Who needs reality?

There is this scene in one of the Matrix movies where a character bites into a hamburger and says something like "I know this is not real. But who cares? It tastes damned good." Just the way I would feel, I suppose, and I think most of the world would feel like that.

I mean, come on, what you experience of the world is mostly through your five senses. It is all fine to be telling me that machines are exploiting humanity. But it is not like they are running labor camps or concentration camps. I am not being whipped to work 18 hour days, am I? I mean, like my life seems cool enough to me, so what if it is all virtual? After all, I am not experiencing that so-called reality, am I?

So why this sudden digging into ancient history now? Well, people seem to be telling that technology is moving with breakneck speed these days. AND I have heard about this 'Meta' thing and Virtual Reality and all such. AND THAT lead me to wonder about whether the Matrix is round the corner after all.

Ah, No, No! I am not wondering about being used by machines as a biological battery. Not yet. What I AM wondering about is the possibility of this VR thingy actually being able to give a complete sensory experience - sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. So much so that it seems completely real, just as it is supposed to be in Matrix.

Then, would I even need reality? Would anyone? Yeah, I know, someone has to be out there in 'reality' to keep the IV running to keep you alive, keep all the infrastructure going, yada yada - you know all those mundane things of life which seldom hit Page 3. But, given that THAT is taken care of - by humans or by machines - would I bother about not experiencing reality? 

I mean, reality is so...messy...full of unpredictable things, especially people. You do someone a good turn and he throws a tantrum because his cook put in too much sugar in his coffee in the morning. You greet your colleague with a smile and he snaps, "No need to smirk at me just because you got a bigger raise." So, there you go. VR is probably much more predictable and more fun all around.

What was that? A sense of achievement? You get that ONLY in reality when you do real things on the ground? I mean, really, if I manage to get the Wand of Death from the Cave of Thetis; or carry succor to my stranded colleagues braving the sulfur pools of the Death Planet; or rescue a small girl from the ravening hordes of nomadic warriors; or whatever counts as achievement in the virtual world I am in, do you think I will feel any less a sense of achievement than you do when you capture an additional 3% market share for your company's soap? Come on!

I mean, like, for ages people have been telling in India that there is a reality beyond the world of your senses and it is the purpose of life to pierce through the veil of your senses and appreciate the true reality. Does anyone take that seriously? AND, now, of a sudden, you tell me that what my senses tell me is 'virtual' and there is a reality behind that, why should I heed you, now? OR, even if I believe you, why should I bother to perceive that reality instead of wallowing in the world of my senses?

So, yeah, if at some future date we CAN achieve a Matrix like VR WITH a social infrastructure that can keep you inside it...

Will we still need to be in touch with reality?

OR, will we be like the kid in a Keanu Reeves interaction? He is supposed to have asked Keanu why he was fighting in the Matrix; Keanu is supposed to have said something like 'To show and change the reality' and the kid is supposed to have said the equivalent of "F@#K Reality".

Who needs reality, really?