​1. VIRTUALITY

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1.1.   Phantomology and Immersion

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What can a man experience when connected to a phantomatic generator? Everything. He can climb the Alps, wander on the Moon without a suit and oxygen mask; in chainmail armor he can conquer medieval castles or the North Pole, led by his dedicated team. He can be celebrated by masses as the winner of the Marathon or as the greatest poet of all time; he can accept the Nobel Prize from a Swedish King; he can have a love affair with Mme. de Pompadour, duel with Jargon to avenge Othello, or be stabbed by Mafia henchmen. He can also feel the growth of his huge eagle wings; he can fly, or become a fish living among the coral reefs; as a huge shark he can rush towards a school of victims with open jaws. He can kidnap bathers to eat and digest them in the calm nooks of his underwater cave. (...) [1]

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“Through imitation”—this is how Stanislaw Lem describes how to deal with limited human perception in the sixth chapter of his famous Summa Technologiae, entitled “Phantomology.” According to Lem, projection of fantasy (mentioned earlier as “imitation”) might happen through linking the human nervous system to a “generator” (computer) that would visualize imaginary worlds and enable interaction within the created simulation. Lem called this device a “Phantomatic Generator” and he introduced the concept of two kinds of “Phantomatic Systems”: Peripheral (working outside of the body), and Central (more advanced, invasive, and directly connected to the nervous system). He was defining the existence of an ideal interactive program that would be able to cope even with the most sophisticated fantasies and become a partner in phantomatic adventures.

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What Lem envisioned as Phantomology in the nineteen-fifties exists in today’s consciousness and popular culture as Virtual Reality (VR), or more precisely, Virtual Reality Technologies — the interface between man and man-created new electronic space, or Cyberspace. VR technologies aim to produce a fully involved experience, obtaining a so-called “full immersion effect” in the electronic virtual environment:

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VR allows you to put your hand around the Milky Way, swim in the human bloodstream or visit Alice in Wonderland. (Nicholas Negroponte). [2]

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The possibility of electronically generated worlds connected to the development of VR technologies and fast-arising cyberspace took hold in the literature and art of the late twentieth century, and continues to grow. Modern cyberspace has gone beyond the world of fantasy and is now an integral part of everyday reality. It thus seems a good idea to understand the opportunities and threats that come with them.

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1.2. The Virtuality and the Myth

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Understanding the importance of the concept of virtuality in relationship to culture and philosophy can help to define the essential factors that shape cyberspace. Cyberspace is closely linked to the notion of virtuality not only because of its obvious associations with technology, but also because of its strong relationship to the mind’s pathways and spaces.

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There are many dimensions that can be considered when defining the concept of virtuality: the philosophical dimension associated with the essence of existence or nonexistence; the psychological and cultural dimension, wherein the concept of virtuality is associated with the definition of subjective space and is related to cognitive and creative processes; and finally, the technological dimension, which is related to progressive computerization of life and its consequences. [3]

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1.2.1. Philosophical dimension of Virtuality

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Philosophically, the notion of virtuality can be tracked back to the writings of Plato, through Leibniz's Monadology, and then to phenomenology. The last one probably best characterizes the modern way of thinking about virtuality.

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Philosophy considers virtuality at many levels: ontological—the existence of the phenomenon of virtuality and its relationship to reality; epistemological—knowledge about the principles of operation of the subject in the virtual realm and understanding the processes that take place; axiological, which explores the ability of evaluation by the subject; anthropological—the examination of the existential dimension of virtuality, psychophysical dualism and the concept of consciousness on the aesthetic level[4].

“Virtual” means theoretically possible or “likely to occur [exist]”[5]. But what does it mean to “exist”? Does “imagined” or “thought of” mean the same as “existing”? Is imagined reality real or virtual? Finally, do the experiences described by Lem in Summa, “exist” or “not exist”? Or, maybe they are “likely to exist?”

The question of the significance of the electronic virtual experience is basic for any attempt at designing electronic worlds. There are many opinions on this subject, both denying and admiring the importance of the virtual experience. Many of the creators of virtual spaces, such as Marcos Novak, base their opinions on the belief in the equivalence of virtual experience and real experience, positions that correspond with the phenomenological movement in philosophy.

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Phenomenology refers both to direct observation and the description of the phenomenon. Anti-assumptionism, or the suspension of the belief in the real world and the perceiving subject (the purity of consciousness according to phenomenologists), allows us to treat every experience equally. Another researcher of virtual worlds, Peter Anders, believes that symbols and objects have the same status of reality in the mind, meaning that the mind does not distinguish the virtual from the real and treats them equally. In cyberspace, all artifacts are symbolic—the brain recognizes their importance in an associative way. They all relate to the physical world through metaphor, and in the context of cyberspace, the virtual experience functions not only as “likely to occur,” but as existing as much as the real experience.

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Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells goes further in analyzing the virtual, linking it not only to the recognition of virtual experience but also to the process of creation of meanings that, in the electronic era, also occur through virtuality:

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Virtuality is our reality. This is what distinguishes the culture of the information age from previous periods: our creation of meaning is done mainly through Virtuality​. [6]

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It is worth mentioning Baudrillard’s concept of hyper-reality and Simulacra and Simulation —the overlapping “images without content,” which covers reality and contemplation of the existence of reality. Becoming independent from the sign and blurring the boundary between the real world and its representations, leads, according to Baudrillard, to a hyper-reality that prevents the demarcation of phenomena as either ontological or semiotic.

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Striving to create new worlds is an important aspect of virtuality. Michal Ostrowicki, in his publication Virtual Realis, suggests that Baudrillardian hyper-reality could be interpreted as resulting from humanity’s desire to create an alternative reality that is perfect and humanistic, and which completely belongs to man—a different, supporting, and improving substitute for his insufficient reality. [7]

Ostrowicki also points to the concept of "replacement" of assumed reality by virtuality, and perceives that a human being that is submerged in the alternate versions of reality is creating a world “almost metaphysically.” Existential dualism, alternative states of the being, irresolution between real and unreal—they all encourage a confused mind to seek for more understandable solutions:

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Therefore, you may want to think about the ontology of fiction, the logic of possible worlds, how the worlds of thought exist, what is the essence of Virtual Reality, what is the intentional reality, etc. And also—what is the consequence of all of this for "normal" reality. [8]

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Wolfgang Welsch noticed that modern civilization is immersed in virtuality, also connecting this fact directly to the philosophical impossibility of determining the nature of reality. He says:

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Artificial worlds, such as art, media, electronic virtual worlds or politics form the domain of existence of the subject between fiction and reality. Navigating  artificial worlds is the process of changing the subject and switching between contexts, which is the only possible state of existence. [9]

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Hyper-reality seems to come closer to man than reality. Ostrowicki says that “it may occur that the realm of the virtual sphere is mostly an existential issue; for example, it may be the way to secure the existence, the choice of a safer world.” [10]

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In conclusion, virtual experience can be considered not only as being equal to real experience, but as a more human, more understandable and predictable version of reality. This leads to the perception of virtual environments as functional human environments, wherein everything connected to the mind gets (gains) a real or true dimension in the virtual sphere.

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1.2.2. Cultural and psychological dimension of virtuality

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The cultural aspect of virtuality is perceived as the ability to produce culture, and is linked with cognitive and creative operations of the mind, as well as with the process of abstract thinking. According to Elizabeth Grosz, virtuality as a cultural phenomenon has been with us for a very long time. We did not have to wait for the appearance of the computer screen to be able to enter virtual space; we’ve been living in its shadow for centuries:

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Computers and the world they generate reveal that the world in which we live, the real world, has always been a virtual space. [11]

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According to Grosz, computer virtual space is not fundamentally different from other forms of virtuality—like processes of reading, writing, drawing or thinking. Cultural understanding of virtuality is associated with our mental ability to synthesize, to process and produce an image of the world – it is our mental computing operational background, a metaphysical laboratory. It’s our private space where we produce an image of the world in which we live.

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Ostrowicki claims that the mind by its nature is a virtual environment, programmed just to process information by means of simulations and tests. The role of computers is to extend the experience of mental and sensory experience, thus creating the image of perceived reality outside of our bodies and minds—an Artificial Consciousness.

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Artificial consciousness and the desire to create artificial intelligence (or independent consciousness), is a major topic in modern science. Lem, in the Summa, was describing “intelligence amplifiers” that would significantly improve the functioning of the mind. In the nineteen-eighties, Howard Rheingold, a researcher of VR technology, promoted computers as "Tools for Thought.” The concept of “Mind Amplifiers” appears quite frequently elsewhere in literature. [12]  

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Perceiving virtual space as an extension of the operating environment of the human mind is a very important point on the road to exploring the nature of cyberspace, as it draws attention to important implications of virtuality in contemporary cognitive and creative processes.

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Today, cyberspatial virtuality is mainly associated with communication, with sharing humanity’s private zones of “external consciousness.” Artificial consciousness introduced into cyberspace thus becomes a common, shared consciousness, and cyberspace becomes the domain of coexistence. Ostrowicki points out:

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The cultural layer of virtuality is formed by a concept of a multifunctional network of relations, resulting from the application of technology, and transforming society as a whole. [13]

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Members of today’s society are evolving under the influence of the new possibilities of their now linked, extended minds. Virtuality, if understood in this way, becomes cultural reality, or at least a major factor in creating this reality.

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1.2.3. Technological aspect of virtuality

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The technological dimension of virtuality is associated with the development of computer technologies and networks. Here, Virtuality is perceived in terms of the technology of Virtual Reality (VR). Frederick Brooks defines it as follows:

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I define a virtual reality experience as any in which the user is effectively immersed in a responsive virtual world. [14] 

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According to Ostrowicki, it is significant that the meaning of virtuality has been created inside the world of electronics, where this notion has a clearly self - expressed meaning. In contrast to the ambiguous nature of philosophical or psychological meanings, the technological meaning of virtuality seems to be easy to define due to the rigors of logic that rules the computer world. Technologically, the world of electronic virtuality is simply a new kind of reality.

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VR technologies aim to achieve a perfect simulation like that described by Lem in the Summa. The development of an interface is moving in the direction that provides the perfect linkage between the device and man, which produces an ideal illusion, a perfect and comfortable connection to the network through the device, and becomes in fact an extension of man. Finally, it leads to the manufacturing an environment, which can be fully programmed, controlled; the environment of interactions, simulation, a full immersion through a device. [15]

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The device is therefore a prerequisite for communication in the information age. Because of the device, information gains the characteristics of a biological entity and it replaces it. A biological object becomes a generator of information, which, after it is released from its physical constraints, leads its own life in a virtual environment.

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The existence of man entangled in such a constructed system is located between the technological virtuality and reality. According to Ostrowicki, we can observe the evolution of the idea of virtuality, which is associated with computer technology and reaches a certain degree of perfection, complementing or even creating man’s reality.

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Artificial Reality offers us a new kind of reality that may be the answer to our expectations, announcing that an idea can become true physical reality.

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We are now witnessing changing opinions regarding the definition of artificial versus natural, real versus virtual, as these concepts lose their explicitness. Virtuality ceases to be defective in relation to reality, and if it is, it's only on the basis of one's subjectivity.

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[1] Lem S., Summa Technologiae, Wydawnictwo Lubelskie, wyd. 4  poszerzone, Lublin 1982, (s. 165)
[2] Holtzman S., Digital Mosaics: The Aesthetics of Cyberspace, Touchstone, 1998
 

[3] Michał Ostrowicki is proposing this distinguishing in his work "Virtual Realis".  He is distinguishing three major levels of comprehending  virtuality: technological, cultural and philosophical. Piotr Sitarski  in the article ‘ Preliminary characteristics of the virtual reality ' recognizes  two ways of describing virtuality: technological and psychological.



[4] Ostrowicki M., Wirtualne Realis. Estetyka w epoce elektroniki, Universitas, Kraków 2006, p. 19.

[5] „Virtual - (theoretically) possible, which is ‘likely to occur’.” (Kopaliński W.: Słownik wyrazów obcych i zwrotów obcojęzycznych. Warszawa : Wiedza Powszechna 1983, p. 454)

[6] Ostrowicki M., op.cit. p. 39 (M. Castells).
[7] Ibid., p. 43.
[8] Ibid., p. 47.
[9] Ibid., p. 31.
[10] Ibid. p. 48.
[11] Grosz E., Architecture from the Outside, Essays on Virtual and Real Space, MIT Press, 2001, p. 78.

[12] For instance by Holtzman and Anders, and in many essays concerning architecture in the Cyberspace.
[13] Ostrowicki M., op.cit. p. 18.
[14] Brooks F.P. Jr., What’s real About Virtual Reality, 1999.

[15] "Virtual Reality", a book by Howard Rheingold, the researcher and the theoretician of new media is an excellent sources for tracing beginnings of the technological virtuality. Rheingold is describes beginnings of the creation of the VR technology, the Internet, or first HMD.

[16] Ostrowicki M., op.cit.