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How Virtual Reality can solve our problem with Global Warming
CO2 emissions are driven by mass production of goods. If non-essential goods were virtual, there would be no pollution either.
Less is more
Less stuff, less waste. It’s as simple as that. In fact, some people are actively advocating what’s sometimes called “happy degrowth”, i.e. embracing a new kind of global economy based on an ecological paradigm and essentially rejecting capitalist ideas. Degrowthers believe we need to shift to a more modest lifestyle as opposed to the constant pressures of economic and territorial expansion that are destroying the planet. While degrowth may be an effective but still very challenging path, I personally do not believe in a massive, global shift in human nature. We want more, we’re going to want more in the next years, too. However, it came to my attention a different, stranger possibility: moving most of our belongings to the virtual world. To survive, you really just need food (not much), a shelter, perhaps some medicines. Not much more. Everything else that affects your mind (culture, entertainment, friendship, love) does not fully need a physical reality, as long as its virtual representation is close enough to be indiscernible from one based on…I’m not so sure what the physical reality is made of anyway. We may have found a way to solve our problem with global warming. But you might not like it.
