Once you see the topic of Virtual Reality on SNL, you know the technology is getting into the public’s consciousness. Saturday Night Live didn’t do a skit, but the American singer, songwriter and guitarist Father John Misty sang about the frightening potential of VR to seduce us. For all our talk about immersion and sense of presence, the flip side of these developments is that
. . . the images have all become real
And someone’s living my life for me out in the mirror
Listening to the song and reading the lyrics, I don’t see it as anti-technology so much as a warning. A warning that we are venturing into a radically new world. A world where we lack the conceptual framework to grasp the blurring boundaries between illusion with reality.
That seductive power of illusion has always been an issue. Think back to Plato’s deeply unhappy relationship to art. We survived so far and we will continue – but only if we’re critically engaged with new media. For those of you who are educators, the song makes clear that there’s so much more at stake than a narrow digital literacy. You better be thinking about the future of humanity.
So enjoy being indispensable. It’s exactly what you’ve wished for.
Virtual Reality on SNL
Here’s Father John Misty’s performance and the lyrics to “Total Entertainment Forever”. Think about it the next time you put on your VR headset.
“Total Entertainment Forever”
Bedding Taylor Swift
Every night inside the Oculus Rift
After mister and the missus finish dinner and the dishes
And now the future’s definition is so much higher than it was last year
It’s like the images have all become real
And someone’s living my life for me out in the mirror
No, can you believe how far we’ve come
In the New Age?
Freedom to have what you want
In the New Age we’ll all be entertained
Rich or poor, the channels are all the same
You’re a star now, baby, so dry your tears
You’re just like them
Wake on up from the nightmare
Come on
Oh ho oh
Oh
Oh ho oh
No gods to rule us
No drugs to soothe us
No myths to prove stuff
No love to confuse us
Not bad for a race of demented monkeys
From a cave to a city to a permanent party
Come on
Oh ho oh
Oh
Oh ho oh
When the historians find us we’ll be in our homes
Plugged into our hubs
Skin and bones
A frozen smile on every face
As the stories replay
This must have been a wonderful place
Emory Craig is a writer, speaker, and consultant specializing in virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) with a rich background in art, new media, and higher education. A sought-after speaker at international conferences, he shares his unique insights on innovation and collaborates with universities, nonprofits, businesses, and international organizations to develop transformative initiatives in XR, AI, and digital ethics. Passionate about harnessing the potential of cutting-edge technologies, he explores the ethical ramifications of blending the real with the virtual, sparking meaningful conversations about the future of human experience in an increasingly interconnected world.