Showing papers by "Marie-Laure Ryan published in 1994"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose to analyze VR as a semiotic phenomenon and to explore its implications for literary theory and the question of textuality, and propose a novel approach to explore VR's implications for textuality.
Abstract: Few of us have actually donned a HMD (head-mounted display) and DGs (data-gloves), and entered a computer-generated, three-dimensional landscape in which all of our wishes can be fulfilled: wishes such as experiencing an expansion of our physical and sensory powers; getting out of the body and seeing ourselves from the outside; adopting a new identity; apprehending immaterial objects with most of our senses, including touch; being able to modify the environment through either verbal commands or physical gestures; seeing creative thoughts instantly realized without going through the process of having them physically materialized. Yet despite the fact that virtual reality as described above is still largely science fiction, still largely what it is called-a virtual realitythere is hardly anybody who does not have a passionate opinion about the technology : some day VR will replace reality; VR will never replace reality; VR challenges the concept of reality; VR will enable us to rediscover and explore reality; VR is a safe substitute to drugs and sex; VR is pleasure without risk and therefore immoral; VR will enhance the mind, leading mankind to new powers; VR is addictive and will enslave us; VR is a radically new experience; VR is as old as Paleolithic art; VR is basically a computer technology; all forms of representation create a VR experience; VR challenges the distinction fiction-reality; VR is the triumph of fiction over reality. We may have to wait until the next millennium to see whether these promises and threats will be materialized, but since VR technology is depicted so realistically by its prophets, and since it exists very much in the popular imagination, we don't have to wait that long to submit the claims of its developers to a critical investigation. In this paper I propose to analyze VR as a semiotic phenomenon and to explore its implications for literary theory and the question of textuality.
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