Virtual Washers and Toasters.

On the subject of virtual worlds I’m not an expert, but I don’t think they’re the future. They’ve been written about in fiction in good and bad ways.

There’s the idyllic holidaying to be had in the holosuite of Star Trek Voyager, the ‘everything you desire’ experience of Better Than Life in Red Dwarf.

There’s constructive visions as well as detrimental fetishisation in equal measure. The thing is, visions of the future are never going to be the future as they are always inspired by the needs of the present.

Take the iconic image of The Future Home, domestic bliss where you don’t have to lift a finger, and food comes in metallic trays. The only parts of that to survive are the bits that are the toasters and dishwashers . The rest of that advert we don’t need because we value that bit of human effort. Basically virtual worlds are today’s equivalent of the space-age dinner.