|
The probable path of virtual reality will be determined by economic prerogatives and commercial possibilities. The bulk of financial support for virtual reality technologies was originally provided to university research labs by the treasury of the defense department. Now, in addition to the virtual reality video games which are finding their way into theme parks and arcades, the lucrative market of virtual "adult entertainment," converts the notion of a joystick to a power glove that can cop a feel. A feature on VR in Details, the urban contemporary "Magazine for Men", underlines the potential of VR as a tool for what Howard Reingold calls "teledildonics" ; the one picture of VR presents a hand in a power glove, represented on the screen by a virtual white hand reaching towards the breasts of a naked white female torso.
|
|
The eventual manifestations of virtual reality seem very likely to reflect the cultural and political institutions which financially foster their growth. Representations which reinforce stereotypes will probably prevail. Although Lanier's representation remains explicitly connected to a "real" body, this image is preferable to other, derogatory ones; overgrown lobsters are unlikely to incite consumers to an enthusiasm equal to that generated by high speed pursuits, weapon play and buxom virtual bodies. Communication technologies do not evolve autonomously from cultural context; they are designed to function in a certain capacity, to satisfy the desires of commercial interests.
|
|
The consensus of cybernetic embodiment is one version of virtual reality. However commercially viable, the schizophrenia of commodity bodies in cyberspace, in which prefabricated anatomies can be adorned or manipulated, is unsatisfying for the cyborg seeking new possibilities. In fact, the representation of "real" bodies in VR is perhaps the most banal interface that cyberspace offers. Analysis of the "consensual loci" of interaction in the Net and "real" life risks forgetting the mode of transition, "the angle of transit," the relationships of users to their friendly machines, the "bodiless exultation" of "jacking in."
|