Today’s puppet, tomorrow’s virtual person
Have you ever heard of “virtual persons”? I hadn’t, until just now. It’s the newest thing!
China has taken the lead in this new industry, so you know it’s got to be good. Basically what we’re talking about is very high-tech puppets: “persons” who consist of “animation, sound technology, and machine learning [whatever that is].” In other words, not real. They look and sound real. Chinese business leaders think the time has come “to build up the municipal virtual people industry.”
You can already buy one. Prices run from $2,800 to $14,300. A 3-D virtual person costs more than a two-dimensional one.
Hey, it’s gonna be great! China has embraced virtual persons as “scandal-free icons” and ideal social media “influencers.” (This just gets better and better.) You don’t have to worry about your puppet ever turning whistle-blower, or being drunk on the air, or jumping ship for a higher salary. Some 45% of advertisers said they’d probably hire a virtual person to push their product.
We’re only waiting for the World Economic Forum to proclaim virtual persons a highly desirable improvement over real people. Except for themselves, of course.
I think I’ve wandered into a dystopian novel by accident, and I can’t seem to find a way out.
I read this post of yours this morning. This afternoon I was reading an article in Answers in Genesis magazine on AI. It’s an older article from nov/dec. 2017. I don’t know if you can access it but it’s interesting. The article explains much about AI and the real possibility of robots (or virtual people) taking over much of what we do even to the extent of medical procedures. The article addresses ideas of some secular scientists that AI and “machines can be integrated with humans and allow us to escape constraints of biology, including death….”I don’t know what God is doing with me today: first, I read your post and then, second, I open this magazine (that I chose randomly out of my AIG magazine collection). Maybe I’ll be replaced at work soon! Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you.
Oh, yes, Our Betters expect to develop technology that’ll let them live forever. They have descended into moral–and intellectual–chaos.
The would-be world masters are preparing us for transhumanism. They refuse to give up on over-population being our number one problem – they even featured Paul Erlich on “60 Minutes” last night (no I didn’t watch it, I just read the news about it).
I hadn’t known he was still alive… and still full of crapola.