pcalhoun/

OLMo-2-1124-13B-McLuhan-LoRA

<|extra_id_0|>Virtual reality redefines the relationship between sensory experience and truth, presenting simulations that feel more authentic than reality itself.
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The fact is that the VR user tends to become whatever he or she is turning on. As we saw earlier with the movie, this is not just a matter of empathy but a kind of amputation or "closure" of the senses that evokes a profound physical response. The VR user is really inside the experience thanks to the power of the computer to simulate many kinds of space and motion by manipulating visual and auditory data. This is the ultimate fulfillment of the painterly ambition to create "the illusion of reality."

The painter could never achieve this illusion by working on a flat surface. He had to learn how to paint perspective in order to create the illusion of the third dimension that we take for granted in our daily lives. The computer can create the illusion of the third dimension easily, and the viewer can interact with the three-dimensional space as well. In other words, the computer can provide the exact opposite of the film experience: instead of "going to" and "getting into" a movie, the viewer "comes from" and interacts with a world of experience. He or she does this electronically, without having to move physically at all.

The film viewer has to follow the action of the movie, since he or she cannot participate in it. Nor can the movie viewer select particular scenes or episodes for his or her attention. The movie must be watched sequentially because it is a narrative form. In contrast, the VR user can choose any sequence that he or she finds interesting or relevant, and ignore the rest. Moreover, the VR user can change the sequence of events at will, and can also repeat, delete, or add new components as desired.

In other words, the VR user can choreograph his or her own sequence of actions in an endlessly variable series of "movies." By contrast, the film is a rigid preordained sequence of actions, usually accompanied by a standardized sound track. The VR user must be as creative in choosing and arranging components as the movie producer in Hollywood. Movie making is not only an art but a very expensive technology that is used extensively in advertising.

The same is true of the airplane. Although used extensively in war, its major use is in commerce. The jet greatly accelerated the commercial use of the airplane, by making possible the airways, much as the highway had been made possible by the automobile. The car put America on the open road, and the plane took the American businessman to the global shopping center.