Virtual Culture

Gentle Rossouw
25204310
Blog 1

Virtual reality is a revolutionary and different technology and distinctions can be found between older technologies such as film, the telephone and the written letter.

What distinguishes visual reality (VR) from older technologies?

VR can be traced back to the 1920’s with the development of the flight simulator but it was not until 1984 that Jaron Lacier coined the term with his head-mounted display (eyephone) and DataGlove inventions. This makes visual reality a fairly new development and area of research.

Writing a letter and speaking over a telephone still deals with technology but “virtual reality is an immersive, interactive system based on computable information.” Older technologies are not a “rare” experience in the sense that everyone has access to it. The “real” virtual reality-experience is made possible with very expensive computers and equipment. The viewer has difficulty distinguishing between reality (real life) and virtual reality. This is not to say that only highly interactive equipment can provide a true virtual reality experience but rather that there are different levels in virtual reality and letter-writing or film-watching are simply primitive forms of the “virtual experience”. Viewers are fully aware that they are watching a film in a darkened room and a comfortable chair. Viewers may be in "another world" while watching the film and the viewer might engage with it but the level of connection is not so high that it can convince the viewer the film is reality. Thus, one can distinguish between older technologies and virtual reality in terms of levels and the full body experience (e.g. full body data suit) would be the most convincing and breathtaking experience while writing a letter the simplest form. In order for virtual reality to succeed, it needs to deal with all the sensory inputs - sight, sound, touch and even smell. People make sense of their environments through their senses. In order to distinguish between reality (real life) and virtual reality a combination of technology and the EXPERIENCE needs to be considered. The virtual environment has to be highly interactive.

Virtual reality is thus exceptional, rather than completely different from older technologies. Virtual reality is the high-point of all this technology and does not only deal with computers but rather a whole range of topics. Richard Wagner suggests in his article entitled “the essence of visual reality” published in his book The metaphysics of virtual reality (1993) hat “perhaps the essence of visual reality ultimately lies not in technology but in art.”