6/19 Chp 5,6,7,14

 I found chapter five very interesting. During my philosophy class on human nature we read the cave story in Plato’s Republic, so I find the connection to virtual reality to be interesting. The author points out that we see VR as an advancement without realizing that “we are returning to Plato’s cave (101).” In other words we too our fascinated with a “shadow” world. In addition the chapter also talks about how crucial sound is in virtual reality. This is important because when one thinks of virtual reality the first thing that comes to mind is the visual aspects of it. Furthermore, sound was also used in Plato’s book so make the prisoners believe they were in the real world. I also found it interesting that the author says that VR “provides a perfect existential world, in which we can exercise free will and make an number of decisions (108).” This is true because in the VR games we have the ability to steal and murder people, but it is our choice if we will do so. Other issues about VR are brought up in chapter six. The chapter says that a concern of VR is how much time people may “vegetate” their lives in a VR game. He also brings up the moral issues associated with VR such as rape, theft and murder during a VR episode and how accountable the person involved should be. This also relates to the idea of free will in chapter five. Chapter fourteen talked about the term Cyberpunk that I also found fascinating. These people known as cyberpunks “want the human nervous system to merge with the computer matrix by making reality and hallucinations collapse into each other (232).” It is fascinating to me that a relationship between human and technology can exist like this.