And you are not supporting your claims with facts. If you truly want to accuse me of using a strawman argument, then prove it. Baseless accusations are among the lowest forms of cowardice.
Ok, if that's what it'll take.
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Original premise:
I wonder " Virtualbook" you connect via facebook and can more directly interact with the other person. Simulated touch, sounds, vibrations etc.
A sort of interactive skype call.
A horrid idea I would say, if it happens, as real interaction face to face is vastly better.
Paraphrasing, VR interaction is necessarily worse than face to face, and that people having "interactive skype calls" is a horrid idea.
Counter point:
Again, the same thing has been said pretty much every time new communications technology comes along
Saying it again does not necessarily make it any more true this time then it was in the past.
Counter claim:
But supposing it's true, suppose large portions of the population take to realistic online interaction. Would that really be so bad? Get a hug from your girl friend who is visiting her parents over seas; live meeting with investors from a foreign country where you can draw on a virtual white board and hand out digital samples of your product; play board games in your friends basement even though you're scattered, or maybe you're just sick.
Paraphrased, more realistic virtual reality actually INCREASES the amount of social interaction a person or group can engage in. Several examples where physical interaction would be impossible are provided.
Your counter argument to my counter claim:
Which would you prefer? A hug from your girlfriend in person, or one in VR?
My counter counter:
Some people will prefer in person, some will prefer VR.
Pointing out that my personal preference is irrelevant, attempting to guide back to the claim that there are situations where physical interaction is impossible and therefore virtual interaction is good.
At which point you attempted to counter with
Sure, and what do I care about a friend ruining his life with heroin or risking his life by driving home while slammed?
which is hyperbole: an extreme example, an exaggeration of the situation in an attempt to gain emotional support. Again, I could use the example of people who have lost themselves in a book and missed important appointments, or just not slept when they had important things to do the next day. I could point to the people who read while driving. I could come up with all kinds of wild scenarios where people die because of books. But I won't, because just like your anecdote they are irrelevant.
Finally we get to where you said
You just told me that you didn't see why my friend almost ruining his life due to a WoW addiction should be a concern.
Which is absolutely not what I told you. If you'll notice I said it shouldn't be your concern if people prefer to interact over VR than in real life before you mentioned your friend having a WoW addiction at all. I still say it shouldn't be your concern if people prefer to interact over VR than in real life: the act of interaction, no matter the medium, is not in and of itself damaging.
The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position
I said that increasing virtual interactions is not necessarily a bad thing, that there are many things that cannot be done through traditional physical interaction, and that sometimes virtual interaction can be more comfortable. I then went on to say that it shouldn't be our place to judge if people prefer virtual interaction over physical; the unspoken implication is that the interactions themselves are not necessarily damaging.
A proper counter argument to what I said would demonstrate that someone who likes engaging in virtual interactions is necessarily damaging (and if you can come up with such an argument I'm sure I could use it to prove that video games are necessarily damaging as well, so tread carefully)
Instead you brought up an anecdote about your friend who has become addicted to WoW, as if I were saying that it is impossible for people to have problems. That is a straw man.