From: Christopher Fry <70353.3056@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Re: VR defined
Date: 16 Oct 91 00:14:19 EDT



Excerpts from an as-yet unpublished article by me on nanotechnology and 
virtual reality:

"Virtual reality is the study of interfaces between human and machine. VR 
takes these interfaces to their logical extreme, forcing the interface to make
the machine appear as simple and natural as possible without sacrificing 
flexibility and functionality. In a sense, VR is nothing new, just an 
extension of the millennium-old endeavor of making better axe handles for rock
"machines." Better interfaces have allowed us to reliably control more and 
more complex machines. Now, the only machine worth considering is the 
computer." 
...
"It's easy to equate VR (or nanotechnology) with the study of everything 
humans and machines can do. To be useful though, I'm limiting the definition 
of VR to pertain to our immediate senses. Let's be careful to include, 
however, those physical senses within our body as well as those without."
...

When the article comes out, I'll let sci.virtual-worlds know where.