No matter how much technology evolves, real experience will be indispensable to the realization of happiness: TETSUYA MIZUGUCHI

March 18, 2016

This is part two of a three-part conversation on future technologies and lifestyle between Tetsuya Mizuguchi, a creator involved in various activities such as games, music, and moving images on a global scale and specially appointed professor at Keio Media Design in the graduate school of Keio University, and Ricoh researcher, Kensuke Masuda. Continuing with the first installment, they bring together their imaginations for discussions on the relationship between technology and human happiness and go further into the value of real experiences in the future of simulated experiences.

The interconnectedness between the desires of people who wish to become happy and technology

• Mizuguchi：

  Through my media design research, I continue to research the desire of humans and I think that the strongest desire is that they wish to be happy. Of course happiness comes in different forms, but if you apply factorization to why one wants to become happy and how one does it, reasons exist and you understand that many people are living to realize them.

• Masuda：

  In our previous discussion we talked about simulating virtual worlds with VR and AR. And from that virtual world, you can select one thing that you want and keep it at hand in the form of a real object. I feel that that is a first step in grasping your last goal of happiness.

• Mizuguchi：

  Yes that’s true. There are actually a lot of things that can bring you satisfaction spiritually. For example, when you’re hungry and you look at images of food in social media, you somehow feel a kind of satisfaction and not as hungry as before. (laughter)

• Masuda：

  Yes that does happen. (laughter) It’s a situation where the visual experience causes a psychological effect. And from that kind of simulated experience, one’s thinking can change, and there are cases where your psychological state can move in more fulfilling directions. That experience becomes the spark to what needs to be taken as the next action.

• Mizuguchi：

  Yes that’s right. For example, people playing sports, they’re not getting the pleasure of actually having to use their muscles at full capacity, rather they are receiving fulfillment through the pleasure of the brain. There are plenty of people who from that point, the interest grows and they decide to actually begin doing the sport. For example, people who are influenced by comics and decide to take up soccer. I also, last year at the age of 50, began surfing and I’m already completely obsessed. (laughter)

Going beyond pre-established harmony, real experiences with overlapping coincidences have value

• Masuda：

  The leading character in the story this time is the real Mr. Mizuguchi. (laughter)

• Mizuguchi：

  That’s embarrassing. (laughter) Actually, from my childhood I always had a great fear of water, but I thought when I turned 50, I would try to do what I was worst at and decided to try surfing. In the beginning I was completely hopeless and shocked. (laughter) From that point, I asked a surfer friend to be my coach and the first thing he taught me was not technique, but rather it was a mental thing, how to get acquainted with the water and nature. And then at the moment when the fear had disappeared, I saw the shining beauty of the surrounding sea and evening sky. And at that moment when I was in the middle of nature and touching that unifying integrated experience for the first time, I was moved from the bottom of my heart. And from that point on I’ve love it to death. I still have a long way to go and I’m not good at riding but little by little I’m getting used to it.

• Masuda：

  After joining the company, I began scuba diving. I had always asked myself, while being in a space where removing the mouthpiece could result in death, why do we need to daringly jump into the water? However, once I actually experienced the feeling of zero gravity in water, it completely changed my mind. I calmed down and it was at that point when I looked around at my surroundings and the world of the ocean suddenly opened up before my eyes. Probably this sensation was similar to the experience that you had.

• Mizuguchi：

  Up until that point when one arbitrarily decides it is the limit or when it is that critical point, at the moment those thoughts are eliminated, a new consciousness is switched on.

• Masuda：

  That’s like simulation in the situation where someone has prepared pre-established harmonic pictures or moving images, and they cannot be felt as authentic. For example, when you see by chance a beautiful sunset, or by chance a large shoal of porpoises passing by, I think it is worth experiencing because of various overlapping coincidences.

• Mizuguchi：

  Yes that’s right. And if I say why I chose the topic of surfing, it was because when I thought about what I would be doing 20 years later in the year 2036 and what daily life would be like, I imagined that age would not matter, and life would be centered on what else, but new experiences that were driven by curiosity which would lead to the continuation of self-realization. I think that by using the power of new technologies I can continue to make new discoveries with my own spirit and body.

• Masuda：

  While technology evolves, I will probably continue lifelong learning through various real experiences.

• Mizuguchi：

  If humans cannot feel moments of happiness, we probably cannot survive. Like merely swaying in the waves is happiness. What is happiness is something that is extremely important and a society that respects each and every self-realization is in a mature condition.