Escapism And Virtual Reality
...some drawbacks.
`Virtual Reality', a new method of interacting with any computer, is presented
and its advantages and disadvantages are considered. The human aspect of
computing and computers as a form of escapism are developed, with especial
reference to possible future technological developments. The consequences of a
weakening of the sense of reality based upon the physical world are also
considered. Finally, some ways to reduce the unpleasant aspects of this
potential dislocation are examined. A glossary of computing terms is also
included.
Computers as Machines
The progression of the machine into all aspects of human life has continued
unabated since the medieval watchmakers of Europe and the Renaissance study of
science that followed Clocks . Whilst this change has been exceedingly rapid
from a historical perspective, it can nevertheless be divided into distinct
periods, though rather arbitrarily, by some criteria such as how people
travelled or how information was transferred over long distances. However these
periods are defined, their lengths have become increasingly shorter, with each
new technological breakthrough now taking less than ten years to become accepted
(recent examples include facsimile machines, video recorders and microwave
ovens).
One of the most recent, and hence most rapidly absorbed periods, has been that
of the computer. The Age of Computing began with Charles Babbage in the late
19th century Babbage , grew in the calculating machines between the wars
EarlyIBM , continued during the cryptanalysis efforts of World War II
Turing,Bletchley and finally blossomed in the late 1970's with mass market
applications in the developed countries (e.g. JapanSord ). Computers have
gone through several `generations' of development in the last fifty years and
their rate of change fits neatly to exponential curves Graphs , suggesting...
View Full Essay
