Virtual Reality Is Not a Dimmer, Right?

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The central thesis of this book is virtual reality is genuine real or at least virtual realities are genuine realities. Virtual worlds need not be second class realities. And three, the world we're living in could be a virtual world. I'm not saying it is, but it's a possibility we can't rule out. Is there some way we could test any of those hypotheses? Well, they are philosophical theses, by their nature, are exactly the same as scientific theses.

Shermer speaks with University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science and codirector of the Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness at New York University, Dr. David Chalmers, to discuss: the hard problem of consciousness; virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence; VR inside a VR, indistinguishable from Reality; Are we living in a simulation?; Can you live a good life in VR?; Can AI systems be conscious? and more…

How do we know that there’s an external world? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of David Chalmers’ book: Reality+ — a highly original work of “technophilosophy” in which Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. We may even be in a virtual world already.