How will society cope? (Score 3)

There has been a great deal of commentary dealing with the fact that the alteration of images is not a new idea, but very little on how society will deal with the new technology that allows real-time video alteration. And though no historical scholar of merit, I believe we can already see precedents in past technological advances.

When The Great Train Robbery was first shown, people were alarmed when a man on the screen turned towards them and shot a pistol. Reportedly, certain men in certain theaters actually drew their weapons and shot back. This was a new technology, new trickery of the eyes; unused to it, people were gullible, and some could not separate reality from technology's alteration of reality.

Flash forward. We have many many movies with guns. Yet the news is not full of stories about people whipping out semi-automatic weapons and shooting back at the screen. Why? Because we have become accustomed to the technology.

With every technological advancement there is an initial "wide-eyed acceptance" that takes place. "Ooh! Shiny!" But luckily (?) people have short attention spans, and they adapt to their situations. Dishwashers do not illicit comments like "What is that thing? It does WHAT?" Simple line drawing animation no longer fools people into thinking that dinosaurs are actually still alive. And, given time, not only will people not believe the little digital ads inserted into live broadcasts, but bunches of slackers will sit on couches and make fun of them for being poorly rendered.