[This Road to VR story describes how physicists and philosophers think we can, and whether we should, gather evidence for the simulation hypothesis. See also a Space.com interview with Rodney Ascher, the director of the new documentary A Glitch in the Matrix that “tackles the theory head-on”; that story includes the film’s trailer (also available via YouTube); here’s an interview excerpt: “SPACE.COM: How did making this film either confirm your belief in simulation theory or make you question it? RODNEY ASCHER: Well there are two ways of looking at simulation theory, either as a scientific possibility that changes everything we…

[In another story that raises questions about the ethics of presence, this report from SoraNews24 takes a sarcastic approach to describe a new product from Japanese toy maker Takara Tomy intended to evoke medium-as-social-actor presence; the original story includes more pictures and watch the video there or via YouTube to get the full impact. –Matthew] Electronic grandchild “Ami-chan” developed by Takara Tomy The future of grandparenting is now! By Master Blaster August 21, 2021 It’s time we faced some hard truths, grandchildren are inefficient drains on our time and money. Sure they have their moments and will sometimes produce goods…

[This TechCrunch story weighs the ethical implications of new software that uses real-time speech recognition and synthesis to create the illusion that a person is speaking with a different accent. The company’s press release is available via AccessWire. What do you think about the promise and peril of this presence-evoking technology? –Matthew] Sanas aims to convert one accent to another in real time for smoother customer service calls By Devin Coldewey August 31, 2021 In the customer service industry, your accent dictates many aspects of your job. It shouldn’t be the case that there’s a “better” or “worse” accent, but…