Feb 4, 2010
First Debate
While I found Carl’s points about the benefits of giving technology to rural areas interesting, I agree more with EJ’s statement that technology can advance our quality of life, but we can’t sustain ourselves purely on technology.
Unfortunately, Josh’s point about newspapers is true. A crisis is occurring in the publishing industry. Newspapers that served communities for hundreds of years, like the Rocky Mountain News, had to fold because subscriptions were dropping. More people are turning to technology and getting their news online instead of relying on the physical newspaper.
It is interesting that the New York Times will now be charging for its website. The NYT is one of the most popular online news sites (as a New Yorker, at least I think so) and people are used to being able to access it for free. I wonder what will happen to its site traffic if people have to pay to use it. Maybe people will go back to getting the morning paper?
Dave mentioned that having virtual experiences cannot compare to the real thing. Will this always be true? 3-D televisions have already been released, allowing for a more realistic viewing experience. By 2020, your television may allow you to smell and touch, immersing you even further into a virtual world (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/9072/smellovision_courtesy_of_japan.html?cat=15). Going to a virtual event from the comfort of your home is more convenient than dealing with buying tickets, driving through tickets, waiting in line, etc. It seems that virtual reality is getting closer and closer to just reality.
That’s an interesting article that you linked to, Quinn. I wonder if information/virtual reality could replace the use of books, actual sporting events and so on if they actually developed a way for people to engage all their senses through virtual reality. It reminds me of a book I read when I was younger called Heir Apparent. It’s about a girl in a time when everybody goes to these gaming stations where they get hooked up and experience being in any kind of world and are playing a game as if it is real life. In her case, the game malfunctions and she can’t get out of it until she solve challenge, so she keeps replaying and replaying the game until she finally figures out all the different things that kill her character.
If it was possible to watch or play in a sporting event virtually where you could hear, see, smell, touch, and maybe even taste, would you (any of you all) do it? Would you choose that over going out to a real event? Why? I mean, there could be some advantages–if you don’t leave the home, your chances of getting in a fatal car accident are considerably lower. But…
What do you all think?