VIRTUAL reality technology will soon be so powerful that it will cause drug-like hallucinations, Microsoft has predicted.

One of the tech firm's top researchers said VR would be able to warp reality and catapult users into a new world.

3 This is how billions of people may soon spend their time Credit: AP:Associated Press

3 The Prince of Wales wearing Virtual Reality Goggles Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

In the golden age of the 1960s, psychedelic adventurers used LSD to produce a similar effect, often getting naked and enjoying unabashed sex soundtracked by by some of the best music ever written.

But anyone looking to trip out on virtual reality will probably do so alone in their room, wearing a helmet and unlikely to be touched by another human being.

Mar Gonzalez Franco, a researcher at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters, said: "By 2027 we will have ubiquitous virtual reality systems that will provide such rich multisensorial experiences that will be capable of producing hallucinations which blend or alter perceived reality.

"Using this technology, humans will retrain, recalibrate and improve their perceptual systems."

The technology will also be refined to incorporate "haptic" systems, which simulate touching or being touched.

3 Cheap thrill ... these LSD tabs can be sold for as little as 50p

Franco added: "In contrast to current virtual reality systems that only stimulate visual and auditory senses, in the future the experience will expand to other sensory modalities including tactile with haptic devices."

The tech expert was speaking out as part of a project which quizzed Microsoft's female employees about their predictions for the future.

Most of them said artificial intelligence would play a greater role in our lives, bossing us about and saving us from making "sub optimal decisions".

If you think that sounds pretty miserable, wait until you hear what we'll be doing instead of working.

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Nicole Immorlica, senior researcher, New England research lab, said: "By 2027, automation will give rise to a new economy in which most people’s societal contribution comes from the data they generate as they go about their lives rather than the work they do."

What this means is that in 10 years we'll be under constant surveillance and milked for the data we produce, with nothing to look forward to except a lonely evening spent getting high in virtual reality.

Thanks Microsoft.