The newest communication technologies are profoundly changing the
world's politics, economies, and cultures, but the specific
implications of online game worlds remain mysterious. The Virtual
Future employs theories and methods from social science to explore
nine very different virtual futures: The Matrix Online, Tabula Rasa,
Anarchy Online, Entropia Universe, Star Trek Online, EVE Online, Star
Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade, and The Chronicles
of Riddick. Each presents a different picture of how technology and
society could evolve in coming centuries, but one theme runs through
all of them, the attempt to escape the Earth and seek new destinies
among the stars. Four decades after the last trip to the moon, a new
conception of spaceflight is emerging. Rather than rockets shooting
humans across vast physical distances to sterile rocks that lack the
resources to sustain life, perhaps robot space probes and orbiting
telescopes will glean information about the universe, that humans can
then experience inside computer-generated environments much closer to
home. All nine of these fantastically rich multiplayer masterpieces
have shown myriads of people that really radical alternatives to
contemporary society could exist, and has served as a laboratory for
examining the consequences. Each is a prototype of new social forms,
a utopian subculture, and a simulation of technologies that have yet
to be invented. They draw upon several different traditions of
science fiction and academic philosophy, and they were created in
several nations. By comparing these nine role-playing fantasies, we
can better consider what kind of world we want to inhabit in the real
future.
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780857299048
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Springer
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter