From: julianb@hitl.washington.EDU (julian bleecker) Subject: Virtuality and the Dominant Culture: Review from AFTERIMAGE, 12/91 Date: Sun, 29 Dec 1991 04:24:58 GMT Organization: Human Interface Technology Lab, Seattle Some excerpts from a recently published review of Rheingold's VIRTUAL REALITY and Benedikt's complilation, CYBERSPACE: FIRST STEPS. This review appeared in the December 1991 issue of AFTERIMAGE, a magazine devoted to photography, independent film, video and visual studies books. Timothy Druckery, instructor of photo history and electronic imaging at the School of Visual Arts in NYC wrote the review. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "An inversion is occurring. Slowly the reciprocal relationship linking technology and politics is eroding. After a half century in which technological development was driven by the political and military demands of the cold war, what is now emerging is a culture driven by image-based technologies. Whatever absurd presumptions exempted technology from ethical scrutiny over the last several decades are being overshadowed by its exemption from even the most basic philosophical scrutiny today. Indeed the sheer velocity of technological innovation in the past two decades has scarcely allowed for the development of a theoretical analysis of our relationship with technology. Rather, the deluge of soft- and hardware has preempted critical consideration under the lingering mythology that progress will untangle its own problems in the utopian future it creates. "In the 1980's scientific representation reemerged as a visual technology linked with the computer. Although it received fantastic acclaim from researchers and computer scientists at the time, there was no concern whatsoever for its broader cultural implications. At the same time, photographic representation in the '80s was acknowledged as a central cultural force, and criticized for its role in perpetuating dominant ideologies. How these two seemingly irreconcilable positions can be related is the subject of intense debate. A new theory of signification that can apply the critical insights of theories of representation to the cultural experience of electronic imaging is necessary.... "Indeed for anyone donning the now fashionable "Eyephones" and grasping the ephemerality of cyberspace there are some profound obstacles to surmount. But they exist not so much in the clumsiness of the experience as in the cognitive issues related to it. At a recent VR conference one speaker noted that the LCD screens used in VR systems display an image that, from a practical point of view, renders the viewer "legally blind." Of course this limitation leads to the demand for more technically developed imaging systems. Thomas Furness, who came to The Human Interface Technology Lab from The Air Force's VR research program, speculted to Rheingold that "if it is indeed possible to safely scan laser beams directly onto the retina at a high enough rate, in an extremely controllable manner that is synchronized with the eyeballs' motion in real time...then it will be a breakthrough of major dimensions in terms of the verisimilitude of the virtual display." As Furness notes: "A laser microscanner will paint realities on the retina. We think we can achieve a resolution of 8000 by 6000 scan lines." There is nothing "virtual" about the implications of this research: a "reality" implanted directly into the human brain. But Furness seems oblivious to the potential misuse of such a technology. In true military fashion the painting of "realities" on the retina becomes simply another technical problem to be surmounted.... "The simultaneous fetishization and destabilization of visual experience, already in crisis after decades of television, has reached a critical point. Ultimately, technology is the core issue in the discourse of virtual reality and cyberspace. Rather than mystification what is called for is critique..." Comments? Julian Bleecker julianb@hitl.washington.edu