Is living in virtual reality a better option than the real world?

Using the philosophy of simulacra and the movie The Matrix, we’ll examine the advantages and disadvantages of virtual reality and discuss whether it’s a better choice, offering an egalitarian and safe environment free from the constraints of reality.

 

According to the philosophy of simulacra, the more advanced a society becomes, the more inclined it is to believe and judge replicas derived from truth as truth, rather than truth itself. For example, virtual reality is a replica derived from the real world, and we gradually immerse ourselves in it until we lose the distinction between the two. There’s a movie based on this idea. The movie The Matrix was released in 1999 and became a sensation.
In The Matrix, a machine with highly developed artificial intelligence cultivates humans in an incubator in order to obtain nutrients from them. Reduced to a means of supplying energy to the machines, humans live in a virtual space, the Matrix, without being able to distinguish between virtual reality and reality. However, the main character soon realizes that it’s not real and wants to destroy the virtual world. That’s the rough plot of The Matrix. In the movie, the virtual space matrix is shown as something that needs to be broken. The reason why the Matrix is considered such an existence despite being a space close to the human ideal is that people in the real world have lost their free will and are living in the Matrix programmed by machines. For the sake of fundamental human dignity, the protagonist tries to escape from the virtual space and reclaim the real world.
This is why, after watching the movie, virtual reality seems very negative. Similarly, in the movie, the protagonist is faced with the choice of staying in the virtual world or returning to the real world, and he chooses to return to the real world. However, if the protagonist was an extremely ordinary person, not a savior, would his choice to return to the real world be a reasonable choice? If you have to live in one world or the other, which is the better choice? I would choose to stay in the virtual world, unlike the protagonist, if I had to make such a choice.

 

 

The advantages of living in virtual reality are: first, things that are impossible in the real world due to time, space, and resource constraints are possible in virtual reality; second, because it is a programmed world, accidents caused by natural disasters do not exist and injustice can be prevented; and third, all of these things can be implemented equally.
Let’s start with the first advantage. The real world is a world of temporal, spatial, and resource constraints: traveling any distance, short or long, requires an investment of time, money, and physical fatigue. In virtual reality, you can go wherever you want. This is because virtual reality is a programmed space that uses electrical stimulation to the brain. This eliminates unnecessary waste and allows you to experience much more than you could in real life. You can travel anywhere you want, no matter the distance, and you can even live in Korea and work for an American company. As a result, the quality of life will be incomparably better than living in the real world.
Additionally, the opportunities for education and learning in virtual reality are endless. In the real world, tuition fees and time and location restrictions often make it difficult to access a wide range of education, but in virtual reality, these limitations disappear. Lectures from top universities are available at any time, and laboratory environments are virtualized to make learning more vivid and realistic. Learning about different cultures and languages is also easier in virtual reality. For example, if you’re learning a foreign language, you can immerse yourself in the virtual environment of that country and practice interacting with locals. This experience is much more effective and interesting than simply learning in a classroom.
The second advantage is that since virtual reality is programmed, there is no chance of natural disasters or unfortunate events. For example, natural disasters such as the Great Japanese Earthquake, which caused massive casualties and is still being felt today, do not happen in VR. It doesn’t stop there. Human error can also be prevented in VR. From petty crimes to terrorism, all of which are impossible to prevent in the real world, can be prevented in virtual reality. This is easy to understand when you think about massively multiplayer online games. Natural disasters don’t happen in games because they’re not programmed from the ground up, and even if a crime does happen, it’s easy to solve and reverse because the data is recorded. The same is true for virtual reality. So we no longer have to live in fear of what could happen at any moment, as we do in the real world.
The safety of virtual reality also has huge benefits in the medical field. For example, medical simulations can be performed through virtual reality technology to practice different situations before surgery. This helps to reduce medical errors and improve the skills of doctors. Patients can also use virtual reality to experience the treatment they will receive in advance, reducing anxiety and improving their understanding of the treatment. Furthermore, telemedicine using virtual reality can help bring high-quality healthcare to underserved areas. This will contribute to eliminating healthcare disparities around the world.
The third advantage is that the aforementioned benefits will be equally available to all people. In the real world, people are not given equal opportunities due to the limited resources of money and time. For example, there are definitely people who want to study further but don’t have the money or time to do so. For them, the external requirements of money and time create differences from others. In addition, wealthier people may have stronger homes or better security, which can lead to lower rates of accidents such as natural disasters and crime. These inequalities don’t exist in virtual reality. It’s a place where everyone’s brain is plugged in, with a program that applies to everyone, and your life is what you make of it. There is no discrimination because the opportunities are equal from the beginning. Therefore, I think virtual reality can be a utopian space.
Last but not least, virtual reality will bring about a great change in the formation of social relationships. In real life, it is often difficult to meet with friends and family frequently due to distance and time constraints. But in virtual reality, you can meet people anytime, anywhere, and enjoy various activities together. Getting together in virtual reality is no different than getting together in real life, and in fact, you can share more experiences. For example, in virtual reality, you can travel through virtual worlds or work on collaborative projects with people from all over the world. This can play a huge role in strengthening social bonds and creating new forms of community.
Of course, virtual reality spaces also have a major drawback. They are programmed spaces. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. It’s true that virtual reality is imperfect because there is a possibility that entities outside of it can change the program and control it, but this is a problem that can be solved technologically. Just as in the real world, there is a fear of computer hacking, but we can be assured that we can keep updating our vaccines against it, the same can be said for virtual reality implementations.
There is also the question of the value of human existence. It could be argued that what is the point of being human if you are mentally connected to a machine while leaving your physical body outside of virtual reality? However, I believe that the question of the value of human existence is solely limited to the mind. The body is just a shell that is controlled by the brain and is a means of sustaining life in order to preserve genes. Therefore, even if the body is dependent on external nourishment, it can be said that the body is fulfilling its purpose just by being alive. As long as the brain, which is connected to the virtual reality, feels that it is “living a human life,” the condition of the body has no effect on the value of human existence.
Therefore, despite some possible disadvantages, if we consider the three advantages of virtual reality: a world without constraints, a world without accidents, and a world with equal opportunities, we can conclude that it is better to live in virtual reality than in the real world.