An artificial intelligencesays that prospective parents will soon be able to choose to have digital children in the metaverse.
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The so-called Tamagotchi children. They haven't been "born" yet, but according to Catriona Campbell, they won't be long in coming.
More and more people today are deciding never to have children. There are a number of reasons why having children is not an option for young couples, including concerns about environmental destruction, overpopulation, the rising cost of raising a child, and more.
Catriona Campbell, one of the UK's leading experts on artificial intelligence, has released a new book, called AI by Design: A Plan For Living With Artificial Intelligence.
According to this book, “within 50 years, technology will have advanced to such an extent that babies in the metaverse will be indistinguishable from those in the real world.”
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Virtual children will exist in the metaverse, which as we know it is the immersive digital future of the internet. Campbell predicts that they will become very common and embraced by society within half a century. She called this digital demographic the “Tamagotchi generation.”
According to Campbell, the virtual children will look like you and you will be able to play with and cuddle them. They will be able to simulate emotional reactions as well as speech, which will range from “googoo gaga” to counter-talk as they grow.
However, it will be up to us when and if they grow up. And if at some point we decide we don't want to be digital parents anymore, we can simply cancel subscription . It sounds a little creepy.
The advantages are minimal cost and environmental impact. And certainly less worry, since everything in the child's life will be planned by you.
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On the downside, though, the fact that you can essentially turn a childmakes it more like a dystopian doll than a person you created. Is this the future we want?
