Imagien watching film, but with video goggles that go around the sides of our heads too. so that we can see an image all around us like in real life. We do not watch the film from a distance. we are in it! The film, of course, is a computer image. The goggles are sensitive to the movement of our heads: the image moves when we turn our heads as it does in the real world. Built-in earphones also change the direction that sounds seem to come from as we move past objects. Gloves that can expand to put pressure on our fingers allow us to fell that we are touching objects that in the virtual environment. All this already exisits, so what is new?
As computer programs get faster and vore detailed, much more will be possible. We already have flight simulators for training poliots, but programs will be develo0ped for training in almost anything. We will be able to meet friends or colleagues in virtual environments: luxury conference rooms, exotic landscapes, vitrual art galleries or impossible fantasy spaces. Imageine treating phobias by allowing people to meet their fears inn a virtual, harmless world. Doctors will be able to attend operations thousands of miles away, and when robot arms are developed, they will be able to actually take part in the operations. This type of remote expertise will be available to many professions.
But there is more. Experts believe that, sooner or later, the techonology will be developed to allow us to link computers directly into the brain. then everything will be possible: sights, sounds, touch, smells, tastes, even emotions. It is even suggested that we can go futher still, and input memories to create completely new virtual identities. We can become whoever we want to be. We could have a whole catalogue of parallel lives and personalities. The possibilities are truly endless.
As computer programs get faster and vore detailed, much more will be possible. We already have flight simulators for training poliots, but programs will be develo0ped for training in almost anything. We will be able to meet friends or colleagues in virtual environments: luxury conference rooms, exotic landscapes, vitrual art galleries or impossible fantasy spaces. Imageine treating phobias by allowing people to meet their fears inn a virtual, harmless world. Doctors will be able to attend operations thousands of miles away, and when robot arms are developed, they will be able to actually take part in the operations. This type of remote expertise will be available to many professions.
But there is more. Experts believe that, sooner or later, the techonology will be developed to allow us to link computers directly into the brain. then everything will be possible: sights, sounds, touch, smells, tastes, even emotions. It is even suggested that we can go futher still, and input memories to create completely new virtual identities. We can become whoever we want to be. We could have a whole catalogue of parallel lives and personalities. The possibilities are truly endless.
