T. rex, lies, and videotape

摘要

Virtual reality has been with us for a good long time, virtually as long as civilization itself: We call it fiction. "Fiction," according to my unabridged Webster's, "is opposed to what is real; it may or may not be intended to deceive." Well, with all due respect, fiction is intended to deceive (or better, to seduce) its audience into believing that the reality it presents is the only reality—even if it takes us to a planet inhabited by Validusian Dergs or a dingy Central European town in which ordinary people turn into cockroaches.