Philosophy of Technology: Chapter 45 (Michael H. Heim)

"Heidegger and McLuhan and The Essence of Virtual Reality" (1997)

Heim uses Heidegger, Dreyfus, McLuhan, and Ong as "springboards" for understanding the modern technological revolution and "the new situation of the sciences and the humanities" (539). Heim predicts that by 2000 (only 3 years later), nearly every text will exist in electronic format, and he suggest this is what Heidegger feared: that his work would be mediated by a society consumed with technology. Calling this fear "computer as opponent," Heim first focuses on the perceived danger of computers: that is, if computers can replicate thought patterns, do computers have artificial intelligence? Is it possible for computers to think?

Using Dreyfus's book Mind over Machine and the paradigm of the chess match, to focus on the formal patterns that computers use. Dreyfus believed that computers were limited and that we could not create a lucid computer. But Heim believes this confrontational relationship with computers distracts us from the real issue--how our reality changes as we live and work with computers, or "as Heidegger might put it: ...Being with computers?" Heim believes the relationship between humans and computers is collaborative and describes this as "computers as component."

Heim substitutes Heidegger's term for the "language machine" with word processing--a shift in writing technologies. He uses several impressive metaphors to describe the word processor and computer technology--"calculator of the humanist," "mental prosthesis"--suggesting that writing on this new machince produces a new kind of writing and thinking.

Heim compares Heidegger (1889-1976) with McLuhan (1911-1980) and Ong (1912-2003), suggesting that they all saw technology as an essential component in how we define reality, especially because of its intimacy with language (shifting from a print culture to an electronic medium). Because of this collaboration, or ability to interact with technology, and technology's interaction with us, Heim moves into a discussion of the essence of virtual reality, which he states has at least seven divergent concepts guiding its research:

1. simulation (VR simulates reality)
   
2. interaction (humans interact with VR)
   
3. artificiality (VR is a human construct)
   
4. immersion (sensory immersion in a virtual environment)
   
5. telepresence (real-time, robotic presence in a location without physical, in-the-flesh presence)
   
6. full-body immersion (VR reads body movements)
   
7. networked communications (full immersion + sharing semaphores)

Heim then backtracks to talk about the nasty r-word: REALITY. He gives an impressive one-paragraph "sidebar" (550) of the history of the r-word controversy in order to remind us that defining virtual reality will be as difficult as defining reality has been. He suggests that the essence of VR may lie in art, and he provides several examples of this (Star Trek's Holodeck, the legend of the Holy Grail, Wagner's Parsifal). Believeing that someday VR will elicit similar rave reviews as these art forms, he ends by providing several areas where the new breed of VR artist can succeed and transcend traditional art forms: in activity vs. passivity (VR requires interaction), in manipulation vs. receptivity (VR enhances receptivity by touching or emotionally moving humans), in remote presence (VR offers shift in Western philosophy of presence), and in augmented reality (VR enhances transition from virtual to real, thus enhancing the power of art).