Virtual Realism

by Michael Heim

Overview

In this wide-ranging exploration, Michael Heim draws on an incredibly eclectic range of sources, from the lyrics of Jim Morrison, to the wisdom of the Tai Chi masters, to the works of philosophers and writers as varied as Heraclitus, Descartes, William Gibson, and Jacques Ellul. The result is an ambitious and provocative commentary on the ways in which virtual reality and associated technologies are increasingly influencing our lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198026426
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/29/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1240L (what's this?)
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

About the Author:
Michael Heim is the author of the award winning The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality and the ground breaking Electric Language.

Editorial Reviews

Heim is a philosopher determined to sort out what new technologies mean for enduring humanistic issues....[He] distances himself from those enthusiasts who foresee a posthuman cyborg destiny for our species....Virtual Realism is a refreshingly thoughtful overview of the possibilities, and a welcome invitation to humanist critics to understand and guide them.
— WQ: The Wilson Quarterly

Edward Tenner

"A pleasant, easily readable account of several applications of computer technology to create experiential art and one or two useful tools."—The Washington Post Book World

"Heim's views on technology are far removed from the routine rhetoric of cyberhype. With one foot in the book-crammed world of the humanist scholar and the other in the factories of the future, his ideas are always sensitive to both the euphoria and the anxiety which new technologies engender. Above all, his approach is pragmatic: accepting our technological fate and examining different ways to absorb its impact."—Mark Nixon, Twenty First Century

From the Publisher