I Feel Lazy, Send in My Avatar

Some time ago, a sci fi movie Surrogates, based on a cyberpunk graphic novel of the same name was released. Bruce Willis toplined the feature. It came and went, largely unnoticed. But the frightening fact is, the plot of the movie, or rather the crux of it, could soon be a reality.

It deals with a future where humans live in isolation from the rest of the world and communicate externally through the use of SURROGATES (hence the title, in case ya didnt realise).

We are imperceptibly, gradually getting socially detached. Ironic, considering the array of stay in touch gadgets/widgets splayed at our disposal. Personal contact, face to face interaction is slowly subsiding as video conferencing, chatting and virtual socialising come to the forefront. People shy away from all forms of actual interaction and then promptly enroll in contactotherapy as a cure for their chronic "shyness'. We prefer to go out and socialise using Second Life Avatars. A culture that was possibly parodied intentionally or unintentionally in James Cameron's Avatar.

Slowly and surely we are building a shell around ourselves, brainwashed by mindless entertainment, kept busy by silly fade-in-a-minute crazes and fads. And its not like we are utilising this privacy, this time away from the maddening crowd to self analyse or introspect. We are busy dulling our brains on gimmicks created out of boredom by other numbskulls.

We can exist days, even months, on end without leaving our house. We have almost everything delivered at our doorstep. With almost everything and accessible through the web many of us can and in fact do work from home. Actual interaction with the outside world is not at all necessary to survive - at least, in theory. And if we could have and experience all the pleasures and joy in life from the relative comfort of our own abode, why wouldn't we. As far as we can percieve, there seem to be no pitfalls or flipsides to such an arrangement.

Pleasure and comfort are the hardest to resist. Which explains the influx of entertainment and comfort technologies that we welcome eagerly into the fold. Adaptation to such will of course leave us weak and incapable of facing anything but the mildest and meekest of climate/environment. The illusion of being able to control our world and surroundings is what is at the core of this fatal attraction.

So, I hypothesize that we will all end up staying at home, waiting for the next bit of pleasure to come our way, indirectly interacting with others (but viciously so, because the pleasures of commenting and status updating are overpowering to most). Indulging in artificial exercise and therapy to keep ourselves fit and natural and sustained. And no doubt, some enterprising blighter will use this opportunity to invent an interaction simulation, where we will gladly and gleefully indulge in "realistic and immersive" interaction with other beings.