12-31-2018, 07:24 PM
There are several classes of people who inhabit virtual reality environments;
1/ Biological people who are linked by technology to the virch, usually via high-bandwidth neural links giving them visual, audio and haptic (touch) data. These people are often known as 'vusers', especially by other virtual entities. The biological body of a 'vuser' might be inactive, either at rest (sitting in a chair, perhaps, or asleep in bed) or possibly fully active, if the vuser is capable of maintaining more than one simultaneous focus of attention.
2/ Uploads- a biological person might chose to copy their mindstate into digital form, and exist purely as an electronic being inside the virch. In the Current Era of OA most uploads are made without destroying the original, so that the original person can continue to exist in real life and have their own experiences. At some point the uploaded copy might wish to re-integrate with the original, although this gets increasingly difficult the longer they are separated.
3/ Many, or most, inhabitants of virches are indigenous inhabitants of the virtual reality environment- that is, they are born there, and live their whole lives there. Some are born by an analog of sexual reproduction, others are created procedurally, or even design themselves in stages. These are often known as 'digis' by other virtual sophonts. Digis can be very strange, and sometimes they chose to download themselves into real-life bodies and live in the real universe.
4/ A number of virtual entities are controlled directly by the AI Gods - either as avatars, or as 'actors', pretending to be particular characters that are important for the maintenance of a particular virch scenario. In some cases, most of the inhabitants of a virch may be an 'actor' playing a role (like a robot in Westworld, but generally under better control).
1/ Biological people who are linked by technology to the virch, usually via high-bandwidth neural links giving them visual, audio and haptic (touch) data. These people are often known as 'vusers', especially by other virtual entities. The biological body of a 'vuser' might be inactive, either at rest (sitting in a chair, perhaps, or asleep in bed) or possibly fully active, if the vuser is capable of maintaining more than one simultaneous focus of attention.
2/ Uploads- a biological person might chose to copy their mindstate into digital form, and exist purely as an electronic being inside the virch. In the Current Era of OA most uploads are made without destroying the original, so that the original person can continue to exist in real life and have their own experiences. At some point the uploaded copy might wish to re-integrate with the original, although this gets increasingly difficult the longer they are separated.
3/ Many, or most, inhabitants of virches are indigenous inhabitants of the virtual reality environment- that is, they are born there, and live their whole lives there. Some are born by an analog of sexual reproduction, others are created procedurally, or even design themselves in stages. These are often known as 'digis' by other virtual sophonts. Digis can be very strange, and sometimes they chose to download themselves into real-life bodies and live in the real universe.
4/ A number of virtual entities are controlled directly by the AI Gods - either as avatars, or as 'actors', pretending to be particular characters that are important for the maintenance of a particular virch scenario. In some cases, most of the inhabitants of a virch may be an 'actor' playing a role (like a robot in Westworld, but generally under better control).