Philip Zhai on Thu, 23 Jul 1998 00:35:19 +0100 |
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Syndicate: VR Landmark |
Dear Friends, This is a book review in "VR in School" I just saw an excellent review on my book in "VR in School": Volume 3, Number 1, June 1998 Get Real: A Philosophical Adventure in Virtual Reality, by Philip Zhai Brief Notice and Review by Lawrence Auld auldl@mail.ecu.edu Get Real: A Philosophical Adventure in Virtual Reality, by Philip Zhai. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1998. 215 pages. 0-8476-8983-2) This is, indeed, a philosophical adventure. With one mind experiment after another, Zhai leads us through real (physical) space and into virtual space which, he says, is also real: "... the virtual is totally equivalent to the actual in its functionality for human life ..." (p. xv). He goes on to say that "...we can never re-create the human mind through artificial intelligence ... but we can re-create the whole empirical world through virtual reality" (p. 99). Get Real has the potential to become a landmark in both philosophy and virtual reality. The clearly written text progresses systematically through one hard issue after another. Whether or not one agrees with all of the conclusions, this is a book to be studied and then restudied. Philip Zhai has strong footholds in both the practical and the theoretical. An assistant professor at Muhlenberg College, he has a bachelor's degree in engineering and a doctorate in philosophy. He may be reached by email at philipzz@hotmail.com. Dr. Lawrence Auld is co-Director of the Virtual Reality and Education Laboratory, School of Education, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353 USA. Telephone: 252-328-4374 Fax: 252-328-4368 Philip Zhai's Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/athens/3328