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From: merkel@hriso.ATT.COM (Thomas Merkel)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk,alt.cyberspace,alt.cyberpunk.tech,news.groups
Subject: Re: Cyberpunk/space/tech/virtual-reality
Summary: Surprise, surprise
Message-ID: <1989Dec13.182421.9889@hriso.ATT.COM>
Date: 13 Dec 89 18:24:21 GMT
References: <4860@blake.acs.washington.edu> <14973@well.UUCP>
Reply-To: merkel@hriso.ATT.COM (Thomas Merkel)
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T HRISO, Morristown, NJ
Lines: 19

In article <14973@well.UUCP> bluefire@well.UUCP (Bob Jacobson) writes:
>This may be one of the first times in history where a technology
>was thoroughly debated before it was fully developed, let alone
>implemented.  Rather than despair of virtual reality's future,
>it's time to amplify the discussion of how we can buffer it against
>exploitive uses and encourage its humanity-serving potential.

With other technological innovations of this century there have 
been unanticipated consequences,  even when the subject was
thoroughly debated by those involved.  There may be some other
innovation that we are unaware of that will be made easy or cheap
or practical by virtual reality,  and the result will be something
we can't anticipate today.

Only hindsight is 20/20.

-Tom
-- 
Tom Merkel att!hriso!merkel merkel@hriso.ATT.COM 201-898-3547 eschew obfuscation