I mean, right now, no. But that’s not really the point the post is trying to make (I think). The point is that in 50 years when VR has gone through the adoption curve and become ubiquitous, when as many people are on a metaverse as are one facebook, when haptics are mainstream and computing power has improved enough that we can render near photoreal experiences, then maybe, a proposal like the one in the post will be feasible.
The point of my bet (which, after reflection, was probably overconfident), is that there are dozens of steps to the future above, and that just because the end results seems unimaginable, it’s not hard to imagine other, smaller things that are likely, and which when added up will lead to the unimaginable future of the post.
that’s not really the point the post is trying to make
I think the OP wasn’t trying to make a point. I think he is afraid of prisons (and specifically afraid of prison rape), so he decided to design a prison system which he, personally, would find tolerable. The only solution to his fears that he found was full isolation—and the rest follows from there.
then maybe, a proposal like the one in the post will be feasible.
None of what you list will make this proposal feasible.
None of what you list will make this proposal feasible.
This seems non-obvious to me (obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t have said it).
What’s needed to make the proposal feasible is that VR is seen as a plausible substitue for in-person interaction, and that the cost of VR for every prisoner is less than the cost of the correspending physical actions. All of what I mentioned in the post goes towards those two things.
VR is seen as a plausible substitue for in-person interaction
Not “seen”, but “is”. Do you think photorealistic VR can be a full and complete substitute for human interaction? Is it a problem that can be solved by pushing more pixels through the goggles?
Don’t forget that your prison population isn’t particularly smart, tends to have mental health issues, and you would like them to adequately function in the real world after release.
I mean, if a buerecrat thinks that VR is as good as normal social interaction for prisoners, and they think that it’s cheaper, and they think that they’ll get public support for this, they’ll implement it as a policy. It doesn’t matter whether VR is actually as good as normal social interaction, only the perception of it.
So are you arguing that it’s a good idea, or are you just arguing that this passes the very low threshold of being an idea that some idiot will try once?
I mean, right now, no. But that’s not really the point the post is trying to make (I think). The point is that in 50 years when VR has gone through the adoption curve and become ubiquitous, when as many people are on a metaverse as are one facebook, when haptics are mainstream and computing power has improved enough that we can render near photoreal experiences, then maybe, a proposal like the one in the post will be feasible.
The point of my bet (which, after reflection, was probably overconfident), is that there are dozens of steps to the future above, and that just because the end results seems unimaginable, it’s not hard to imagine other, smaller things that are likely, and which when added up will lead to the unimaginable future of the post.
I think the OP wasn’t trying to make a point. I think he is afraid of prisons (and specifically afraid of prison rape), so he decided to design a prison system which he, personally, would find tolerable. The only solution to his fears that he found was full isolation—and the rest follows from there.
None of what you list will make this proposal feasible.
This seems non-obvious to me (obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t have said it).
What’s needed to make the proposal feasible is that VR is seen as a plausible substitue for in-person interaction, and that the cost of VR for every prisoner is less than the cost of the correspending physical actions. All of what I mentioned in the post goes towards those two things.
Not “seen”, but “is”. Do you think photorealistic VR can be a full and complete substitute for human interaction? Is it a problem that can be solved by pushing more pixels through the goggles?
Don’t forget that your prison population isn’t particularly smart, tends to have mental health issues, and you would like them to adequately function in the real world after release.
Why? All that it takes for policy change is perception, not reality.
What do you mean?
I mean, if a buerecrat thinks that VR is as good as normal social interaction for prisoners, and they think that it’s cheaper, and they think that they’ll get public support for this, they’ll implement it as a policy. It doesn’t matter whether VR is actually as good as normal social interaction, only the perception of it.
So are you arguing that it’s a good idea, or are you just arguing that this passes the very low threshold of being an idea that some idiot will try once?
The latter.
The former I wouldn’t rule out, but we don’t really have enough data on VR’s psychological effects right now to know either way.