亲爱的，来一场虚拟现实约会，如何？

通常来说，年龄的增长意味着不可避免地要失去某些东西——头发、牙齿、家人和朋友，也许还包括房子和金钱。

随着人口不断老化，越来越多的人想要活到100岁甚至更大的岁数。不过，更长的寿命可能是件祸福相依的事情。我们真的愿意延长老年时代吗？毕竟，如今的许多老人发现自己失去了与社会的联系，他们成天待在封闭的房子里面，感到十分孤单。身体机能的下降让老年人很难维持他们的人际关系，以及爱情和生命的意义。

现在好了。欢迎来到虚拟现实世界。

许多专家认为，虚拟现实绝不仅是游戏领域一时流行的风尚。越来越多的人相信它能够打造全方位，广角度的体验，甚至可以重现人们珍视的记忆。

想象一下，在你100岁的时候，和妻子重温第一次约会的场景，那会是什么情形？

想象一下，如果我们在年老的时候，无论身体状况如何，都可以利用科技手段，尤其是虚拟现实技术和其他可穿戴设备，重现当年的记忆并创造新的人际关系和体验，那会是什么情形？

约会指南作家詹妮弗•凯尔顿表示，这都是多巴胺和催产素作用的结果，我们从社交互动中获得的快感会促进大脑分泌化学物质。

荷尔蒙是人生意义、激情以及爱情中必不可少的一部分——无论我们的年龄大小。

约会网站BadOnlineDates.com创始人，《21世纪约会求偶指南》一书的作者凯尔顿表示：“多巴胺和催产素会给予我们身体和情感方面的支持。”

“有趣的是，我们从社交网络、游戏以及亲身互动中，能得到许多令人愉悦的荷尔蒙。”她补充道。

在我们老去的同时，包括可穿戴设备和机器人在内的许多技术，会打造一个方便人们约会和建立人际关系的全新世界。不过，虚拟现实和游戏技术也许会引发最大的变革，尤其是随着幻觉状态和生物反应技术的发展。

第一波虚拟现实技术已经初露端倪。《纽约时报》不久前发布的虚拟现实应用赢得了一片喝彩。谷歌推出了一套硬纸板折成的虚拟现实眼镜，供用户配合手机使用。还有一些公司从各种高度和角度拍摄360度视频，让用户不只是看电影，而是亲身参与到电影当中。Facebook旗下的Oculus Rift公司也准备发布下一代头戴设备。

游戏开发者、XEODesign公司创始人尼克尔•拉扎罗也认为，虚拟现实技术和游戏将为老人提供全新的体验，绝不仅仅是简单的娱乐。她目前在开发一款名为“追踪白兔子”的游戏，以迎合人们希望深化虚拟现实体验的情绪。

拉扎罗指出，这项技术在未来50年的迅速发展，甚至灰超出我们今天的想象。她表示：“虚拟现实的精髓在于体验，在于催生情绪。当我们考虑年龄老化和约会时，我们实际上讨论的是社会关系，而虚拟现实显然可以实现这一点。”

这意味着，待在沉浸式，广角度的虚拟现实领域中就能体验到新鲜事物，比如滑翔伞运动，还能重现记忆。使用虚拟现实技术，还可以将当前的幻想和过去的现实结合并联系起来。

物理限制将会消失。即便你在空间上受到了限制，你也可以与新的朋友骑着自行车游览尼泊尔或者乘风滑翔。

不相信吗？请想像一下那些笨重的虚拟现实头戴设备被隐形眼镜代替，而其他佩戴虚拟现实眼镜的人与你同处一个场景。你可以用你想被感知到的方式塑造自己，而其他人会真的感觉你在那里，而不只是知道你的年龄。如果你想要再次变得年轻，在虚拟现实场景里就可以办到。甚至，如果你想成为一只章鱼，在接下来50年内也许也能实现。

对于50年后的人际交往和约会，这意味着什么？这意味着我们增加了一个新层次的现实世界，物理限制将会消失。这意味着衰老被重新定义，那些可能无法轻易、频繁出门的老人也能拥有全新的工作和社交时间。它有助于缓解老年人面临的问题，他们之前被隔绝开来，无法与同龄人或者比他们年轻的人交往。

显然，这种先进技术也许会促使百岁以上的老人结合在一起。你在对公园里散步的那对老夫妻微笑？也许50年后，他们就会在重现的高中礼堂里漫步了。

现在大约有60%的老年人已经开始上网，他们会去社交网络、游戏平台或OurTime.com之类的约会网站。随着更多数字时代的人进入老年，这一数字在未来还会上升。

如果你觉得老人不需要继续约会或是保持亲密关系的话，那就错了，老年人也有许多性行为。实际上，由于人们对婚外性行为的态度比以前开放，老年人感染性病的案例有所增加。更高的离婚率和更多的分手次数，让老年人的单身数量也提高了。

不过凯尔顿表示，无论是线上还是现实中会面，其重点在于跟其他人交流。随着越来越多人在家里而不是辅助生活社区中变老，这一点尤其重要。

她说：“无论是真实社区还是虚拟社区，生活在联系紧密的社区中的人们，都会有更长的寿命。”（财富中文网）

本文作者安迪•斯科洛普夫是前高盛集团技术分析师，目前在丹佛云服务公司HOSTING担任首席战略官。

译者：严匡正

审校：任文科

Growing old, at least as we know it today, is about inexorable loss — loss of hair, loss of teeth, loss of family and friends, loss of home and money, perhaps.

As the population ages, and more people are expected to reach 100 years old and beyond, it can seem a mixed blessing. Is old age something we want to prolong? After all, many old folks do today find themselves cut off, shut in and lonely. Relationships — love and meaning — can be made difficult by physical barriers.

Enter VR — virtual reality.

Many experts believe that VR will be more than a gaming fad. There is a growing belief it can create an ability to have full-fledged, wide-angle experiences, and even relive cherished memories.

Imagine if, at 100, you and your wife could relive your first date?

Imagine old age if we can use technology, VR in particular, and other wearables to not only rekindle memories, but also to create new connections and experiences, no matter what our physical status in real life?

Dating guide author Jennifer Kelton says it’s all about dopamine and oxytocin, and the rush we get from social interactions which spur the brain chemical.

It’s a hormone that is integral to meaning and excitement — and love — no matter what our age.

“These hits of dopamine and oxytocin sustain us on a physical and emotional level,” says Kelton, the founder of BadOnlineDates.com and the author of Don’t Use My Sweater Like a Towel: The Stain Free Guide for Dating and Mating in the 21st Century.

“Interestingly,’’ she adds, “we can get these doses of pleasure hormones from social networks and gaming, as well as from in-person interactions.”

Many technologies, including wearables and robotics, will create Brave New Worlds for dating and relationships, as we get older. VR and gaming may offer the most dramatic shifts, however, especially as the suspension of disbelief improves and biological responses develop.

The first wave of VR is already on the horizon, too. The New York Times just released its VR app, to some acclaim. Google GOOG 2.03% has created a whole selection of cardboard VR viewers you can use with your cell phone. There are companies that are filming 360 degree video from multitudes of heights and perspectives to allow users to participate in movies, rather than just watch them. Oculus Rift, owned by Facebook FB 2.51% , is ready to launch next-generation headsets.

Game developer Nicole Lazzaro, founder of XEODesign, agrees that that VR and gaming could open up new experiences for the elderly in the future, and that it will go beyond simple entertainment. She is working on a game called Follow the White Rabbitthat targets emotions to deepen the VR experience.

Lazzaro notes that the technology will advance in leaps and bounds in the next 50 years to beyond what we can even imagine today. “Virtual reality is about experiences and generating emotions,” she says. “When we think about aging and dating we are really talking about social relationships, and virtual reality will deliver that in spades.”

That means a sojourn in the immersive, wide-angle VR realm could allow someone to experience new things such as paragliding as well as a memories. It also could tie the two — present fantasy and past reality — together and network them with others using VR.

Physical limits will fall away. Even if you are physically confined, you could be cycling in Nepal or hang-gliding with your new friend.

Skeptical? Just imagine that those clunky VR headsets have been replaced with contact lenses, and other people wearing the VR lenses can be in the same scene as you. You can project yourself, as you want to be perceived, and be seen for who you feel you really are, rather than just your age. If you want to be young again, in VR you can. (Heck, if you want to be an octopus, in 50 years from now you could probably do that, too.)

What does this mean in terms of relationships and dating fifty years from now? This could mean that we add a new layer to reality, one where our physical limits fall away. It could mean a redefinition of aging as a newly productive and social time for old folks who perhaps can no longer get out as easily or as often. It could help bridge the gap that both elderly men and women face in being closed off from interaction with people their own age, and with younger ages.

Of course, the advances will also probably spur a spate of centenarian coupling, too. That old couple that you smile at as they take a stroll in the park? In 50 years they might be walking through a re-creation of the halls of their old high school.

About 60 percent of seniors are already online today, on social networks, gaming platforms or dating sites such as OurTime.com. Those numbers will grow as more digitally savvy generations hobble into the future.

And if you think older folks don’t need to continue to date and be in relationships, seniors are having lots of sex already. Indeed, the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases have risen among the elderly, helped by more relaxed attitudes to sex outside of marriage. Higher divorce rates and more breakups and higher have led to more single people, too.

But whether you meet online or in person, Kelton says what remains important is having interactions with others — something that’s especially important as more Americans age in place rather than moving to assisted living facilities.

“People who live in strong communities, whether they are real or virtual, will have longer lifespans,” she says.

Andy Schroepfer, a former tech analyst for Goldman Sachs, is chief strategy officer at HOSTING, a Denver-based managed cloud services firm. Follow him on Twitter at @SHrepFUR, which is the phonetic spelling of his name.