From: jeff@is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Jeff McAffer)
Subject: Re: SCI: VR "Turing Test"
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1993 15:42:56 GMT
Organization: University of Tokyo / Object Technology International


In article <1m1sgiINNk32@shelley.u.washington.edu> "Pat (P.) O'Shaughnessey" <shags@bnr.ca> writes:

 >Of course, there are many problems to which VR may be applied, that true 
 >reality is the ultimate goal (i.e. training).  There are also
 >applications where it may be very useful to forget about "real" world
 >constraints, and know that you are not working with real stuff, but an
 >incredibly well-chosen metaphor. (such as molecular docking -- we don't 
 >usually play with unusually large molecules in the "real" world that
 >produce invisible forces, although this representation helps create a better
 >intuition).

On that note, have you read _Ender's Game_ by Orson Scott Card?  In
summary, Ender, a young boy training to be a leader, is practicing in
a "simulated" battle which isn't really simulated and winds up wiping
out a whole race of creatures (or so we think, see the sequel for the
whole story).  The point is that for him it was a simulation of a
battle but in some relatively abstract terms.  He didn't actually go
anywhere and was likely light years away.  His actions and
manipulations were translated into actions by real entities with the
above results.

Having said that, this abstraction, while possibly dangerous, is one
of the more interesting and powerful potentials of VR (IMHO).

--
ato de, |m        -- Humpty-Dumpty met the challenge of the wall with
                     a spectacular collapse.                - M. McLuhan