Virtual Reality
virtual reality is considered one of the most exciting technologies today, constantly evolving and improving. According to Eric Drexler, a world known pioneer in this field, VR is “A combination of computer and
interface devices (goggles, gloves, etc.) that present a user with the illusion of being in a three dimensional world of computer generated objects.” The term ^virtual reality,^ is not finite in its meaning, but generally includes desktop VR, immersion VR, where the goggles and gloves are used, and projection VR.
The virtual reality technology is not yet perfect and still too expensive for the common man. The use of high-end VR is mainly restricted to larger companies, and to special areas such as medical surgery and pilot training. Home users are limited to desktop virtual reality programs, which lets them navigate in three-dimensional worlds,
but seldom gives the feeling of actually being there. The entertainment industry has yet to embrace the technology in full scale, but in his book ^Virtual Reality^ Howard Rheingold states ^Used today in architecture, engineering and design, tomorrow in mass-market entertainment, surrogate travel, virtual surgery and cybersex, by the next century ^VR^ will have transformed our lives.^
The Essay on Virtual Reality in a Real Physical World
... towards learning. Sports teams are also taking advantage of technology by using virtual reality to create real-life game simulation for training purposes. ... have studied ideas of the three-dimensional world since the late 1950s. The ideals of virtual reality did not surface into our society ...
Will VR cause people to lose their grip on the real world, or is it
just a continuation of previous developments that took people to
imaginary places?
People seem to always have escaped to ^imaginary worlds^, to get a way
from the stress of real life and to relax. We have all experienced
Greek theatre, read novels and been to the cinema, and lived ourselves
into fiction stories that we identify with. Our imagination creates a
fiction world, which leads us away from real life for a moment of time.
In our own utopia, we forget contemporary problems of reality.
Even though the virtual reality technology creates a utopia for us to
explore, it is in a lot of ways different from other developments we
know so well today. June Deery, from the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy says ^whereas in fiction we imagine and empathize, in
cyberspace we are supposed to ^actually^ step into the other world.^
This means that the other world is not created in our minds, but is
already there. We have to move in that world and take part in it, not
only with our mind, but by using our senses, such as seeing, hearing
and touching. These are our navigation tools. This world is imaginary
in the way that it is not of something real, but a result of the
programmer of that worlds imagination. It is ^virtual.^
In previous developments, such as theatre, novels and cinema we
passively follow a linear storyline, with a start and an end. The
author of it predetermines all the happenings in a particular story. We
have no participation in the play, but identify with it and our
imagination creates a generic feeling that we are a part of the story.
In virtual reality however, we do participate actively in a non-linear
story, we are a part of the plot. How the story evolves, depends on
what we do, and when we do it. What we get to see of the story, depends
on where in the virtual world we are. We are able to see, hear and
The Essay on Brave New World Society People Life
In Brave New World, by Arduous Huxley, a new and controversial society is presented to its audience. A world of artificial intelligence where humans are cultivated in test tubes and social class is predetermined by the chemical mix they receive in vito leads John Savage into corruption. He is torn between a world in which people's fates were placed upon themselves and a world in which Alphas and ...
touch the elements in the story and interact with them. We have become
one of the actors, with the freedom to rewrite the play along the way!
Human beings are social creatures that like to communicate. ^Because
computers make networks, VR seems a natural candidate for a new
communications medium^ (Heim, Michael 1993).
Just as the Internet has
become our time^s biggest communication network, virtual reality could
have a great impact on how we share information. Imagine a meeting with
people from all parts of the world in a virtual room, or playing
cricket with people from Pakistan.
As mentioned above, we identify with stories, and also the characters
within them. We often think ^if I were him,^ or ^if I looked like
that,^ then ^I would.^ We imagine and wish for a moment that we were
something else or lived another life. In time, as virtual reality
improves, maybe we will get the chance to do just that by strapping on
a set of goggles and a sensory suit. Using this technology we could be
able to choose a desired identity and act it out as our imagination
wants us to. But what if that virtual world is better than the real
world?
John Suler, with a PhD in psychology, at Department of Psychology at
Ryder University states in the website ^ Computer and Cyberspace
Addiction^ that ^People become “addicted” to the Internet, or act out
pathologically in cyberspace, when they have dissociated it from their
f2f life. Their cyberspace activity becomes a world unto itself. They
don’t talk about it with the people in their f2f life. It becomes a
walled-off substitute or escape from their life.^
It seems like the virtual reality technology is inevitable. ^People
initially use technology to do what they do now-but faster. Then they
gradually begin to use technology to do new things. The new things
change life-styles and work ^styles. The new life-styles and
work-styles change society^.and eventually technology.^(Fubini^s law)
Before we know it, virtual reality might be as usual in contemporary
The Essay on School: Meaning of Life and World
Imagine a world where everything you believe is true, is actually a TV Show. Now you’re in the world of Truman Burbank, an ‘average’ person whose entire life is broadcasted to the world. Christof the director of the Truman show states that “We accept the reality of the world in which we are presented. ” This is a key issue in “The Truman Show” but does it apply to our real lives? Do we question ...
life, as television has been for decades. We will be presented with a
new way to escape from reality, which seems to be ten times as powerful
as previous developments. We will open doors to fascinating mazes, that
some of us may never come out of. Worlds that we don^t even want to
come out of because it appears better than the chaos we daily are
surrounded with, the real world. It might even be another addiction. Or
as Jerry Garcia put it ^they made LSD illegal. I wonder what they^re
going to do with this stuff.^
Bibliography
Reference:
Websites:
^ÑVirtual Reality- The Past, Present and the Future^Ò
http://194.80.193.185/students/nquirk/NOEL_VR2.HTM
^ÑPotential Future Applications of Virtual Reality in Architecture and Related Issues^Ò
http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/research/student/VRArch/futintro.htm
Zupko, Sarah (1999) ^ÑCultural Studies Center^Ò Articles/Papers
http://www.popcultures.com/articles/cyberspa.htm
Chislenko, Alexander (1997) ^ÑIntelligent Information Filters and Enhanced Reality^Ò
http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/EnhancedReality.html
^ÑJones Telecommunications & Multimedia Encyclopedia^Ò Virtual Reality
http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/vr.html
Farscht, Russel ^ÑVirtual Reality^Ò
http://futures.wharton.upenn.edu/~russel07/vr.html
Articles (online):
June Deery (1995) ^ÑFiction-Medicated Communication: Virtual and Real Realities^Ò
http://www.cas.ilstu.edu/english/mediations/deery.html
John Suler (1999) ^ÑComputer and Cyberspace Addiction^Ò
http://www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/basicfeat.html
Heim, M (1993) ^ÒThe Essence of VR^Ò
http://rochester.edu/College/FS/Publications/HeimEssence.html
^ÒPotential Future Applications of Virtual Reality in Architecture and Related Issues^Ò Fubini^Òs Law
http://www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/research/student/VRArch/futintro.htm
Harrington, Patrick ^ÒVirtually There^Ò
http://www.diverseworld.com/ccult/ccult12.html
Books:
Rheingold, H (1991) ^ÑVirtual Reality ^ÑSimpson & Schuster New York
Rheingold, H ^ÑThe Virtual Community^Ò
Available online: http://well.com/user/hlr/vcbook/index.htm
The Term Paper on Pimentel Teixeira Reality Virtual World
Virtual Reality Virtual reality is the concept of illusion. It is an artificial realm itself, a fresh experience that involves the use of high technology. It is to convince oneself the existence of a non-real world. It is also a method to communicate ideas, thoughts, and a tool to experience what one might not be able to achieve. The term virtual reality was coined by Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL ...
