The City of Robots

Our society has a fascination with virtual reality. We have many parks which display this fascination. One of the main examples used in the reading “The City of Robots” was Disneyland/World. They talked about how much work goes into making this “world” seem like reality. Disney has characters walking around in the streets there, some of which are cowboys who are wearing jeans which look like some of the paying customers, and they will randomly start a gun fight with another cowboy to make it seem more real and exciting for the visitors. There was one quote that struck me in particular because I believed it to be true, “Disneyland not only produces illusion, but-in confessing it-stimulates the desire for it: A real crocodile can be found in the zoo, and as a rule it is dozing or hiding, but Disneyland tells us that faked nature corresponds much more to our daydream demands” (203). Although the realisticness of the surroundings and characters within the scenes in Disney make you feel like you are actually experiencing what is happening, you know in the back of your mind that it is not real. Another important thing that was said in this reading was, “Disneyland tells us that technology can give us more reality than nature can” (203). I believe this quote to be true as well because no one can experience as much as they can when it’s all in one place even if it is fake. There are so many things in life that one wants to experience, or would want to know what it would be like to experience them, and a place like Disney gives you that opportunity, but without all of the risks that come with them. So we are able to have our desires to experience the unknown fulfilled without having the risks that come along with these dangerous adventures.