Virtual Reality

“May you live in interesting times” — a colleague of mine recently said. This was intended as a wish. Little did that person realize, that the saying was in fact an old Chinese curse. But then, we live in interesting times already. We were busy creating a virtual reality of ours when someone said:

“This is phony and it will surely collapse.”

Similar words were recently delivered by Peter Schiff in reference to the current economical situation in the U.S.

This is what we ourselves are beginning to realize with each bankruptcy & failure — everything that has no grounds in solid reality can get easily out of hand. Financial instruments, ideas or relations. In fact, about everything that’s going on in human civilization 1.0.

We like to build houses made of cards:

Media_httpideamixnetp_xwbdt

We start with down-to-earth stuff, with the basics (e.g. basic values, inventions, early communication etc.). Gradually our common knowledge accumulates. We re-use and link. We develop faster. We leverage our previous knowledge. In many cases we pay by losing grip on the basics, in fact — on reality. Our new worlds become so far apart from “real life” that we can hardly imagine the consequences of losing it altogether. We humans, love to create worlds.

I admit, this message was rather gloomy. As a… consolidation, here’s a slightly more optimistic reflection on our present & future.

Next post:

Previous post: