Tamagotchi kids: could the future of parenthood be having virtual children in the metaverse?

[Superfly]

A screwdriver, inserted into the brain from the eye socket, a homemade lobotomy vs a few lines of code

 

[bomberfox]

My wife and I have environmental concerns, as well as financial concerns because we live in the most expensive state to live in if you are middle class. But we took the plunge anyway. However, we do recognize that we are in a privileged position.

But as far as having AI children like a hyper-advanced "The Sims"-style game, yeah I can see people getting attached to the character they have created and it creating emotional problems if they were to lose them. But that is the problem: The "parents" are not the legal guardians of these AI children. The company that created them is, because these children are created by algorithms and their data is stored on servers outside of their "parents" control.

At best, the parents have a license to these artificial children, in the same way that purchasing a video game online through XBox, Playstation or Steam grants you license to use that game. But you are not the exclusive owner with absolute right to the intellectual property. What happens if the Metaverse servers go down or are corrupted? Or the company that creates them goes out of business and the servers which cost massive amounts of money to power have to be shut off? I cannot imagine a world in which a court orders a company to continue keeping highly-advanced computer AIs up and running no matter the cost.

Yeah usually what is uploaded to metaverses is on the metaverse and can be lost at any time. It would royally suck considering how much i spent on second life but thats how it is.

 

[Gordy327]

Right like I said it's not a new phenomenon. People fought for abortion in the late 60s early 70s also there was a big hype about overpopulation then as well.

Overpopulation is and continues to be a problem.

 

[Gordy327]

In a virtual kid, you could change their programming, while doing that for a real life kid would be difficult

If they really annoy you, you can pull the plug, as it were.

 

[Crovax]

Overpopulation is and continues to be a problem.

It does not. Developed nations are below the replacement level, the world fertility rate is just barely above the replacement rate and the population is expected to level off around 2050 and then start dropping from there.

 

[Gordy327]

It does not. Developed nations are below the replacement level, the world fertility rate is just barely above the replacement rate and the population is expected to level off around 2050 and then start dropping from there.

With almost 8 billion people on the Aneta and rising, overpopulation certainly is a problem. It's only speculative that the population will level off or even decline, barring some natural disaster. Sustaining such a large population strains ecosystems and resources, which will only continue to deplete over time.