Researchers Want to Add Touch, Taste and Smell to Virtual Reality by Alexis Madrigal is featured on Wired.com and discusses advancements in virtual reality technologies; in particular, The "Real Virtuality" project. The term 'real virtuality' was first coined by Manuel Castells in his 1996 work The Information Age wherein he said: "It is a system in which reality itself (that is, people's material/symbolic) existence is entirely captured, fully immersed in a virtual image setting, in the world of make believe, in which appearacnes are not just on the screen through which experience is communicated, but they become experience." To me, real virtuality differs from virtual reality as the virtual experience becomes our reality and not vice-versa.
Real virtuality could be achieved through immersion of the senses in a "virtual cocoon". Reality is an experiential concept perceived through the senses; so, if the senses receive virtual input that mimics the real, the virtual input becomes reality. Madrigal does not seem entirely convinced of this idea but does assert that technologies for sight and sound are quite advanced; further, those for smell exist. Smell and taste are connected, so virtual taste could be closer than expected. If the 'real virtuality' team could overcome the problems of haptic technology and simulate touch as well, the sci-fi dream is conceivable.
If reality can be created, a shadow of doubt is cast over the permanence of reality itself.
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