The Emperor's New Clothes

[mostlyharmless]

The Emperor's New Clothes ! What is reality?

In a world that seems rapidly moving towards a something
for nothing gambling state, how mind blowingly ridiculous
is the idea of buying nothing for something.Indeed a great deal of something is being paid for property in a virtual world that only exists at the flick of a button.Perhaps paranoia leads me to wonder if the continuing use of computer generated worlds by this and future generations, is leading us to forget the real world? Then again if the media's implication that the real world offers nothing but war, disasters,useless leaders,crime,poverty and little hope of good education or health which world would you choose?Sitting in a chair creating an living in an environment that you choose, you control and you can switch off anytime,sounds good.Sadly the beautiful world we live in is been left behind by those who find it uninteresting,terrifying or beyond them.Of course a positive outlook would be to say what a wonderful exciting past time for adults and kids alike.But I think one day the world is going to laugh or cry at the generation of people who are in the altogether.

[Ann]

Surely each generation has created its own fantasy world for centuries, be it with writing, art, plays, games etc. We, as humans, have lived fantasy lives for centuries through all of these tools of escapism and this present generation is no different.

Ok, I think the twentieth century was phenomenal is the great strides made in our creature comforts and utilisation of the worlds resources and we have also developed more and more exciting ways of relieving boredom.

The thing is, we are not all the same. If you live in a family full of youngsters or notsoyoungsters, the odds are that we, as adults, have furnished them with the means to live in a fantasy world through computers, ipods, videos etcetera....

The way we look at what is going on around us determines our opinion of the world but to lump it all together and declare it as a lost cause means we may be looking but we are not seeing.

I acknowledge that a lot of families are trapped in the work, earn, spend ethos but not all. Some spend time outdoors enjoying the parts of this world that are still wonderful and encourage their offspring to do the same, together.

There have always been people who have found the world terrifying, uninteresting or beyond them, some with good reason, myself included. Life has never completely been a bowl of cherries but it depends on if you ever stop to pick them.

[mostlyharmless]

Yes Ann, I agree with all you say there.And obviously as I am typing this and sending it in to the e world I don't necessarily feel the whole situation is beyond control. I do wonder though if we will move in a parallel line towards the worst case scenario. Perhaps it sounds like science fiction but will we not eventually begin to wonder what reality is? Maybe not now but in generations to come will we all choose our own realities in the same way we all choose a website we visit?
Will we only be able to recognise the real world because in it we feel physical pain and die?

We all need escape at some time and many times I have appreciated it but generations living it as a reality is a different thing altogether.

The worlds on the internet that I'm talking about are where people buy towns houses cities run things their way, live life the way they wish they could in the real world is that right? I suppose if we pay for it it is real? and there the grey line becomes hazy. Are we becoming gods in our own minds?
In fact if a creator was to have formed the universe may it not have been easy to do it in the same way the e world has been created and then frame it into living matter? ...Does it matter?

I think it does okay fantasy helps us cope with the real world but the more alienated we become from reality the less able we will be to deal with the physical world and with less of the tools to survive it.