From: mg@godzilla.cgl.rmit.OZ.AU (Mike Gigante)
Subject: Re: Ultimate input hardware
Date:  6 Mar 91 10:45:56 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre, Melbourne Australia.



cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) writes:

>I don't know about "mind-reading" per se, but more than one psychologist
>has commented on the value that virtual-world art therapy could have for
>therapists.  One could, in a sense, "enter" the intellect of another
>by traversing the virtual world that the patient/client creates.  It might
>take a strong heart to tolerate what one might see -- art therapy, even in
>its conventional painting and sculptural forms, often produces harsh and
>threatening results.  But the insights (a fine word, here) could be
>remarkable.  And, being interactive, an art therapy world might permit
>new types of in-world therapeutic regimes.


Well, as is often the case, fiction (esp. science fiction) foresees
ideas before the technology is able to sustain them. What follows
should be mandatory reading for any student of VR. (I would argue well
above cyberspace genre on the reading list)

I cannot tell you the exact name/title because I don't have my books
with me at the moment, but there is a Nebula award winning story called
"Shaper" (or a title containing the word shaper) by I think Roger Zelazny
about a therapist who shapes a virtual world in which sight, smell, taste
and emotion are used as part of the therapy process. `He who shapes' is
actively controlling the complete environment in a sort of mind meld.
Control is via some kind of ultra complex "keyboard"/"deck" where all
the stimulations are controllable by sliders/knobs.

The story, which is a good one, centres about providing hitherto unseen
(visual) responses to an extremely strong-willed women who was blind
from birth.

The patient sits (naked) in an womb-like egg capsule. I can't recall
whether or not there were direct brain taps or what.

The opening of the story shows the ideal therapy using such a tool.
What happens with our strong-willed heroine, I'll leave for your
reading enjoyment.

You can find the story in a TOR collection of Nebula award winning
stories. If no-one else can fill in the gaps in my memory I'll post
the details next week [The book is at a beach house I am heading to
this weekend].

Mike Gigante
ACGC, Royal Melbourne Institute of technology
Melbourne, Australia