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If it were possible to live a perfect but virtual reality instead of actual reality, which would you choose?

Ever want to live a life that was perfect by your own definition of perfection? If it was possible, would you trade in your current life for one where you could actually achieve every dream you could imagine?

In this scenario your physical body is taken offline and a synthetic reality is realized, but your body remains inaminate.The only catch being there is no going back once you've made the decision.

Would you choose a perfect life? If you would, what are the major things you would want to experience in your taylor made alternate reality?

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  • Jun 19 2013: LOl,I think there isn't anything is perfect in this world.I would like to live real life in reality and keep perfect in my dream:)
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    Jun 20 2013: I wouldn't care to live in a virtual world... It is the human connection, the love I give & receive that makes my life worth living. I feel that technology was intended to make life easier in the workplace and home so that we'd have more time to really live and love. It has since evolved into something very different than initially intended which in some instances, a replacement for human contact and interaction.
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      aj trip

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      Jun 20 2013: That's a good point about possibly wanting to return to your former life. I should have said in the question that would be no knowledge of your former life after you made the choice.
      But I understand the deeper point that achieving all your goals probably wouldn't be too fun either. No sweet without the bitter and all that right?
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          aj trip

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          Jun 20 2013: I understand that completely. I'd probably make the same decision but I still find myself wondering about it anyway. I think there would be a lot of good reasons to make the opposite choice too.
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    Jun 19 2013: There is no difference. What we see and feel is light, time, color and electro-magnetism. None are solids. We all live within our fantasy. When our minds get together and agree we create communality within our fantasies.
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      Jun 20 2013: I can see that line of thought up to a point. But in actual reality, some things exist outside our ability to perceive/sense them like getting shot in a store while getting a cup of coffee for example. You can live in whichever reality you choose, but when you bleed out on the floor, you're dead and your reality ends.
      I think the lure of alternate realities is about the elimination of risk in ones life. I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to live without consequence (at least to a point).
  • Jun 19 2013: aj,
    I am an artist of a different ilk...

    I handicap Horse Races to find the winner. Before the race is run.
    Probably one of a very very few who can do so profitably.
    Maybe the only one.

    I shoot pool/billiards/snooker. 3 and 4 cushions. are my specialty.

    There is nothing I can conceive that I need to achieve in any reality.
    I live at the beach, my wife visits occasionally, my children dote on me.
    I have many friends, and I like myself. What else in life is needed?
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    Jun 19 2013: Actual reality. I want to make a difference in this world, and I don't want it to be virtual (unless it helps people in actual reality).
  • Jun 18 2013: Actual reality.

    Your purpose in life, your impact on the lives of others, and the desire to work towards improving the arts, sciences, volume of world knowledge, etc. would all be for nothing real.

    What is a dream in a perfect virtual reality? Would we revert to dreaming about abnormalities, broken stuff, and bad things?

    This is a bit like choosing to be in a drug induced coma rather than a painful reality for the very sick or those near death, except the duration would be lifelong.

    At what point would you be old enough and mature enough to make this decision?

    As a side note, power outages would take on a whole new level of severity!
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      Jun 19 2013: You said ,"This is a bit like choosing to be in a drug induced coma rather than a painful reality for the very sick or those near death, except the duration would be lifelong". I think the key difference is that with a drug induced coma, your experiences while in the coma are not predictable. While in your alternate reality, you would carry on with a life, free to move around, make friends, achieve goals and so on. You would know going into the decision that you wouldn't be comatose mentally but rather would be unlimited in your potential.

      As for your question about dreams, I suspect your dreams would be comprised of things that make you happy.

      Some might wonder about life not being as sweet without the bitter though.
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    Jun 18 2013: I would choose a perfect life. These are the following conditions that I would require.

    1. I forget about the "real" world all together. In this perfect life, I do not know of any other existence that lived, am living, or could live.
    2. My friends and family are in this life. They're my friends for a reason.
    3. Society in this world understands the meaning of existence and the purpose of the species.
    4. The law in this world is interchangeable with morality. Everyone follows it.
    5. No utopian illusions. This world really has to be fully functioning and "perfect."

    In this case. Why not? Sounds great.
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    Jun 18 2013: Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that this whole thing is not a video game?
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      Jun 19 2013: Do you mean our curent reality?
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        Jun 19 2013: Yes
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          Jun 19 2013: Well if it is, it lacks what I outlined in the question, a perect reality by one's own definition.
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          Jun 19 2013: Except that is eternitythey are talking about in the clip, and this would be a normal lifespan. Also, if you decided you didn't like hell, you'd be able to leave because it's what you desire that would drive your reality. But good clip, I love the TZ!
  • Jun 20 2013: If it truly was a perfect life, then it would be one where I make the rules.
    And so your exemptions would disappear in a puff of smoke. :)
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      Jun 21 2013: Your perception would be your reality yes. Your vision of happiness is what you make it, whatever that may mean for you. But in reality you'd probably be hooked up to some kind of computer that force fed you and kept you healthy.

      The essence of the question is what I was hoping to get answers about, I realize the question itself isn't perfect.
  • Jun 20 2013: Reminds me of The Matrix the best movie ever!

    It's a shame that theres a matrix 2 and 3 though :(
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      Jun 20 2013: Vanilla Sky is another movie with a similar theme, one of my all time favorites.
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    Jun 20 2013: . . .
    Our life goal is to keep our DNA alive.
    "Virtual reality" can't do it.

    for keeping our DNA alive
    with ultra-high accuracy
    "Virtual reality" can't do, either.

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      Jun 20 2013: I agree that we are wired to have babies and that this directs much of our behavior but what if someone who couldn't have a child was given the option to live a virtual reality where they could have one? Do you not think they'd get the same sense of fulfillment as you living the real life? Assuming all things were equal and the person wasn't aware of their former reality of course.
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        Jun 20 2013: .Thanks for replying.

        I agree.

        But I worry that can not be the perfect same
        because of our instinct of ultra-high accuracy
        (e.g. to differentiate any person from 7 billion in the world).

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    Jun 19 2013: Virtual reality I don't think you would have that feeling of being alive which makes life so precious.
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      Jun 20 2013: Ever had an extremely vivid dream? what if it was that real in your mind?
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        Jun 20 2013: Well, that's a difficult question. But I don't see how you could live seventy years in a dream, for example, I suppose you'd be just lying in bed for seventy years, but your body would become very sick, I think, getting no exercise. Plus you would need real food, or you'd die, but the real food would contradict the dream food. In my dream I would feast on caviar and truffles, but in reality you probably wouldn't eat that well, so you'd frequently be hitting a contradiction, which would be rather jarring. Agree?
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          Jun 21 2013: Well the scenario has a lot of holes for sure, and I realize it's not possible at this time, it's just a hypothetical question and for it's purposes we'll have to ignore things like bed sores and poor diet. The former life is nonexistent and there is no ability to perceive the real world outside your "dream".

          Just your life as you want it to be.
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        Jun 21 2013: well, aj, I'm thinking the scenario has too many holes, I mean I'm a sensualist so I'd like to live in a world of continual sensual delight, as I said constant delicious food, great sex, beautiful sights, sounds, smells, but this would contradict some of what your real body would be experiencing, there'd be a significant disconnect. I don't see how you can get around it.
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    Jun 19 2013: Though I have many doubts about the 'actual' reality, given that it is one whose purpose and creator is yet not known and we are still living with questions regarding these (with just an inkling that may be these questions will never find answers), I shall prefer to live in it to living in a perfect virtual reality. The reason is that I hate living in a reality designed by somebody and with a purpose - God or a super computer.
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      Jun 20 2013: What about living in a designed reality bothers you?
  • Jun 19 2013: Only real is real and even in religious thought there are qualifications.
  • Jun 18 2013: I awaken each and every day, and I say to myself, 'Think good thoughts'.
    A simple mantra.

    My life is what I made of it, and what I make of it. Nothing more.

    I live a life that I cannot judge as to being perfect, or not.
    An alternate reality? Why?

    I like me. I like me as well as I can. I have done past things I wouldn't do again.
    But, all in all, that's ok. No need to search for alternatives.

    I wouldn't want to be perfect. There is only downhill as a future.
    And none of this type of conversation makes any sense.
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      Jun 19 2013: Some people are perfectionists, some aren't. There is nothing wrong in being satasified with your life as it is, and nothing wrong with aspiring to be more happy then you currently are.
      Is there nothing you'd want to experience that can't be achieved in your current reality?
  • Jun 18 2013: I would choose reality.

    I cannot imagine a perfect life. I could not design a perfect life.

    I suspect that most people who tried would be very disappointed. Many real people do achieve their dreams - sports professionals who make millions doing exactly what they want to do, same for a few actors, models, and others - and then some of them turn to drugs and other forms of self harm. If you knew from the beginning that your every venture would succeed, that every decision would be a good decision, life would lose much of its zest. Celebrations would have no meaning. That uncertainty is the main reason why so many people like to gamble.

    People who want to live an illusion can already do so.
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    Jun 18 2013: So really, the only difference is that in the other reality my dreams come true with less effort, right? But wouldn't I have new unachievable dreams there ?
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      Jun 19 2013: In a perfect alternate reality, if having unachievable goals is something you wanted, you would have it. It's not just about less effort either, there are many things in this life you'll never achieve no matter how much you try. Whatever your desires might be, they'd at least be possible. Maybe the thrill is in the hunt so to speak, and you could have the hunt for as long or short a time as you wanted.
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        Jun 19 2013: I supposed that'd bore me out of my skull. My real skull.