ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on science, technology, and art and discusses the following questions: How is the virtual used in contemporary science, technology, and art? Do any scientific, technological, or artistic uses of "virtual" mutually overlap? It argues that there are various scientific and technological uses of the term "virtual" that can be mutually distinguished by their scientific functions. The chapter also argues that there are various artistic uses of the term "virtual" that can be distinguished by their artistic functions. It shows that globalization, through global communications, tends to promote the diffusion of virtual, robotic, and related technologies, raising problems related to at least jobs and self-esteem. The chapter describes colloquial uses of the term "virtual" in connection with some current philosophical analyses of these. Technological advances concerning higher-capacity samplers, the recording of ever larger instrumental libraries, and increases in the capabilities of modern sequencers continued, and new performances incorporated virtual orchestras.
