Infinite Reality: Revealing the Mysteries of the Virtual Mind

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Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution (eBook) Pub. Date: 4/5/2011 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
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Infinite Reality: Revealing the Mysteries of the Virtual Mind (Reprint) Pub. Date: 2/14/2012 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

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Overview

Can our brains recognize where "reality" ends and "virtual" begins? Where will technology lead us in five, fifty, or five hundred years? An unrivaled guide to our digital future that has been cited by the Supreme Court, Infinite Reality is a mind-bending "journey through the virtual universe" (Wall Street Journal). Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson, two pioneering authorities, explore the profound potential of emerging technologies and reveal how our brains behave in digital worlds.

Editorial Reviews

Los Angeles Times

“An exhilarating book ... Blascovich and Bailenson are ideally situated to write this guide to the new world ... Infinite Reality a must-read for anyone who wants to prepare for the coming revolution.”

Kirkus Reviews

Enthusiastic exploration of how virtual reality is impacting human consciousness, perception and social interaction.

Humans have been engaging with virtual realities since the dawn of storytelling, write the authors, experiencing them as printing, theater, radio and film and other mediums. Blascovich (Psychology/Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) and Bailenson (Virtual Human Interaction Lab/Stanford Univ.) focus on digital-technology–based immersive virtual reality, 2-D and 3-D environments that the mind buys into and responds to as "real"—although the authors are clear in their distinction between "grounded" (the natural or physical world) and virtual realities. While they provide an illuminating introduction to the processing cycle that generates today's virtual realities, and an overview of appropriate social theory used therein, they hit their stride with their discussions of shaping and using avatars: digital representations of ourselves. The experiential possibilities of avatars are vast: "virtual worlds offer an unprecedented opportunity to separate people from the physical identity, and to role-play in a variety of manners." Virtual classrooms help eliminate such problems as overcrowding and lack of direct teacher contact. Creating an avatar is also a step toward immortality: Your biological self may not be present, but future generations can engage with your likeness, where 3-D digital modeling sculpts your face and body, motion-capture technology acquires your gestures and soon-to-be artificial-intelligence technology will frame your personality traits and idiosyncrasies. On the downside, there is the spooky idea of someone pirating your avatar; indeed, the authors introduce a number of serious virtual-reality pitfalls, from over-identifying with your avatar to privacy violation through tracking. And there is a serious weakness with the lack of touch in the virtual world—yet behold forthcoming teledildonics, "sexually stimulating devices that can be controlled by others via the Internet."

A sweeping presentation of virtual reality's ability to create new and multiform experiences and perspectives—likely to beguile more than a few skeptics.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780061809514
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 2/14/2012
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 320
Sales rank: 490,363
Series: P.S. Series
Product dimensions: 5.30 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.78 (d)

Meet the Author

Jim Blascovich is the director and co-founder of the Research Center for Virtual Environments at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is Distinguished Professor of Psychology. Professor Blascovich has served as the president of international scientific societies, including the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and he has been invited to lecture on social neuroscience and virtual reality topics worldwide.

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theworldhadteeth

Posted April 12, 2011

Sounds like a great book, but...

I would buy this eBook if it weren't so high priced. I imagine it's a great book. The website and YouTube videos about virtual reality and this book were great. I found out about the book through a New York Times article posted today, but I am just not willing to pay thirteen bucks for a book that has no printing, hauling, shipping, handling or storage overhead. Google around and check out the 99 cent model, people are getting rich off of it.
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Anonymous

Posted July 14, 2011

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