ABSTRACT
With the concept of ‘virtual reality’ we arrive at the world of science fiction and of fantasy. Or so many suppose, and it may indeed seem that if in the discussion of virtual reality every limit on the imagination is removed, then all the factual and conceptual constraints which control our speculations are lifted also. Such a lack of constraint may suit the novelist or storyteller, but it is a freedom we do not want in the sort of inquiry we are engaged in here, because it makes any speculation as good as every other and hence marks the end of serious critical investigation. Actually, although in discussing virtual reality we are indeed entering the realms of the highly speculative, the position should not be construed as one quite without constraint. What is true is that we need to be careful about the constraints we observe. As I remarked at the start of the book, and have had occasion to repeat in the ensuing argument, the sheer speed at which the technology of the Internet is developing is probably unprecedented in human history, and for this reason there is a constant danger of declaring something to be impossible a priori, only to find that in a very short time it is a reality. The same thing can be said of VR technology, which has largely been developed independently of the Internet.
