The Illusive World of Virtual Reality

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Virtual reality is an inseparable element of today's information technology revolution. Man's innate desire for fantasising has been sustained considerably by the advent of powerful computers. By mimicking reality most convincingly, virtual reality creates fascinating illusions and stimulates various human senses. This book throws light on the avenues open for exploring our universe-from the attainment of the Fantastic Voyage of Isaac Asimov to an evening stroll on the surface of Mars-all in a computer-generated virtual world.

Tapan Bhattacharya, M.Sc. (Tech.) from Calcutta University and M.S. and Ph.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, has worked on solid state electronic materials and devices, first at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai and later at the Central Electronics Ltd., Sahibabad. He is associated with terrestrial solar photovoltaic devices and systems since their inception in India in 1977. He has authored three popular science books, His Master's Slave, Switch and the Sun and The Shrinking Universe.

Out of all the revolutions our world has witnessed, there are only a few which have been due to, and principally connected with, science and technology. The industrial revolution of the eighteenth century was perhaps the first and the only major one till about a few years back. Currently, we are passing through another major revolution-the information technology (IT) revolution-which is most wide- spread, and perhaps, highly desirable. The confederation of relatively inexpensive but powerful computers with tele- communication on one hand, and the universal growth of the global phenomenon called the Internet on the other, have considerably fortified the IT era to shape our lives in a significant manner.

In the current IT era, our world can be broadly divided into two groups: (a) the computer-aware individuals and institutions; and (b) the computer-inflexible ones. Undoubtedly, computers form an essential constituent of our world, and no individual or institution can sustain without it. Any talented person, who is unable to mobilise computer and communication skills today, is like the seventeenth-century mathematician who failed to learn calculus.

Not only that the computers and the IT revolution are making our world become smaller day by day, they are also gradually changing it to become more consistent and uniform. Thanks to this revolution, no human being anywhere in today's high-tech world can be assumed to be extraneous or inaccessible.