The latest in "Chinese slave-made
fondleslabs and digital doohickies"

In his most recent newsletter, James Corbett wrote:

“For those not in the know, Vision Pro is the sexy new $3,500 mixed-reality headset from the same bitten-Apple gadget porn designers who brought you the iPhone and the iPod and the iWatch and a seemingly never-ending assortment of Chinese slave-made fondleslabs and digital doohickies.”

Those of you who own any of these handheld gadgets and took offence at Corbett calling them “fondleslabs” and “doohickies” will be happy to know that the Vision Pro goggles deserve a classification of their own, more akin to medical technology. Here’s how he describes a video of people using these devices on the busy streets of New York City:

“The scenes of Vision Pro-clad transhumans walking around our cities [are] nightmarish enough. Merely watching these not-quite-here people trying to interact with their fake online digital spaces at the same time as they're navigating crosswalks and driving cars is anxiety-inducing in itself.”

Reports, however, show that these “mixed reality” devices are even more anxiety-inducing for the wearer (as well as headache-producing). This has led to them being returned in newsworthy numbers. Does this mean that biological reality has saved humanity from virtual reality? James Corbett doubts it:

“The point of this new ‘everyone is returning their Vision Pro!’ news story advertisement is to plant the idea in the public consciousness that our unease with this latest technology is understandable. After all, at this stage the technology is clunky and headache-inducing. But the headlines are simultaneously planting the idea that these contingencies of form are the only reason people aren't lining up around the block to strap themselves into the goggles right now. Once someone cracks the design code and makes glasses that are comfortable and stylish, then the social engineers will have removed the one obstacle to this technology that they have allowed us to recognize.”

I question whether they’ll ever find goggles that will be compatible with even the most tech-addicted users. Rather, what I suggest in my forthcoming novel, All the Humans are Sleeping, is a "solution" far more invasive:

____

“Please, Dad.”

“Implants?” he said, groggily.

“Please.”

“Do you understand what they are?” He stood, and walked toward her pod, looking down at her thin body. “These… these coffins, they’re not what the kids at school had. This isn’t just goggles and headphones. It’s not a suit you wear that puts pressure against your skin and follows your movements.”

“Oh, come on, Dad.” Rebecca put her hands to her face. “I know more about human interface tech than you. They connect our central and peripheral nervous system directly to the metaverse.” She yowled as she raised two fists into view over the edge of her pod. “Instead of seeing this nightmare, we’ll see trees again. We can go back to the farm. We can go anywhere. Do whatever we want — forget everything that has happened. Forget it all.”

“Forget your mother?” he asked softly.

She didn’t respond.

And he wished he hadn’t said it.

After a long pause, Peter continued. He wanted to speak more sweetly, but his words sounded harsh. “You're going to let them drill holes into your head?” He put his index finger to his temple. “It's not like having your ears pierced.”

“The connections are so small,” muttered Rebecca, closing her eyes, “you can barely see them. They numb the area first. It won’t even hurt. And even if it did…”

Her hands dropped back into the pod with a thud.

“…it can’t hurt more than I hurt now.”

____

Whether the social engineers manage to sell their artificial reality with goggles or implants, only time will tell. Until then...

...to read the rest of James Corbett’s article about "A Fake Place Where Fake People Are Trapped Forever" click on over to: https://corbettreport.com/welcome-to-mixed-reality-a-fake-place-where-fake-people-are-trapped-forever/ 

...and for another excerpt from All the Humans are Sleeping, involving a octopus-like robotic surgeon, check out this post from last month: https://blazingpinecone.com/news/2024/02/22/

—John C.A. Manley

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/