Oooh, that is good, Cogito. Someone needs to tell Torana, when she comes back on. And by mood dependency, do you mean things like rage becoming addictive? If you're right, that could bring a whole new breed of psychotic serial killers into the world...
Already PMed it I agree, killers, an explosion of thrill seekers, many possibilities, although not all of them dire. But think of A Clockwork Orange, for example.
Do I have to? The idea is honestly terrifying. It seems we are constantly teetering between a 1984-style totalitarian regime, and the anarchic thrill-seeking world which you have envisioned. And I can easily imagine such emotions to be more addictive than actual narcotics...
Good Sci Fi is about extrapolation. The Fly extrapolates what could go wrong with teleportation technology, for example.
I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't read much good sci-fi, and I've never heard of the example you mentioned. I realise that it would make a very good story topic, it just scares the crap out of me.
Here's what my writer brain imagines happening: Rage-based games are released, starting as a sort of underground phenomenon, and then rising to popularity. Video-game-haters, from Jack Thompson to What Would Jesus Play (Look those two parties up, JT in particular is rather sickening) finally seize their chance to prove that some video games are evil, but this results in all video games being perceived as evil. While the government only outlaws those "rage-based" games, the image of all video games in general are irreparably damaged, a negative light having been cast for good. The video game market takes an amazing stagger and is decimated. Meanwhile, the rage-games are cut out of the mainstream, but soon an underground trade and culture based on the games of rage (Ooh, let's call them "Gages", that's nice) develops, from illegal Gage smugglers/dealers to Gage addicts, and the government, already understaffed on the drug war, now has a major new problem to deal with. Soon, popular culture is inspired by this illegal market, and novels about Gage and things pertaining to it become a notably prominent theme in popular books, particularly teenage fiction and action/adventure, raising gore in literature to an all-time high. Films and documentaries about the lives of Gage addicts and smugglers are made, raising sympathy for those whose lives are centered around the games. Within a few decades, protests are being filed to bring back Gages and other violent video games, and the governments of the world have no choice to accept. Soon vast portions of mankind are becoming hooked to Gage as a method of entertainment, anger venting, and escapism. For all those who can afford it, Gage becomes a way of life, both due to the way it takes up so much of their time while they play it, and because its credo of associating violence and anger with being cool quickly seeps into the personality and psyche of an otherwise normal person, especially because the VR games are so realistic. And for those who CAN'T afford it, the act of getting Gages becomes their life goal, raising theft, assault, mobbing, mugging, and all-around crime rates to an amazing high. And since the people they're attacking have already had their darker sides feuled by Gage, the resulting conflicts created between desperate people and unbalanced people send mortality rates skyrocketing. People in high government positions find the world crumbling around them, and are full of pent-up frustration. Since Gage has by now become a society norm for most people, including therapists, the government leaders' therapists and advisors recommend they try Gage as a way of anger management, a way to release their negative emotions. Soon even the uppermost leaders of the world have fallen to addictive Gaging, and as their personalities spiral in proportion to their addictions, international affairs just go down the crapper. Both the infrastructures and exostructures of the world are quickly destroyed as governments are at each other's throats, and sometimes their own. And of course, from there it's only a matter of time until someone launches the nukes...... .....orrrrrr, I could be reading too much into this. =D That would be SO COOL to write, though.
so who noticed that the lady in the second video really sucks at her job? Was that mean of me to say? anyways it was hard of me to focus on what she was saying because she was so jolty, and taking moments to think about where she was going. Product could be real. Would be easy to fake though.
It would be quite easy to fake, but for some reason I'm tempted to believe this. It's certainly possible theoretically. And I agree, wordwizard, the woman wasn't particularly good.
I hadn't even seen the second, but god... that was horrible. Monotone voices are so drab. Hopefully I don't any college professors like that.
I have a lecturer who is worse than that. It's actually an effort to stay conscious and focus on what she says. Not that it matters, since most of it's rubbish anyway... EDIT: Wooo! 3500th post
The Fly was a 1958 movie in which a scientist created a teleportation experiment. But a fly was in the teleport chamber with him, and what came out of the other end was a man with the head of a fly, and a fly with the head of a man. The man kept his head covered, and tried to find a way to undo the accident, but became more fly-like in his behavior and thinking, and ended up killing himself (with help) In the final moments we see the fly with the white head trapped in a web, with a spider approaching, and you hear a feeble "Help me! Help me!" There was a 1986 remake with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Totally crap.
I've heard of that movie a thousand times (You really can't help NOT hearing about it), but I've never actually SEEN it. Kinda like Pulp Fiction, or The Shining. I still like my end-of-the-world scenario.
Okay. Firstly: Hasn't these guys watched Terminator? And secondly: Ghost in the Shell! Wicked.. now when do we get to pick out our new cyborg bodies that match this wicked technology?
I know what you mean, and I agree. I mean, since one story is covered by PC World that gives it some credibility - on the other hand, if it is real wouldn't we have heard of it before?
Not necessarily. The MoD have some freaky stuff in development, which is all top secret. Bear in mind that the military is generally a decade ahead of the private sector, and this stuff has serious military potential. Imagine UAV controlled by the mind. Just as agile as manned vehicles, and without the danger of casualties.
I'd thought about that too - and while it does have potential there - programmed or electronically/remote controlled systems would probably work better - less is depended on a person's concentration.
Well, I don't know. I guess if it is real, and if it is viable, then we'll see it around soon enough.
Daniel. think of it as a third hand for a fighter pilot though. If the pilot could control targeting with a HUD and control the arming and firing, not to mention fly-by-wire targeting after launch by thought... Basically, if I can see it, I can kill it.
