Will people live in a virtual world? Can a person live forever?

The Chernobyl exclusion zone excites people's imagination because of their "awestruck" fear of radiation. Abandoned Pripyat attracts thrill seekers and romantics. They want to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of an empty city, to see something unusual that appeared under the influence of radiation.

And such travelers get a real surprise: there are many inhabitants in the exclusion zone. Do people in Pripyat live next to all the other adapted people? Let's talk about this mysterious topic.

History of resettlement

The mandatory organized resettlement of residents of Pripyat, Chernobyl and numerous villages affected by radiation occurred in several stages. First, people from those closest to the accident site were evacuated settlements, then the rest, depending on the distance from the source of the release.

The first city to become empty was Pripyat itself (April 27). Then people were taken out from nearby villages (10-kilometer zone from the source of the release). Then the zone at a distance of 10-30 kilometers became empty. The last villages were the most distant: residents were taken out until June.

From that moment, according to the law, in Chernobyl zone No civilian should be alienated. Only the staff working there had permission to stay. However, the locals decided everything in their own way. So what does Pripyat contain? Do people live there now?

Rapid settlement of alienated territories

In the same 1986, just two weeks after the start of the organization from the contaminated territories, they began to return to their homes. The closed zone did not become a hindrance to the locals, who passionately love their home.

There were also those who, using “guerrilla” methods, avoided mandatory evacuation: they were simply lost from the teams and remained in their native places.

Thus, we found out what Pripyat has become. Life after people did not actually occur here. The locals never completely left the city, even if you don’t take into account the specialists working there.

Why did people return?

The idea that we need to run away from radiation without looking back is firmly ingrained in our heads. That is why it seems strange and reckless that residents of the Chernobyl zone were drawn to their native contaminated places.

The craving for home and painfully familiar lands was irresistible. Evacuated migrants, not finding their place in the outside world, returned to the zone after a short time.

Another factor that served as the reason for settling the environs of Pripyat was the invisibility of radiation. If the enemy cannot be seen, then he is not scary. Perhaps if radiation had manifested itself physically in the air or settled on objects, the situation would have been different. People then, immediately after the disaster, were not sufficiently concerned about whether it was now possible to live in Pripyat and nearby areas. They were just returning home.

Played a big role in the emergence of self-settlers in Chernobyl economic factor. People were not in the mood for settling in another place. Plus objective problems with lack of money.

Settlements

Thus, according to state records, about 300 people currently live in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Self-settlers are mostly concentrated in small villages.

The largest number of residents is in the city of Chernobyl - 40 people. In the villages of Lubyanka, Zalesye, Opachichi, Teremtsy, Ilyinka and others, from two to several dozen self-settlers live. In 2013 they total there were more than 300 people. Thus, the answer to the question “do people live in Pripyat” is unambiguous and quite specific.

Population composition

Most of the inhabitants of the Chernobyl zone are old people. You could meet young people here earlier. Some lived here, but more came to stay with relatives. Surprisingly, in the 2000s, in a zone isolated from the main benefits of civilization, even one child was born. There were no more such happy incidents.

The average age of a self-settler in the exclusion zone is 60 years. It is noteworthy that most of the remaining inhabitants of these places are women.

The way of life of self-settlers

Since we have already found out that people have always lived in the exclusion zone, it’s time to talk about how they now live in Pripyat, that is, in the villages and towns near it.

Subsistence farming is how the self-settlers of Chernobyl and nearby villages live. They grow most of what they need for life on their plots. The harvest is checked for suitability for food in a special center. For meat and eggs, they keep poultry, some people keep cattle, even horses.

In addition to home-grown vegetables and fruits, locals eat fish caught in the region. They also collect mushrooms, some even set traps for game. Food products are readily exchanged among themselves, and the most popular “product” is fish.

The volume of farming depends on the physical capabilities and needs of people. These are mainly small gardens and a small number of pets. And there are also entire mini-farms: the farmsteads of several plots are combined and fenced. Part of this territory is allocated for crop production, and part for keeping livestock. The “farmers” sell the surplus they grow. But such cases are rare. Thus, we understand not only whether people live in Pripyat, but also how they manage to remain so far from “living” cities.

Exclusion zone today

It is unusual, but quite understandable, why some people remained living in the Chernobyl zone to this day. However, what is even more interesting is that you can go there on a tour. This is a walk through abandoned Pripyat, Chernobyl and adjacent villages, lush forests outside the city.

People go on such excursions to see the places where the great tragedy unfolded. Thousands of people said goodbye to their homes forever, leaving behind everything they had acquired through labor and dear to their hearts.

Chernobyl with its mysterious atmosphere has become a place of pilgrimage for extreme sports enthusiasts. Although, subject to simple safety measures, there is practically no extreme in it. However, this is a rather difficult psychological test.

There is an interesting phenomenon modern culture- the passion of science fiction writers for the topic of the exclusion zone. True, it is connected with the almost deserted territory only indirectly, thanks to the famous computer game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The action in it takes place precisely in the mysterious corners of Chernobyl. The game was followed by a series of books by various writers, which continues to this day.

Prospects

How many unimaginable fantasies appear in people when they mention the words “Chernobyl”, “Pripyat”. The exclusion zone today and immediately after the nuclear power plant disaster has nothing in common with the pictures that have taken up residence in our heads with crowds of mutants and three-eyed cats. The real Pripyat is an empty city, keeping echoes of the past in the things left by its inhabitants. The rest of the cities and villages mostly present the same picture, with the exception of rare single and family self-settlers.

There are no prospects for repopulating Pripyat “officially”, and will not be for a long time. Will there be life in Pripyat? Maybe. However, now this city is not chosen by self-settlers.

Today, several hundred people live in the Chernobyl zone at their own risk (do they feel it?). Mostly these are old people. Their children and grandchildren prefer populated “living” cities and only occasionally visit their relatives in the exclusion zone.

Conclusion

Pripyat is one of the densely populated cities in the past, belonging to the zone Chernobyl disaster. It also includes Chernobyl itself and more than a dozen small villages. Do people live in Pripyat now? Yes, they do. In 11 of all settlements in the zone, self-settlers have lived almost since the evacuation of people.

Mysterious Pripyat is not so mysterious these days. Most of what could be learned about the exclusion zone at Chernobyl is already known. Anyone can visit these places, mesmerizing in the scale of the tragedy, and draw their own conclusions about their atmosphere.

In the article we looked at some details of the history of the self-settlers of Chernobyl. Thus, everyone interested found out whether people live in Pripyat: if we take the city of Pripyat itself locally, then there are no permanent residents there. But in Chernobyl and more than a dozen villages many years ago, those for whom these places are native settled.

We dare to assume that it was interesting for you to travel with us mentally to the exclusion zone, glorified in the computer game and dozens of books. We also hope that this trip did not disappoint you.

The oldest person to ever live was a French woman, Jeanne Calment, who lived to the age of 122 years and 164 days. As modern medical standards improve, our life expectancy is increasing, but will there come a day when life will have no end?

Some scientists believe this is more than science fiction and is entirely possible. In order to understand whether people can live forever, we first need to understand what aging is. Many people think that aging is a very complex process, but in fact, it is very simple. Aging is side effect living state. All the normal processes of our body such as breathing, moving and digesting food gradually cause wear and tear on our cells. And after a certain amount of wear and tear, our cells die, causing permanent damage to the body. Because most of Cells are susceptible to damage and we eventually die.

Think of your body as a car whose driving causes inevitable wear and tear on all its components, until one day it simply refuses to start unless you do it regularly. Maintenance– changing the oil or even replacing entire parts. Some revolutionary scientists take the same mechanical approach to the human body and believe that by performing regular maintenance and even replacing damaged organs, we can keep our bodies functioning indefinitely.

In 2011, Swedish surgeons presented the organ for the first time in the world - transplant, created using a synthetic organ that was grown in a laboratory. The organ was grown by scientists in London in just a few days. But most importantly, the synthetic trachea was grown using the patient's own DNA, meaning there was no chance that the body would reject the new organ. A 36-year-old patient with a history of cancer feels great after the transplant.

Scientists are now working to do the same with complex organs such as the heart and lungs, and they predict that in less than 10 years, any organ can be grown in the laboratory on demand in unlimited quantities, eliminating the need for donors .

But immortality can potentially come in many forms. Biogerontologist Marios Kyriazis believes that immortality is an inevitable consequence of evolution. His theory states that in the process of evolution human brain will one day become so complex that it will be able to support our bodies for an indefinite period of time. Slowing down the aging process and stopping it completely when the body is fully grown.

But evolution is a terribly slow process if you are looking for more quick solution eternal youth you might be surprised to know that there is great amount research in this area. In 2005, a British scientist named Aubrey de Gray founded a research foundation called SENS, which stands for Strategies for Achieving negligible aging engineering methods." The goal of SENS is to research and develop a wide range of regenerative medical methods treatments to not only stop the aging process in the human body, but also reverse it. Aubrey believes that death is not inevitable, but merely a disease that can be cured with the right treatment. To extend our lives, we must simply increase the length of our telomeres, which are the caps on the ends of our DNA that shorten as we age, causing cells to break down. The answer is simple, if we can develop a pill to lengthen our telomeres, then we can stop and even reverse the aging process. Aubrey believes that we will have realistic age-related preventative medicine available to us in 25 years, and that the first person to live to 1000 years has already been born.

But Aubrey de Gray is not the only scientist interested in eternal life. Scientist and CTO at Google Ray Kurzweil is a renowned futurist and accurately predicted many of today's advanced technologies years in advance. Since our understanding of genes and computer technology accelerating at incredible speed, Ray made a bold prediction. In 20 years, people will develop super advanced microscopic nano robots that can enter our bodies and more efficiently do the same job our blood cells do, protecting our organs from infections and instantly repairing damaged cells. This will allow us to live indefinitely and even reverse the aging process. But Ray predicts that this is not all that nanotechnology will be able to achieve in the very near future. He predicts that within the next 25 years we will be able to use nanotechnology to change our bodies and gain superhuman abilities. For example, we will be able to scuba dive for several hours without oxygen. We can expand our mental capacity to such an extent that we will write books in a few minutes. The potential of nanotechnology is limitless, and many scientists agree that at our current pace technical progress nanotechnology and nanorobots will become part of our Everyday life very soon.

But if all these methods fail, then you can always freeze your body after death and hope that someday in the future scientists will be able to revive your frozen corpse and bring you back to life. It is called cryonics. You may have only seen this in movies, but in reality, it is real science. The process involves freezing the body in liquid nitrogen and replacing the blood with a cryo-protective fluid to prevent ice crystals from forming inside the body and damaging cells. The body is then placed upside down in a giant steel container so that the head area remains the coldest, with temperatures dropping to minus 196 degrees Celsius. Currently, more than 250 bodies have been preserved in this way, waiting to be revived by science, and more than 1,000 living people have signed up for this procedure. But it's not cheap, it costs about $200,000 to completely preserve the body. Although you can only keep the head. It will be much cheaper. You can hope that one day science will advance so far that it will be able to connect your head to another body and bring it back to life with all your memories.

All this talk about immortality is very interesting, and it may be much closer than you think. But what happens if a certain part of humanity refuses to die? This is the subject of heated debate. Overpopulation has already begun global problem. We are not yet able to find other planets suitable for life. The earth can only support a certain number of people. But this is not the only problem. 1% of the world's population owns 50% of the world's wealth, and if those few people refuse to die, then the wealth will not be distributed. This will only lead to further monopolization of the world market and the rich will become richer while the poor get poorer.

Another nuance is the retirement age, which will reach up to hundreds of years. This is good for those few, ambitious people who are looking for high paying jobs, good bonuses, a luxurious lifestyle, but imagine those who are forced to work for over 1000 years selling hamburgers at McDonald's. In an immortal society, criminal punishments would become significantly less valuable. 30 years behind bars is not a long time for a person with a life expectancy of thousands of years, and with such a paltry punishment the number of crimes could increase dramatically.

Why do all the living die? There is such a thing as the Hayflick limit - this is the number of cell divisions before any breakdowns occur in the genetic apparatus. Typically this number is 50, give or take.

Programmed cell death, or otherwise apoptosis, is very important for the body, because it prevents cell division with altered genetic material, with DNA damage. There are entire apoptosis systems in cells, the most common is the p53 protein in mitochondria, which, among other things, are energy centers.

If there is no adequate elimination of cells with damaged DNA, their growth cannot be controlled. And this is the basis of any cancerous tumor (because the main symptom is uncontrolled growth, not coordinated with the body and not responding to its signals).

Will people ever live forever? Only if you can overcome the Hayflick limit. For this you need Genetic Engineering, and developed at such a level that damage to DNA is repaired not in vitro after the fact, but in vivo, on a living person, here and now.

Well, let’s leave the question about immortal life to philosophers. It seems to me that immortal life is stupid and boring. But it would be cool to live 150-180 years instead of the usual 70

It is foolish to deny that technology is developing, albeit very slowly and does not live up to the expectations of some people (Forgive us, Marty), but we should not exclude the possibility of technological interference in this natural progress, from the non-technical (High-quality equipment that allows you to edit DNA) part , but software. If humanity lives to see the moment (before the planet’s resources run out and the post-apocalypse sets in) when it will be possible to upload the memory of a deceased or living person into a computer with AI, then why not? Of course, this may not solve the immortality of a person in his biological shell, but preserving the person’s personality is completely what he was and, perhaps, what he will be.

UPD: It’s also worth adding that this is not very safe, because the consequences of cyber terrorism will be much larger, infection of AI with viruses, etc., etc.

But it’s worth thinking about, is this necessary? Immortality, it sounds pleasant and desirable, but is it really so? Overpopulation, ethnic wars, wars over religions and all the “joys” of our existence that we have at the moment.

Not everyone dies. Many bacteria are immortal; their cycle ends by dividing into two bacteria. By this I mean, of course, “natural” death.

As for us - alas, take it for granted. We can't live forever. Death is hardwired even on the cellular and molecular levels. If one problem is solved (for which there is no real reason), then a bunch of others will remain. And as an oncologist who actually treated and operated once told me, if people themselves were immortal, then every single one of them, sooner or later, would die of cancer. So - no chance at all. Please note that this is just me hinting at something we already know. But we don’t know everything... we don’t know anything.

Replace immortality with palliatives, they have long been known.

Finally, in my opinion, a much worse punishment is old age. Those who have lived to a ripe old age rarely cling to life. With the exception, of course, of all sorts of individuals (let’s not point fingers) who have been waiting in hell for a long time!

How do you like the theory that the entire policy of the current government is aimed at creating natural selection in Russia, so that the fittest people can continue to survive?

Death for life

I am of the opinion that the life of an individual, an individual of some kind biological species, is a very valuable thing, but there are more important things. Namely, the view itself. That is, in fact, full set genes (this is called a genome), which is contained in each individual of this species and, in fact, determines what it is.

In our opinion, it is more correct to consider any living beings simply as a temporary container for the genes that they received from their parents and will pass on to their children.

For the first time, such an idea was formulated explicitly, probably, by Richard Dawkins in his famous book The Selfish Gene.

As a rule, the interests of the genome and its temporary carrier (living being) coincide. But sometimes - no. And then it immediately becomes clear who is boss - of course, the genome. If the genome of a species is in danger or the species simply needs to develop, then the carrier can be safely sacrificed - the next generations will give birth to “new ones.”

As a result, I am confident that the genomes of most (if not all) living things contain special harmful programs. From which nothing good comes to the creatures themselves, but which are necessary for the development of the species. First of all, death programs that ensure a change of generations and, accordingly, evolution. Moreover, sometimes they are arranged in a “fast” way - for example, in annual plants that die, killed by their own seeds after they ripen, and sometimes in a “slow” way. And the most nasty program slow suicide is an aging program. Which causes many species, including you and me, to “deteriorate” with age and, ultimately, to die.

Wrong mouse

The fact that we grow old for a reason, but as a result of special activities biological program- the thing is not obvious and requires proof. I tried to build it “by contradiction”, showing you an example of an animal that has turned off its aging program. Because he no longer needs to accelerate his own evolution so much - he is already good! This, like you and me, is a mammal, a fairly close relative of the common mouse - the African rodent naked mole rat! If a mouse lives for 2-3 years, manages to become completely old during this time and dies of old age, then the mole rat lives for more than 30 years and, if it sometimes shows some signs of aging, they are, as a rule, not fatal. Most biologists agree that the naked mole rat is an ageless animal (or, to put it more scientifically, an animal with negligible aging).

And now in our series it’s time to answer the main “digger question”: how did he do it? How did he turn off his aging??!

Just a couple of years ago I would have had nothing to say on this topic. But in 2017, in one of the most prestigious scientific journals In the world of “Physiological reviews” we were able to publish a theoretical work explaining the phenomenon of non-aging of the naked mole rat. At the end of 2017, its version in Russian was released.

It all started, as always, with mitochondria. These are small power plants that are in every cell and with the help of which we breathe. I hope that there will be a separate episode of our series about them. The study of mitochondria is the main specialty of Academician Vladimir Petrovich Skulachev. Actually, in his laboratory in the late 60s it was found out how they work. For the last 20 years, the academician, in addition to mitochondria, has been interested in the problems of aging and, of course, made titanic efforts to conduct an experiment with naked mole rat mitochondria. I should note that mitochondria are very strongly associated with aging, but more on that in the next series.

Research into naked mole rat mitochondria has been successful. At the institute at the Berlin Zoo, experiments were carried out on mole rats; an employee of Vladimir Skulachev, the famous biologist Mikhail Vysokikh, who specially came from Moscow for this purpose, managed to obtain a sample of mole rat tissue and measure various parameters of the functioning of mitochondria in this tissue. There was nothing particularly interesting in them, except for a slightly strange curve showing the rate of oxygen absorption by mitochondria (they also breathe) under certain conditions.

Returning to Moscow, Mikhail showed this curve to his manager, to whom it also reminded him of something, but they could not remember what exactly. So the biologists racked their brains until they showed the graph to another colleague, the head of the laboratory of cell bioenergetics Boris Chernyak, who is known for never forgetting anything (well, at least if it has to do with mitochondria, respiration and living cells). He looked and immediately said - exactly the same curve can be obtained by recording the respiration of mitochondria of newborn rat pups!

And here Vladimir Petrovich had an idea. Captivated him so much that he packed up and went to Berlin to see the naked mole rat in person.

What did he discover? That he (the digger) is naked. And do you know who he looks like because of this?

Above - a newborn mole rat, below - rats

Look: the photo above shows a naked mole rat. And nearby there are no diggers at all. These are newborn rats. See how similar they are? In a few days, the pups will mature, put on fur and turn into normal rats. But the diggers are not. He will remain like a newborn for the rest of his life.

Further investigation showed that mole rats have more than 40 signs of such “newbornness” or “childhood” compared to rats. Here are some of them:

• Light weight compared to other species of the family.
• Lack of fur (rodents always have it).
• Lack of ears.
• Limited ability to maintain a constant body temperature (as in newborn mammals).
• High cognitive abilities (curiosity).

The term “virtual reality” has been around for decades. The first person to create an augmented (or according to other sources, virtual) reality helmet is, as is commonly believed, the American computer scientist Ivan Sutherland. By modern standards, a rather primitive device gave a person the opportunity to be transported into a system of three-dimensional wire rooms. Augmented and virtual reality are completely different concepts. The first only introduces artificial elements into our perception of the real world, while the second creates a complete artificial world.

Already now we can see technologies that should form the basis of virtual reality tomorrow. For example, the famous gadget Oculus Rift is a virtual reality helmet, which was developed by Oculus VR, created by Americans John D. Carmack II and Palmer Freeman Luckey.

A prototype of the device was presented in 2012 at an industry exhibition computer games Electronic Entertainment Expo. Funds were raised through a Kickstarter campaign - in one month the developers were able to receive about $2.5 million. The first development (intended for developers) version of the helmet was called DK1. These kits began shipping to customers in March 2013, and their price was three hundred dollars. The device included one 6-7-inch TFT screen with HD resolution and two lenses for the eyes.

A development version of DK2 soon appeared, and a little later the public was able to see the third version of the helmet - Crescent Bay. All three development versions were released without warranty and in limited editions. But in currently The first consumer version of the Oculus Rift Consumer Version (CV1) is in the final stages of development. It is clear that the helmet will have a 7-inch display and 24-bit color depth. The screen resolution will also increase – up to 1080p.

But how is the desired effect achieved and why exactly Oculus Rift can make a revolution? Palmer Luckey points out that the development of this technology is hampered by restrictions human body. Many users of stereo glasses felt unwell already within the tenth minute of using them. To avoid this, it was necessary to reduce the delay between turning the head and the reaction of the image to a few milliseconds. This result was achieved at the cost of great efforts from the developers - Oculus VR worked closely with the developers software from different countries. OculusRift resembles a scuba diving mask, but is easy and comfortable to wear. The lenses in the Oculus Rift helmet give a person the opportunity to see as if he were peering at a 27-inch monitor from a distance of half a meter. The helmet completely covers the field of vision, blocking everything external stimuli and completely allowing you to immerse yourself in the game. Due to the lenses of the game, the world looks curved - curved around us and outward. The image resolution leaves much to be desired, but this drawback will probably be eliminated in the future.

In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculusrift for two billion dollars. Founder social network Facebook emphasized that this is a long-term investment. For the platform to be attractive to developers, the number of devices sold should be fifty to one hundred million units. Facebook is going to wait ten years for this.

No matter how revolutionary the Oculus Rift helmet is, it has obvious limitations, because the human body is outside the computer world. Engineer Oliver Kreylos wanted to overcome these limitations by “transferring” his body to the virtual world. To do this, in addition to the Oculus Rift helmet, Kreyolos used three Kinect sensors. They were placed in a small room and programmed to create a 3D model of the user's body online. He then placed the embodiment in a model of his office. And although the idea was interesting, in this case movement in space was limited by the walls of the room.

Virtuix also made its contribution by creating the Virtuix Omni device. The all-directional treadmill gives the player the opportunity to immerse himself in fictional worlds– Virtuix Omni - you can jump, run, crouch or move sideways. In a horizontal position, the player will be supported by a special waist frame. The platform is small and does not take up much space. At the same time, the cost of the device turned out to be only five hundred dollars.

Another solution designed to complement the Oculus Rift is the Razer Hydra controller. It allows you to control your character in the game by moving your hands in the real world. The Razer Hydra is very simple, convenient and compact. Sales of the device began in 2011, and its price is one hundred and forty dollars.

Reality and virtuality

The gadgets described here are only the first step towards complete immersion in the virtual world. But all such conversations until recently mainly concerned the gaming industry. But is immersion capable of virtual reality solve pressing problems of humanity?

Analysts believe that virtual reality will soon move from the gaming industry to other areas of human activity. According to research companies Business Insider and Tech SciResearch, by 2018 more than 25 million people will use artificial reality, and this number will not only include gamers.

Currently, California-based company Control VR is developing special gloves that will push the boundaries of virtual reality. With their help, you will be able to see the position of your hands and other parts of the body in the computer world, as well as manipulate animated objects.

The effect is achieved through accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes, which are placed over the entire surface of the hands. Sensors are also present on the user's shoulders and forearms. CEO Control VR Alex Sarnoff says the gloves will find use in a variety of areas. Thus, the device can help people who have suffered a stroke or other serious illnesses recover. A person will be able to undergo therapy in the virtual world, while not in a hospital, but in his apartment.

Sarnoff is confident that we will be lucky enough to witness the technological revolution with our own eyes. We will see the emergence of virtual reality applications that will radically change leisure, communication and self-development - in fact, everything human life will become different.

Virtual reality can provide an invaluable service for finding the right information in fast-paced information flows. The necessary data can be obtained even faster than now, and it will also become more visual.

An important area is the training of specialists in the military and civil spheres. Take surgery, for example. Artificial reality will make it possible to train a specialist much faster than before, because he will be able to train in conditions as close as possible to “working” ones. We have already seen something similar in the training of pilots and cosmonauts. And for professional training, you will no longer need a bulky exercise machine - a compact device will be enough for this.

Here it is appropriate to recall the 3D VIRTSIM simulator, created by the American arms giant Raytheon. It allows you to transfer weapons and fighters into the virtual world - it can be a forest, city ​​street, a room with hostages, etc. The concept is built around a special program, virtual reality glasses, as well as infrared emitters attached to the body and weapons of the fighters. In addition, simulators can be useful if we're talking about about overcoming fear or phobia. It is important to note that in the future, simulations will become even more realistic - up to the complete immersion of a person in the virtual world, when he will no longer be able to determine where exactly he is now - in reality or virtual.

Artificial reality will play huge role in industry. For example, in the automotive industry. Such important aspects, like creating a model/prototype, blowing a car model in a wind tunnel and expensive crash tests will forever sink into oblivion. Will take their place computer modelling, allowing you to recreate all this in detail.

Further more. Company employees will no longer have to sweat in a stuffy office. Sooner or later technology will allow you to create a 3D model human body and transfer it to the virtual world. Of course, the Internet today makes it possible to correspond or create video conferences, but this is simply not always convenient.

A hybrid of virtual and augmented reality is created by MagicLeap. The concept was called “kinematic reality.” With the help of special gadgets, creators want to bring virtual elements (for example, figures or sculptures) into real world. Thus, we are talking about some kind of holograms. Experts rate the project very highly, and Google has already invested $542 million in the startup.

Headlong into virtuality

But what about fantastic stories about humanity, which has become a hostage to the virtual world? Of course, there are plenty of Internet captives these days, but we are talking about a complete imitation of life - a virtual world in which we can feel tastes, smells and everything that is characteristic of our everyday life.

And although information Technology We are confidently moving forward; complete immersion in virtuality does not seem to threaten us, at least in the near future.

Technology itself plays an important role in this, because modern people nothing will surprise you. For example, 4D technology has not revolutionized the perception of cinema. Combination of 3D technologies and synchronized with film physical effects does not make a person part of what is happening on the screen, but only allows you to have more fun.

It will be very difficult to deceive the mind. But science fiction writers are not discouraged: they have long made virtual reality one of the most popular areas of their activity. The most advanced of all promising methods for creating virtual reality can be considered direct stimulation of the nervous system. The concept proposes the integration of virtual reality into nervous system human, serving to perceive reality. The user will receive artificial nerve impulses, and real impulses will be blocked and will not be able to reach the central nervous system.

Renowned computer scientist Ernest W. Adams divides virtual immersion into six categories: tactical, strategic, narrative, emotional, sensory, spatial and psychological. IN the latter case the player’s consciousness is, as it were, transferred to the body of the character he controls, but at the same time the person can feel his real, physical body.

One of the scenarios for the development of the situation is this: in the 2020s, nanorobots will appear, which, once in the human brain, will be responsible for virtual smell, vision and auditory effects. Such devices will be no larger than blood cells - they will be able to constantly reside in the body and be activated in right moment. Miniature devices will find their initial application, for example, in medicine, and then (once their safety is confirmed) they will spread to other areas of life.

But will a person voluntarily agree to exchange his familiar world for virtual reality? You can answer “yes” without hesitation. Ecological problems, social tension Finally, material difficulties push people into the arms of the virtual world. To be convinced of this, just look at the statistics of online games, where last years There are millions of new players, and they often spend more than half of their time playing the game. One can only guess how much time a person will spend in the virtual world if it is exactly like the real one.

Virtual life is not the norm yet

– Modern man“already partly lives in virtual reality,” says psychoanalyst, specialist at the European Confederation of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Lyubov Zaeva. – Internet shutdown, lack of any significant object on the Internet are experienced as severe stress. And surfing the Internet is the beginning of the day, lunchtime rest and evening pastime for the majority of the adult population. Children have become hostages of virtual reality (games and social networks), partly due to the fault of adults. When a person is born, he comes into the world that adults created before him. And adults introduce him to this world, teach him the rules of behavior in it, convey them through fears. For example, it’s scary on the street, adults are dangerous, you’re helpless and stupid, it’s easy to do harm to you, everything around you is unpredictable, your parents are also helpless, they don’t know how to protect you - it’s better to sit next to them. And the children are sitting. Where it is safe, that is, at home. In this sense, for them virtual reality is controlled and safe.

The Internet has also changed object relations. All more people build relationships at a distance, sometimes without even meeting. The illusion of intimacy and complete control over the situation is created. Because some people have completely switched their libido from real people for virtual objects, there is a plus. For example, exhibitionists can get release much easier and faster. Just like those who in reality have poor control over their aggressive sexual impulses. Pornography, as part of virtual leisure, reduces fear of a real woman, helps you find an object in accordance with your fantasies and inclinations - without harming others. True, if virtual reality becomes the only “place” for receiving pleasure, then in the future in real life, outside the computer, a person may begin to experience difficulties. Complete departure into virtual reality - serious symptom, similar to a psychotic desire to leave this world. The willingness to live only in virtual reality is not the norm in our time. But who knows, maybe after some time this will change, and long virtual “vacations” will become commonplace and part of modern life.

The concept of virtual reality is presented in such cult films as fantasy trilogy"Matrix". The artificial world also formed the basis for the psychedelic thriller Existenza, released in 1999. An interesting look at virtual reality is presented in the film “The Thirteenth Floor” by Josef Rusnak. IN philosophical sense The 1999 film “Dark City” may seem very interesting, in which an alien race settled people in an artificial metropolis, periodically changing their memories and living conditions in order to understand what the human soul is.