[-empyre-] potentially virtual

[Helen Varley Jamieson <helen@creative-catalyst.com>]

i also find the word "virtual" problematic & had resisted using it 
until i read marie-laure ryan's "cyberspace, virtuality & the text" 
where she traces the word back to its latin root virtus, with 
virtualis meaning potential - giving the example of the "virtual" oak 
in the acorn, & ryan says "... the term 'virtual' encapsulates two 
distinct concepts: the largely negative idea of the fake, illusory, 
non-existent, and the overwhelmingly positive idea of the potential, 
which connotes productivity, openness and diversity."

i still don't like to use it that much as i know that the current 
general understanding of it is more the negative aspect, however the 
idea of virtual-as-potential is particularly useful in talking about 
using "virtual" worlds as places to prototype & experiment.

h : )

> Hi all,
> I've been watching the SL discussion from the sidelines. A lot of 
> interesting issues and ideas have popped up but there's one issue 
> that occurred to me recently. Worlds such as SL are touted as being 
> virtual, in other words, almost real but not quite. We could talk 
> about the virtual art in such a virtual world but I've always 
> considered the idea of "virtual art" as a misnomer. I wonder whether 
> it couldn't be said that the only "real" thing you can encounter in 
> SL is the art. For art is never virtual, it either is or it isn't 
> regardless of how it manifests itself.
>
> Pall Thayer


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helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
helen@creative-catalyst.com
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
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http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
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