This new book tells skeptics why they should appreciate virtual reality...and tells VR zealots why to cool their jets. Metaphysics is written by Michael Heim, an East-meets-West philosophy teacher. His first goggles-and-glove encounter sent his philosophical seismograph into seizure. The result is this essay collection, bibliography, and glossary that views computing from an ontological perspective. VR appears in the book's latter half. Earlier essays cover "Infomania," "Logic and Intuition," "Hypertext Heaven," "Thought Processing" and "Heidegger & McLuhan: The Computer as Component."
Like Heidegger and McLuhan, Heim reflects on the "radical shifts brought about by an unprecedented development;" he ponders the erotic allure of cyberspace and the philosophical problems puzzling VR designers and users. Heim understands the need for power verbs and the KISS axiom, so helpful when you're digesting a smorgasbord of heady ideas.
Heim writes, "Information plugs us into the world of computerized productivity, but the open space of books balances our computer logic with the graces of intuition." Metaphysics offers such a balance: a warm- hearted, cool-headed meditation on computer technology.
The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, by Michael Heim, US$19.95, Oxford University Press: (800) 451 7556.
STREET CRED
Smut By Any Other Name, and Proud Of ItEinstein on the Beach Meets Eurydice
I Input, Therefore I Am
William Burroughs and The Net: Past, Present,
