From: cmcl2!panix.com!entropy@uunet.UU.NET (Daniel Gross)
Subject: Re: SOC: Social implications
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 20:10:47 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC


In <1992Apr2.060758.1865@u.washington.edu> tolman%asylum@hellgate.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman) writes:

>In art. <1992Mar27.035750.12519@u.washington.edu> jbehar@igc.org (Joseph Beha
>r) writes:

>>       1)      Are there new moral and ethical problems raised by the         
>>        experience of virtual reality?

>YES.  Major moral problems may arise with this technology.  Specifically,
>some people will entirely confuse the real world with a synthetic one.
>They will relish destruction in the artificial world, and then perform these
>same activities in the real world.  A much amplified problem that is 
>presented now with television. 

[FLAME ON, low burner]

I am exasperated by the perpetuation of the "indistinction" myth that people
will not be able to tell VR apart from reality. Historical examples abound to
suggest that, to express it in McLuhanesque language, our sense-ratios adjust
to the overall balance of information streams. When the Lumiere Brothers
first demonstrated film, one particular sequence, of a locomotive shot
head-on, cause the audience to flee the theater in panic. Modern movie-goers
are perfectly capable of munching popcorn right through apocalyptic scenes
from T2 or Blade Runner. The role of television as the dominant information
source of our culture is relevant, but the suggestion of a perceived
equivalence of the "real world with the synthetic one" just goes too far.

>>        2)      Are there unusual or especially relevant political issues
>>         involved?

>The high bandwidth telecommunications will be one of the biggest economic
>players in the future society.  A country on the ball (Japan) will sink
>money here, and one not there will flippantly let a few underfunded
>researchers pull all the weight.

My experience during my last visit to Japan (Nov-90) was that the most
significant research in this area is confined to the back rooms of even
the most enlightened research labs (e.g. Sony). See my article in the
May-91 __Computer Graphics World__ for a summary of a great number of
significant research efforts, *each and every one* of which are facing
perennial budget battles spared their more conventional counterparts.

>>        3)      What kinds of new social relationships are possible?

>Any and all.  This will have many unforseen consequences.  Some of the
>forseen ones:  Divorces from people finding more "compatible" people in
>the virtual world.  Possibly better mate selection for those who find
>them in the world of ideas. (appearance means nothing here, only ones
>raw personality)  "Computer Sex" is already a problem.  In france, the
>public domain mail/info exchange had 20% of its volume dedicated to
>sex related messages.

Again, the facts are being overblown here. While it is true that France
Telecom's Minitel system counts about 20% of its traffic to porno-
videotex and singles chat services, that number is down from 60% in the
two years following the introduction of Minitel. In terms of content
distribution, it's a foregone fact that there's a spike in the early
acceptance phase of every new information/communication technology,
and the early indicators are already in that for the next few years,
the overwhelming bulk of VR applications will be pugilistic or porno-
graphic. But, as it's happened before, we will see that ratio fall
in to the more conventional balance.

>>        4)      What kind of "professional" organization is developing 
>>        around the research and promotion of this field. Is there a problem
>>        with "insiders" and elitism?

>Too early to tell what will shake out.  There is elitism everywhere, so
>it presumably is here as well.

Cyber-nepotism is already well upon us, ironically entrenched even before
this field has solid footing in industry or academia; witness the recent
thread in this very newsgroup concerning the apathy of some "professionals"
to participate in our dialogue, and our moderator's brave, but still
ill-received by some, attempt to reconcile the budding factions.
 
[FLAME OFF -- out of gas]


-- 
  Daniel Gross              \  My opinions ALWAYS
  FLOW Research, Inc.       |  reflect those of my company.
  entropy@panix.com         |  If yours don't, consider quitting.