From: tolman%asylum@hellgate.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman)
Subject: Re: SOC: Social implications
Date: 31 Mar 92 23:41:31 GMT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept




In article <1992Mar27.035750.12519@u.washington.edu> jbehar@igc.org (Joseph Beha
r) writes:

>       1)      Are there new moral and ethical problems raised by the         
>        experience of virtual reality?

YES.  Major moral problems may arise with this technology.  Specifically,
some people will entirely confuse the real world with a synthetic one.
They will relish destruction in the artificial world, and then perform these
same activities in the real world.  A much amplified problem that is 
presented now with television. 

>        2)      Are there unusual or especially relevant political issues
>         involved?

The high bandwidth telecommunications will be one of the biggest economic
players in the future society.  A country on the ball (Japan) will sink
money here, and one not there will flippantly let a few underfunded
researchers pull all the weight.

>        3)      What kinds of new social relationships are possible?

Any and all.  This will have many unforseen consequences.  Some of the
forseen ones:  Divorces from people finding more "compatible" people in
the virtual world.  Possibly better mate selection for those who find
them in the world of ideas. (appearance means nothing here, only ones
raw personality)  "Computer Sex" is already a problem.  In france, the
public domain mail/info exchange had 20% of its volume dedicated to
sex related messages.

>        4)      What kind of "professional" organization is developing 
>        around the research and promotion of this field. Is there a problem
>        with "insiders" and elitism?

Too early to tell what will shake out.  There is elitism everywhere, so
it presumably is here as well.