Jaron Lanier coined the term “virtual reality” more than a quarter of a century ago and is often called “the father of virtual reality” for his pioneering research in simulation technologies. But now that we’re living increasingly virtual lives, he’s not so happy with the way it’s all playing out, for reasons he explains in his book You Are Not a Gadget. In this excerpt from my interview with him, he talks about how something called “cybernetic totalism” has become a kind of religion of Silicon Valley, as exemplified by the ideas of futurist Ray Kurzweil:

You can watch the whole conversation here.