Virtual Realism [Paperback]

Virtual reality has introduced what is literally a new dimension of reality to daily life. But it is not without controversy. Indeed, some say that a collision is inevitable between those passionately involved in the computer industry and those increasingly alienated from (and often replaced by) its applications. Opinions range from the cyberpunk attitude ofWiredmagazine and Bill Gates's commercial optimism to the violent opposition of the Unabomber. Now, withVirtual Realism, readers have a thought-provoking guide to the cyberspace backlash debate and the implications of cyberspace for our culture.

Michael Heim offers a comprehensive introduction to virtual reality and a provocative commentary on its present and future impact on our lives. Heim describes the fascinating and important industrial and military uses of virtual reality, as well as its artistic and entertainment applications. He argues that we must balance the idealist's enthusiasm for computerized life with the need to ground ourselves more deeply in primary reality. This uneasy balance he calls virtual realism.

A pleasant, easily readable account of several applications of computer technology to create experiential art and one or two useful tools. --The Washington Post Book World

Heim's views on technology are far removed from the routine rhetoric of cyberhype. With one foot in the book-crammed world of the humanist scholar and the other in the factories of the future, his ideas are always sensitive to both the euphoria and the anxiety which new technologies engender. Above all, his approach is pragmatic: accepting our technological fate and examining different ways to absorb its impact. --Mark Nixon,Twenty First Century

Michael Heimis the author of the award winningThe Metaphysics of Virtual Realityand the ground breakingElectric Language.