Phil and Stephen discuss the Hard Problem of Reality. Our notion of what’s real is increasingly being challenged by new technologies like AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) as well as algorithm-driven social sites that serve up ever-more extreme content just to keep us clicking along. Are these technologies diving us farther away from each other and from what is really real?

Of course, it’s possible that the new reality technologies are insignificant compared to the longstanding human ability to delude ourselves (and others) about what is real. But what happens when that well-established capacity for delusion meets these powerful new technologies?

Here are some recent news items that speak to that eventual convergence.

Report: Apple AR Headset Coming In 2020 With Brand New OS

We’re Building a Dystopia Just to Make People Click on Ads

Billionaire ex-Facebook president Sean Parker unloads on Mark Zuckerberg and admits he helped build a monster

Teen Girl Posed For 8 Years As Married Man To Write About Baseball And Harass Women

Why Total Immersion Is Virtual Reality's Future

 

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