The notion of information existing in its own world, separate from the physical one, has always been seductive.
When you use a computer, you naturally assume the metaphor of place to describe the experience. You "go" to the menu and choose Quit to "get out" of a program. You may wonder "where" you left a particular file. These are spaces that you believe in even though they don't exist.
This dynamic is what makes the virtual reality meme so immortal. Virtual reality provides a metaphor for our experience of computing - the experience of entering a virtual space with its own laws of physics - and turns that metaphor into a spectacle worthy of Hollywood.
- Giles Bowkett (gibo@rci.ripco.com) lives and writes in Chicago.
