> I didn't think we were working with that assumption. If so, ok, but in that case I'll quibble with the prediction that we'll ever get that far. The human brain is SO keyed into the nuances of reality, but we never notice because we only notice things like that when they're wrong.

I suggest it doesn't even have to be 100% indistinguishable from reality. Frankly, I've spent enough time playing a game like World of Warcraft -- in no way a convincing copy of reality -- that it feels like a tangible, physical space to me. When I log in and "see" people I "know" it honestly feels like I'm visiting somewhere.

Even something like RinkChat, which is nothing other than text, feels like a real place to me, because I've spent a lot of time there and the interactions I have there are meaningful and important to me.

A virtual world that manages to imperfectly involve all five senses would be orders of magnitude better than the best worlds we have now (I personally think tactile response is the key). If a virtual world were more interesting in some respects than the real world (e.g. I have the power to fly and make out with supermodels whenever I feel like it) I could imagine being willing to largely replace the real world with one that was didn't quite seem right.

Stephen