable. It even has one of the most sensual “sex” scenes ever put to film, thanks in large part to Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix's superb performances. But this isn’t just a touching romance between man and machine, it is a cautionary tale of where we as a society may be heading. Technology as advanced as this is closer to being standard fare than you may realize. And it will only serve to exacerbate current problems as well as give rise to new issues.

One of the dangers is becoming addicted to the digital world. Speaking from personal experience, I know how enticing it can be to roam around a lush, computer generated environment being anyone but yourself. It’s especially addicting when a person is in their formative years. At the time when all you can see is your imperfections the fact that you can create your ideal self, or a completely new persona, is incredibly appealing. Every massively-multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) that I play I do so with a female avatar. I do this for two reasons: 1) I’d rather stare at a female character’s ass for hours on end than a males. And 2) I have fun acting as a woman. I will flirt with other players who simply assume I am a woman in the real world and try to get them to buy me things. It is something I could never get away with in reality. I also tend to come across as very feminine whenever I type in a very informal fashion.

For the better part of three years, back in the early 2000s, I was absorbed into the world of Final Fantasy XI. I would frequently call in sick to work and choose the game over spending time with my friends, the game always came first. It was the only place in which I could be with my virtual family that was spread across the globe.It is a small miracle that I didn't lose my job. This was due mostly to the fact that I did it often enough to learn just how far I could push my absences before I would be punished. If I had been fired I would not have cared much, I loathed that particular job.I was so addicted to the world of the game that I almost called my red-haired, female friend and coworker by my character's name.Eventually my friends started playing less and less and the game became stagnant to me, I was finally able to break free. On the bright side of this dim stretch in my life I came out with a few new friends who I still talk to to this day.I now stay in touch with them primarily through Facebook though I do continue to occasionally explore some contemporary, virtual landscapes with my comrades.

I am already seeing signs of society being sucked into the maelstrom of cyberspace. One specific scene in Her depicted what things may be like in the very near future. The main character, Theodore (Phoenix), receives some disturbing news from his virtual girlfriend, Samantha (Johansson). He begins to have a slight mental breakdown as he processes what he has just heard. He pauses for a brief moment and looks around, he sees the other citizens passing him, marching single-file like army ants, completely oblivious to the world around them because they are consumed by their various pieces of technology. Theodore was clearly in anguish and not a single person noticed.

People are already hopelessly addicted to their tech and with virtual reality just around the corner things are only going to get worse. Oculus VR has developed a revolutionary new VR (virtual reality) device known as the Oculus Rift. It is a relatively small device that fits over your head and eyes and provides an experience once reserved for the realm of science-fiction. It is still in development but it is very close to being ready for the masses. It has the potential to both aid and/or destroy people's lives. On the positive side the device was recently used to grant an elderly woman's dying wish to venture out of her home one last time. Conversely it will allow online gaming addicts to dive more deeply into their fictitious worlds than ever before. In a country such as South Korea that could cause gaming related deaths to sky rocket. They have the heaviest concentration of online gamers in the world and have already suffered a fair number deaths due to players gaming in excess of 50 hours without stopping.

Had this thing existed when I went through my addiction to Final Fantasy XI you may not be reading this now. I would have likely become completely withdrawn from reality. Thoughts like this were inspired in large part by an anime I watched last year called Sword Art Online. The basic premise is that the main character is stuck in an MMORPG, something has gone horribly wrong, when a person dies in the game they die in real life too. He resigns himself to the situation and makes the best of things. Eventually he falls in love and starts a pseudo family unit, he marries his girlfriend and they adopt a child from within the game. His wife is a real person who is stuck in the game as well but their child is a character in the game. He loves their child but the only way he can be a father to her is to remain in the game as much as possible since she is not a real person. That is what really worries me. When a person puts so much of their heart into a virtual world their reality will slowly start to deteriorate. They may become hopelessly lost in cyberspace. It is with a cautious optimism that I look towards the future of virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

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