4- Wednesdaj, Jan wary 20, 1993'~ North Shore News

Experiencing the f

‘STRICTLY PERSONAL

4
“I

OF ALL the experiences I.
had last year, I’m afraid the
one that stands out the
most is Virtual Reality.
 Let’s not: be fooled by the

: name. We are talking about a very
« real phenomenon that is just Start-
ing to (literally) break over our

, collective heads.

‘I'm not'so sure it’s going to
“change our lives so much because
“it will fit in all-too perfectly with
Our. already-changed lives, .-

What happens | to you is what is
"real so far as'you are concerned.
Cur experience i ig our reality...

- He you've pulled'a VR helmet
“over your head, adjusted the «
ostraps,, and hit the joy-stick but= 2
, ton, and the power,is on, and off:
“you go, that’ Sas real. an experi-

“Not oily that, but. you'can doit:

- again. And again,

“The VR experience poses alove-
Sy. phildsophical’ question: If you

” can remember flying, even if it: :

was Just in’a dream, can you say:

5 7 you've flown? Can, you say you -

are flying? 20.

It all depends on how you:
“define “tyou,!” of course, but.
some ‘part.¢ of you sure as hell i is.
WoMR is; iu a Sense, more real”
than’dreaniing or even: |

hallucinating, because, after all, Yeo

somebody alse ‘can try it on. fe
It is a mechanical device, no ib

television or 747s.

And of course nothing inspired
or original comes by itself out of
a mass-produced program that
everybody can play, anybody can
try on.

For new ideas, you rely on’
dreams and something called '
creativity, whicl: comes from God
knows where. a

’ The one chance ! had to stick
my. head in a Robocop-style VR
helmet proved so stimulating that
L imimediately found ways to
scoop another five ‘‘rides.”’

The graphics were primitive,
there was a lag time between
thumb and activation of the
system, the sound was just slightly
_ overmodulated, and everything
was fuzzy. }

But it was like riding in a ;
Model ‘‘T.”? The pure wonder was
that it worked.

You went forward in space. ,
while doing nothing. more than
sitting there...

In this case you back up, swiv-
el, tilt, climb stairs, duck, sail
through the air, all the time trying
to blow the erap out of some
other cyborg who's inside tHe fan-
- tasy with you, and who, inciden-.
tally, is. after, you.’ !

, Primitive,’ sure. But, the point

_is, | wanted more.

It is casy enough,’ having tried it

half a dozen times, to imagine the :.
hh ‘s0-

technology getting good encit
that you were inside a Fantasia-"
style graphic presentation of
Beethoven or the Beatles — or the
Six oO" ‘Clock news, for that mat-*
ters i/o > i
How much more. interesting to !
‘ be down'on the chess board, being ~
“the chesspersons, or flying about
among them, than'sitiing, chained ©

_ toa chair, staring down at. 4

wooden pieces. |!”
Canadians have always been
among the first people to grab:

J hold of any new communications
/ or entertainment tick, a reaction,

_ quite probably, to the Tong winter -

» nights, lack of uv- B.* “

T predict, quite fearlessly, that
‘there will be at least one VR
"machine in every home in Canada
‘within a generation. They will

” become as ubiquitous, as TV Sets.

more or less amazing than satellite al ‘today.

ald co cas

32%!

piss of Pork Loin Luau
with Pineapple & Banana ae
fio pete :
Barbee ed Duck Luau

vith Yang Chow | ;
o Fried Rice. we

95*

per “Person

i ‘s auIties Additional, puidunt¢ coupons and
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Priced, menu,

me

When I bought my first LP in
the early ’50s to fit on the record
player, the CD wasn't even on the
horizon, tet alone Dolby sound or
synthesizers.

By the time the inevitable fur-
ther thinning of the ozone layer
drives us indoors and under-

’ ground, we’re going to be happy

to have weird devices like VR
around,
*. Of course we’re a long way
_ ‘from having television cameras
“that could shoot all around, above
: and below at the same time, but
then again we already have IM- /
AX, and what is to stop us from.
building an eyeball-shaped lens
that takes in everything, beaming
it back live to people in their VR
machines back home?

As we turn the corner into the
_ next century, all indicators point
to ecological probleras on stich a
scale that it is going to. start
costing us terribly. a

Those of us in the extremes of
the northern and southern hemi-
spheres are going to experience the
worst effects of global warming
and ozone depletion, factors that
will combine to drive us from the
surface.

I’m inclined to think that VR.
will ultimately wind up serving the
forces of repressive desublimation,
meaning that people will slouch
off to their fantasy machines, hit
the button, and trip off into one =:
“world or another, instead of
fighting the revolution,

‘The VR worlds don’t have to be
“a battlefield or a chessboard. They
‘could be sheer 3-D, omniphonic,
‘visual poetry, °

If it’s adventure you want, you
“can be on the’ starship Etucrprise,
noi just watching.

_ Wait until the movies start com- |.
ing out in VR. Especially the his-

torical ones. And the decumen-
taries, And the Ar, Ah yes, the
“Art :

: Inevitably, there will be porn.
Depending on your point of
view,’ VR porn will'cither become
a shelter from sexual plagues or,
“The niost corsupting moral influ

“NO ARTIFIC (AL

ence ever,

In any event, it is hard to imag-
ine it not becoming part of. the

package.

Welcome to the future, persons.
You'll find your bunker equipped
with all the latest amenities, in-
chiding 12,000 VR discs to choose
from... ,

What concerns me about the
release of VR isn’t the various |
specific uses it will be put to, but
the potential for mass ‘addiction:

Once the kids get their heads in
there, a lot of them aren’t going
to want to come back’out. ‘

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