VR the implementation is prone to false starts. I still don’t know whether this current wave will stick.
But VR the concept is universal and inevitable. The idea of feeding artificial input to the biological senses, in order to place our consciousness elsewhere, is a genie that can’t be put back in the bottle. No way does humanity leave that option on the table once it’s technologically feasible.
I worked on a team that felt 'like a family' once, and it was by far the best period of time in my career. I really don't think you can intentionally create that environment, though. It just happened due to the personalities involved. I couldn't have hired for it, either, since my first impressions of two of those personalities were negative.
Of course, I immediately lost almost all contact with all of them as soon as I left. It may have been illusory, but it was definitely nice.
I've witnessed ongoing sexual harassment in the game industry, and there is nothing good natured about it. Often it was ribbing, but it was also overtly sexual, demeaning, and clearly a game to see how badly they could affect the victim before she went to HR. Which never actually happened, at least not that became public knowledge.
I was ribbed a lot too, but obviously not sexually. And I still really could have done without it.
In my experience prestige has been a lot more about which company I worked at than the role. If anything my being a programmer detracted somewhat from prestige outside the company, while adding to it only within.
What doesn’t scale well is John Carmack (and those of similar devotion).
And yes, I’m aware that there are also those with the chops, who are not permitted by their money masters (or alternately by their master, money) to write performant software.
I don't believe lack of notability needs any explanation at all. It's the default. I have plenty of [anecdotal] evidence that exceptional skill is one of many factors that might contribute to notability. Other factors include networking or self-promotion, timing, and chance. Being a lurker type myself, I've encountered many fellow lurkers in forums over the last 20 years, who demonstrated astounding expertise, but are afaik almost completely unknown in my industry. I can think of many more people who actually are at the top of the industry, but are relatively unknown simply because they do not give talks, blog, or write books. In case it wasn't obvious, my personal hypothesis is that SN was simply a very skilled lurker in the cypherpunk scene. I doubt he was Finney, Dai, or Szabo, but I suspect he was someone who, like myself, was well aware of them and hung out in the same forums and lists.
> No I don't think it's Szabo or anyone else whose name is known to me.
I have always thought the speculation about SN's identity suffered alarmingly from availability bias. Everyone wants to believe he's someone they know about. Someone who's extremely well-known for working on or writing about things extremely similar to Bitcoin. There are far more smart nobodies tinkering with things than there are top names working on those things.
Also suffers from a bias I'll call "Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare bias." The idea is that a notable thing must have been written by a high-status and well-credentialed person, and could not have been done by a talented no-name.
Regarding your first paragraph, I don't think that necessarily implies consciousness as an additional thing (not that consciousness doesn't require some explanation that is not forthcoming). You could be talking about a configuration of matter. Not an exact configuration, but one that would be recognizable to a powerful pattern matcher.
I've been meditating daily for about a year. Not what many people would think of as serious practice. Just 10 minutes at a time, a few times daily. I notice much less anxiety. Less depression, better mood. Easier to fall asleep. After only a few months, it became very easy to completely quiet my mind anytime, in a matter of seconds. My mind is quieter throughout the day. In particular, I hardly get into negative trains of thought at all. It hasn't changed my life or made me especially more effective, but it has made life far more bearable.
But VR the concept is universal and inevitable. The idea of feeding artificial input to the biological senses, in order to place our consciousness elsewhere, is a genie that can’t be put back in the bottle. No way does humanity leave that option on the table once it’s technologically feasible.