Calgary, July 2024
In 1931 an English writer Aldous Huxley wrote a book called Brave New World. It describes a world where everybody is happy, where people are encouraged to have casual sex and indulge in shallow entertainment. Any search for a deeper meaning of our existence is discouraged. I want to expand on that idea.
My Ideal world is a happy place. Every child, from an early age, is surrounded by an environment where everything is perfect. He lives in a perfect home, has perfect, loving parents, has a lot of friends and at school is getting 'outstanding' on all assignments. But none of it is real. It is all created by what we now call Virtual Reality. In fact, the little child of my story never leaves a cheap apartment, his real parents are far from perfect and the whole school is just an illusion. But the kid doesn’t know it and is happy in his virtual world. The problems occur when real people, brought up in the virtual world, confront reality. They don’t know how to handle conflicts and how to deal with each other. For example, to produce real children, two real people must meet, and in the virtual world that is difficult. Therefore, they prefer the perfect, virtual boyfriend or girlfriend with whom they can have a perfect, virtual love affair and produce perfect, virtual children. But virtual children are not real, and my Ideal world is facing extinction.
I could leave it at that, let the real people disappear and allow the virtual world to take over. There are indeed predictions that computers represent a higher level of intelligence, and they will replace us. Maybe it is true, I don’t know, but in my story, I will try to prevent it. I know that all living creatures, from the simplest to the most complex, have one instinct in common: to have offspring and spread their genes. I presume this is also true for human beings. Therefore, in my Ideal world, there will be real people who would object to that virtual illusion. Perhaps an old couple might want to have real grandchildren, a young woman might feel motherly instincts or a businessman might want to pass his business to his descendants. All those people would be dissatisfied with the virtual world, and I picked two of them: John and Mary.
John and Mary were enjoying their retirement but there was something they were missing: grandchildren. Their son Martin lived in a virtual house with his virtual girlfriend, Diana, but his parents didn’t want virtual grandchildren. They wanted real ones to play with in a real park. Therefore, one evening they had a serious discussion with their son.
“When will you wake up from your illusion and start a real life?” asked John, sounding annoyed.
"I live a real life."
“No, you don’t. Your house is not real, and neither is your girlfriend, Diana.”
“But I love her, and my love is real.”
“She is just an illusion. You cannot have real children with her,” said his mom.
“I can have perfect, virtual children with her, and you can have perfect, virtual grandchildren.”
“We don’t want virtual grandchildren. We want real grandchildren and play with them in a real park.”
“Nobody goes to the real park anymore.”
“We do.”
That’s how the discussion ended. Martin lived in his virtual world and was incapable of accepting different points of view, and his parents knew they must do something.
“The problem is this virtual Diana. She is so perfect, so much better than any real woman,” complained Mary.
“Perhaps we can make her less perfect,” replied John.
“But how?”
“She is just a computer image, and those images could be manipulated.”
“You mean, make her less perfect?”
“That’s what I mean.”
“But how? You don’t know anything about manipulating computer images.”
“I don’t but others do. There are hackers and we have money to pay them.”
It was an interesting idea. I will not describe how John found the hacker, but I will say what he asked him to do: “Make her less perfect.”
Shortly after, Martin had his first conflict with Diana. After their usual dinner together, she complained: “Why is it always me who must clean the dishes?”
It wasn’t true, of course. Diana was only a computer image and couldn’t do anything, but the Virtual Reality made Martin think she did it.
"It isn't true, I always help," he defended himself, but she looked annoyed. The next morning, she didn't make breakfast for him. “What’s going on?” he asked in desperation, but there was no answer. This kind of frosty treatment continued for a few more days and then came the climax.
"I have enough of you and your laziness!" shouted Diana." You always leave stuff lying around and I must clean after you. I am not your servant, you know? When was the last time you vacuumed? When was the last time you cut the grass? Do I have to do everything in this house?”
"But Diana, what is happening? I thought you love me."
“I did, but not anymore. I am leaving you.”
Martin was devastated. He visited his parents, crying. “She left me!”
John and Mary almost felt sorry for him. It was the first time their son was facing a failure.
“Why did she leave you?” asked John.
“She said I am lazy, that she had to do all the work in our house.”
“But she was just a computer image, you did all the real work.”
“I know, that’s why it doesn’t make any sense.”
“Perhaps you should find yourself a real woman with whom you can have a real conversation, real arguments and real children,” suggested Mary. She wanted to cheer up her son.
I don’t know if Martin followed his mom’s advice. Perhaps he did. He might have found a young woman with motherly instinct, had children with her, and perhaps John and Mary had their grandchildren. It is possible. But I am sure of one thing: the Ideal world of my story isn't something we would want to create.