Communication Technology Update, 10/e, 10th Edition

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VIRTUAL & AUGMENTED REALITY

John J. Lombardi, Ph.D.*

After more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we approach the final phase of the extensions of man—the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society, much as we have already extended our senses and our nerves by the various media.

—Marshall McLuhan (1994)

Virtual reality (VR) is a complex combination of computer technology, virtual reality hardware, and artistic vision. In its most basic form, VR represents “the forward edge of multimedia” ...