Virtual reality is the concept of using technology to allow users to interact with a computer-generated environment for entertainment, education, training and design. Ideally, a computer simulates an environment that is complete with physics, simulated objects, sights and sounds, and then outputs that environment into the senses of the user. Modern technology has yet to live up to this ideal, and currently most virtual reality technology is limited to sight, sound and touch. Virtual reality has been popularized through several movies, books and video games, which have sometimes distorted the nature of the technology.
History
Though the term has its roots in fiction and theater, virtual reality as a technology began in the 1950s with the Sensorama, developed by Morton Heilig and conceived as a theater that would address all senses. In 1968, Ivan Sutherland developed the first head-mounted display (HMD), which, with the aid of early wire-frame graphics, allowed users to perceive themselves as being inside a virtual environment. Films like "Tron," television series like "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and books like William Gibson's "Neuromancer" served to popularize the notion, and early versions of the technology have been used in amusement parks, for historical recreations and in video games. While the technology has progressed a great deal, modern virtual reality devices are generally limited to head-mounted displays combined with headphones and gloves that allow for sensation and manipulation of virtual objects through force-feedback and motion-sensor technologies.
Benefits
Virtual reality has many potential uses because it appeals to our intuitive use of information. In education it can allow for the creation of full environments that would present the experience of hands-on study without needing to leave the classroom. In medicine it can allow students and researchers to treat virtual patients as training and, in combination with advanced robotics, perform surgery at a distance. Engineers can create, modify and test designs in a virtual space, and soldiers can train in virtual war zones. Psychologists and therapists may also utilize virtual reality for treatment purposes, especially in the treatment of trauma disorders.
Theories/Speculation
Theories on the future and nature of virtual reality include the notion of the integration of the Internet and virtual reality for purposes of communication and data management and the idea of the creation of perfect virtual worlds. Advances in technology are expected to bring about more realistic simulations and possibly a way of feeding sensory data directly into the brain. A competing idea called "ubiquitous computing" reverses the classical notion of virtual reality, bringing the functions of computers into everyday reality, and some theorists speculate that the final result will be some integration of the two. In a variation on the "brain in a vat problem," philosophers have put forward the interesting argument that, should complete simulated realities be possible, then it is possible that they have already been designed and that we are currently in one.
Misconceptions
Because of the popular use of virtual reality in movies, novels and games, there are often misunderstandings about how virtual reality functions and what it entails. For example, there is no reason why being injured in virtual reality should result in injury to the physical body, why electrical hazards would somehow cause you to magically be stuck in a virtual world or exchange places with a virtual entity, or why a virtual entity could somehow manifest itself in physical reality.
Concerns
The primary concern associated with virtual reality is the worry that, given the ability to make simulated realities, humans will choose to live in those realities and ignore this one. Another worry is that virtual reality technology could be used to manipulate and control people by convincing them of false realities or conditioning them by using simulated experiences.
