From: autodesk!peb@uunet.uu.net (Paul Baclaski)
Subject: Re: Mayhem and VR:  rape, murder, pornography?
Date: 3 Sep 91 21:00:43 GMT



In article <1991Aug25.003917.16259@milton.u.washington.edu>, ags@gec-mrc.co.uk
(ags) writes:

> >From 'Computer Weekly' today (22/8/91):
> | TORTURE WARNING
> | Medical experts have warned that virtual reality ...
> | could be used as an instrument of torture.

This reminds me of stories about how people reacted to an early 
film of a locomotive steaming into the audience--the patrons 
instinctively jumped from their seats.

New technology is exciting, but calling it an instrument of torture
is like calling a rollercoaster a torture device.  The advent of
VR technology is going to come slowly, not all at once.  There will
be a gradation of realness that starts with cartoon animation to 
realism complete enough that traveling for a business meeting will 
begin to make no sense (except for that pesky speed of light delay...)

The virtuality of horror films was widely accepted early on during
the evolution of film technology--the more real, the more scary, the
more entertaining.  Certainly there are films that are not censored,
but simply contain images that are grotesque or scatalogical and 
are not very popular, but they do not place the viewer under the 
filmakers control--you can always turn off the VCR or take off
the eyephones.


Paul