Virtual Future?

Virtual time yields yields virtual futures...

We can create virtual programs, and we can predict and form the future in a virtual world, but can we really determine the future of reality using these virtual programs? In Chapter 22, Lance Strate talks about predicting the future through the use of virtual programs. We can use virtual programs to stimulate the future in the present and "Given that knowledge, we can then act to control the future; and with or without forecast, the program creates a pre-determined future." Although we can see into the future, it is important to distinguish the difference between reality and virtual reality. I liked how Strate incorporated a a passage about Gary Gimbert who discussed how we can use film as a medium to create illusions from the past or the future that exist in the present. We can create films that will visualize our future through a simulated environment that is similar to our reality. For instance, one of the best movies that explores virtual reality is 'The Matrix'. The characters live in a virtual reality because their true reality was so polluted and gruesome that they learned to coincide in a virtual world.

Although I agree with virtual programs simulating the future, I was unclear about how this can form a pre-determined future. We can simulate a program to predict our future, yet I agree with Kurt Vonnegut that it is impossible to change or create the future. Why are we searching to break away from time in the natural time world? Natural time has been an ancient tradition dating back to the Aztecs capturing light through prisms to depict the time of day and year. I believe it is important that we stay within these boundaries and avoid trying to pre-determine our future in cyberspacetime.