Peculiarities and Breakthroughs

I discovered a fairly frightening virtual reality clip about an “overly realistic” zombie game at an urban pub. I wasn’t sure to the legitimacy of the game because some aspects seemed unrealistic, but it was certainly creative and shocking nonetheless. At the pub a group of experimenters hide in a control room which overlooks the game station, where a young man approaches and starts shooting some zombies in a horror house. Suddenly, lights begin flashing randomly on the screen, strategically placed by the experimenters to send the player into a trance. Once the game player is completely out, the experimenters transport him to a deserted house, which eerily mirrors the one in the virtual reality game. When the player wakes up alone in a dark room, he believes he is actually part of the game, and begins freaking out, crying, and threatening to shoot at zombie actors.

This video calls to mind Katherine Hayle’s notion of “elisions between physical and textual bodies entangled with complex mediations that merge actual and virtual realities.” In the video the lines between virtual and real life are completely blurred, to where the player becomes so immersed in the gaming world that he truly believes he is a living, breathing character in a real life horror scene. The game also coincides with the notion that “VR breaks the barrier of the screen, opening high-dimensional space beyond sensory as well as cognitive habitation by the user.” The game also calls to mind some dangers of virtual reality. In this instance the game player has been violently manipulated by the game developers, to the point where he no longer has control over his body, thoughts, or actions. Certainly this type of virtual manipulation could strip the game player of individuality to the point where one no longer exists as human, but as “a constructed cyborg” as Hayles would say. Hopefully video games will never reach this stage at a popular level, or we could have some serious identity issues in society.

On the other hand, I unraveled an implant used by surgeons known as implants for computer assisted surgery. When performing a hip or joint replacement surgery, physicians can implant a tiny camera sensor into the area being operated on, which then relays information to a computer system. This allows the surgeons to operate with precision and to make small cuts in the correct places which could not be seen with the naked eye. It also allows them to align ligaments and joints perfectly into the desired position. This implant is clearly classified as virtual and will surely have a positive impact on the future of medicine and surgery.