> > Actually, with genetic engineering, I might just give myself dragon wings, so there. ;)
> >
> > Sosi"or maybe I could get actual powers over time, if THAT'S genetic, which I doubt - it's obvious I'm wasted tired, isn't it?"qui
>
> Oh, now that is just a very cool idea. I wonder if anybody will ever figure out a way to do that..... Of course, I know how to make perfect VR, but nobody will listen to me. Want to know how to make perfect VR? THen keep reading, and maybe submit the idea to any scientists that you know who could do it.
>
> Prosthetic limbs, like arms and legs, recive the nerve impulses for a certain movement and translate it into an actual movement. Currently, it is possible to replace everything external on your body with a prosthetic apparatus, even your eyes. Someone plugged a camera into a blind guys brain and he could see. So why don't we take it a step further? Actual VR would be much like in movies, with bundles of wires streaming everywhere, if they did it my way. In The Matrix, they show the VR rig as a set of wires that plug into holes on the arms, legs, brain, etc. of the person. Well, that could become a very real concept. You could have plugs installed that would be bypasses for your nerves, and when you entered VR, you would plug these cords into all the sockets, and flip a switch or whatever, and suddenly your eyes stop sending vision to the brain, and you instead have a computer generated image instead. It would feel like real life, because when you turned your head, the computer would interpret the impulses and turn your virtual head. When you try to move your leg, your virtual leg would move. Your ears would be bypassed by the computer, so that you recieved computer,generated sound. Everything could be duplicated perfectly, up to sweat and blinking eyes. I have been thinking, wouldn't it be cool if they made this rig, and wrote a dragon program for it? That would be one of the biggest games ever made. If they did it right, it could even be like the Matrix. A complete world that only you, or whoever is connected over Ethernet to you, could live in, in any form. It would be virtual, but with the speed of today's processors, it would be completely flawless. Of course, if they skimped on the processors and you didn't know, you could encounter odd things, like lagging when you try to walk :). You wouldn't have problems like they do with VR glasses and stuff like that, because instead of having an external device that your senses detected, the device would become your senses. If they ever develop it, I would pay a LOT for it.
>
>
> Whoa, I think I drifted off-topic.
>
> I think VR would be better than actual physical mutation, because the danger would be a lot lower. What if the guy who's messing with your genes accidently swaps a couple and you grow an extra foot or something?
>
> - Atha(Whoa - I know kung-fu.)leon

One problem with your suggested VR: Right now, when your brain sends out a nerve impulse, at activates the muscles. You are suggesting using that same impulse to power a motion in a VR world. The problem is that you would either have to disconnect the nerves so that the brain would not power the body (leaving you paralyzed in real life) or else simply accept the fact that making motions in the VR would make commensurrate motions in your real body. I suppose this could be achieved through an isolation tank or something, but it would still be a bit of an obstacle, I would think.

A second (and possibly more significant) problem: The nervous interactions required involve two directions: signals sent out from the brain to make the body do things, and signals sent from the body to the brain to convey sensory input. All the examples of prosthetics are of the first type, with one exception: The prosthetic eye is a sensory input. Unfortunately, I do not think the technology is there right now to duplicate every other form of sensory input. We may have figured out how to tap into the signals coming out of the brain, but for sensory input, the eyes would be relatively easy (if I remember my high school biology) because the input nerve from an eye is one big optic nerve--easy to identify and tap into. Now try to identify and tap into all the other nerves for the sense of touch all over the body (more important than you might think for things like motion), the nerves for balance in the semi-circular canals in the ear, the nerves for taste, for scent... I think the problem becomes prohibitive there.

I suspect that these two problems are big stumbling blocks in the development of a truly immersive VR.

Don Monkey