Also, this blew my mind.

Now, I'll appreciate any new technology that comes along, but I'm starting to get scared. I feel as if the world is ceasing to exist in the physical when I see stuff like this. The link is a bit about a virtual reality conference in France, but the video at the bottom was what hit me. Too intense.

I'm now coming back to edit this at the end of quarter and adding to my initial thoughts. After hearing groups present about virtual worlds and communicating through games, I can't help but to think if this is what the future of technology looks like. Will communication only be through screens, instant text messages, and ambient knowledge? It is disconcerting to think of a world where socializing has become spending time on online gaming communities and through cell phones. True it is convenient for those who are far away from each other to communicate in this way, but we now see teens and young adults choosing to log-in to Facebook and YouTube as a sort of social outlet even while they are with physical friends. The thought of holograms as substitutes for real people is frightening. As someone who favors the physical highly over the virtual, it is fascinating to think about how the world in the near future may become dominantly virtual and what that will do to the psyche of the human.