Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!apple!well!hlr
From: wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu (Bill Wolfe)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: Elements of a Cyberspace Playhouse Pt 3 of 4 (LONG)
Keywords: cyberspace, interface metaphor, theater metaphor
Message-ID: <16087@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 10 Feb 90 18:58:43 GMT
References: <16057@well.sf.ca.us>
Sender: hlr@well.sf.ca.us
Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Lines: 47
Approved: hitl@hardy.u.washington.edu


>From hitl@hardy.u.washington.edu (moderator of sci.virtual worlds):
> So, for example, a  simple circuit that calls for running, rowing, and
> cycling might correspond to  a course with three legs:  a running
> trail, a lake, and a highway.   The player  would then use a treadmill
> to run along the trail, a rowing  machine to cross the lake, and a
> stationary bicycle to pedal down the highway.  [...] if the prop is a 
> standard racing bicycle, then there will probably be a mismatch between 
> the way the player moves in physical space and the way her puppet moves
> in cyberspace (since, presumably, she is sitting in a basically upright
> position in physical space while her character is reclining in cyberspace).
>
>  [various imperfect solutions to the problem of kinesthetic dissonance]

   It would seem that there is a straightforward, if not yet technically
   feasible, means of completely solving the problem of kinesthetic
   dissonance... simply construct a means by which cyberspace I/O 
   can be interposed between the brain and its various I/O devices.  

   If this were done, then all input received by the brain would be
   coming from the cyberspace system, and it would be possible to
   achieve perfect cyberspace.  It is conceivable that the user could
   be given input which indicates the availability of a virtual body
   having radically different capabilities (e.g., full 360-degree vision
   in ALL directions, the ability to ooze through keyholes, etc.).  The
   outputs from the user's brain would be interpreted in terms of actions 
   with respect to the user's virtual body, and the effects of those actions
   in the cyberspace would be felt in terms of their effects on the input
   routed to the user's brain.

   Meanwhile, the cyberspace system would also have to monitor the user's
   physical I/O and either handle it directly or interrupt the user's 
   cyberspace due to an inability to decide how to handle the input.  For
   example, suppose that while our user is enjoying an extended adventure
   into cyberspace, the cyberspace system receives input from the user's
   nose which indicates the probable presence of a nearby fire.  The system
   could either manipulate the user's physical body such that the situation
   is resolved (e.g., the user's body could be made to pick up a fire
   extinguisher and activate it, or to place a call to the fire department,
   etc.), or interrupt the cyberspace experience so that the user could 
   take any actions that might be deemed appropriate.
 
   Given the existence of current scientific techniques for physically
   picking up *atoms* and moving them, it may not be unreasonable to expect
   the ability to interpose cyberspace/reality gateways between the brain
   and its I/O devices to be realized within perhaps 20 years.  If this
   technique does indeed become feasible, then the problem of kinesthetic
   dissonance will become subject to total elimination.
   

   Bill Wolfe, wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu