room with a view.

i visited a friend recently
who's flatscreen tv was so huge
that you couldn't see out of the window
in fact the light from the window was considered a nuisance

windows are more expensive than flatscreens these days
it is much cheaper to build houses without windows
and insulation is more effective

put a camera on the wall outside and you have a virtual window
you could have any view you like
open fields, the rolling tide and sea birds
the jungle with wild exotic animals

it may seem a bit like a window
but really you are just living in a dark room
a padded cell

you could visit your friends without leaving your sofa
watch CCTV cameras and take a virtual walk down empty streets
pretty soon humans wouldn't have need of legs
just one hand for the remote

virtual curtains
day or night
you wouldn't know if the world you saw through your window was real
or some virtual graphical model of a place you used to know

does that sound a bit scary
or is that just the way things are going?