Virtual Reality (VR), also known as 'artificial reality', 'artificial worlds', 'virtual worlds', 'virtualities', is a fully immersive, absorbing, interactive experience of an alternate reality through the use of a computer structure. Whilst in virtual reality a person perceives a simulated environment and becomes a participant with the computer in a "virtually real" world. Virtual reality may be one of the most important technologies in our future, producing a great leap forward in many fields. While most people now focus on VR's use in entertainment areas, some of its impacts can be seen in art, business, communication, design, education, engineering, medicine, and many other fields. VR has become a great deal of importance in the changing and shaping of our culture today altering the ways in which we live our lives. In its recent development "virtuality" exists in almost everything we do, for example: money exchanges, stock market, medicine and even a simple conversation on a telephone. Taking into consideration how much human beings rely on technology could we live our lives without it? and what happens to us when we interact with a machine? In my essay I want to discuss the development of Virtual Reality and its existence in our every day lives.
The dictionary definition of "Virtual Reality" reads: an image or environment generated by computer software with which a user can interact realistically using a helmet with a screen inside, gloves fitted with sensors, etc. This is the most stereo typical description of VR. At present the technological hardware of virtual reality has consisted of a crude stereoscopic headset, and hand/glove device with sensors. The stereoscopic headset is simply two monitors, one for each eye, which produce slightly different images, giving the over-all optical illusion of three dimensions. The hand-set, which is covered in sensors, acts like a mouse in the three dimensional world, and senses the movement and position of the hand.