So I was recently informed that there will be a power outage tonight, beginning in less than an hour. So basically, this blog entry is going to be pretty short and sweet until I can finish it!
I absolutely do think that Stephenson’s version of the future is plausible. Partly because we have no way of knowing what the future may bring, therefore anything can happen. Moreso because many of his visions of the future have already come true and are, no longer visions, but actual realities. Furthermore because his futuristic predictions seem to be a logical progression of what is already in our present world.
As I was being introduced to the role of computers in Stephenson’s future world, mainly the role of the metaverse, I kept thinking how uncanny the similarities are to the present computer world and generation. I’m not sure if it’s because I just lack the computer genius of a techie, but the metaverse seemed pretty realistic to me? I honestly can not figure out why we don’t have a metaverse thriving with digital pixel humanesque life right this moment.
“By drawing a slightly different image in front of each eye, the image can be made three-dimensional. By changing the image seventy-two times a second, it can be made to move. By drawing the moving three-dimensional image at a resolution of 2k pixels on a side, it can be as sharp as the eye can perceive, and by pumping stereo digital sound through the little earphones, the moving 3-D pictures can have a perfectly realistic soundtrack.” (p. 24)
See, now that (^^^^) seems perfectly realistic to me. Although it may not become the standard way of viewing the computer screen, I can definitely imagine specialty 3-D (even 4-D) glasses, headsets, and avatars coming soon to a store near you!
(THE END until I can finish … aka WHEN THE POWER comes back on. Grr)
1 comment:
Yes, Stephenson's technological predictions were amazingly accurate, but I still think his version of the furture of is not plausible. Yes, it may have components of his vision, but I do not think the government will ever reduce to what the Fed became in Snow Crash.
I think (or maybe would just like to think) that there will always be someone to look out for the social welfare of people. I hope people would be able to speculate the possible disasterous outcomes if self-interested businesses took over
Post a Comment