Write an essay one of the following prompts.
Option 1. The authors of Infinite Reality make several strong claims about the potentials of virtual reality. One of the strongest claims is that virtual reality will allow an unprecedented degree of control over experience. especially identity formation. (Think of the last short paper you wrote.) And yet, Andy Clark asserts that the “l” (the soul, the mind) is wholly integrated with, is an inextricable part of its surroundings and setting (recall the image of a mangrove swamp), which means that the physical body is (and remains) integral to the fonnation of the What do you think? Whose account of subjective experience (or of identity formation, although identity formation and subjective experience are not synonyms) do you think is more persuasive and defensible?
Option 2. “More Human than Human.“ That is the title of the final chapter of Infinite Realirv. Similarly, Turkle tells us that some owners of “robot pets” say that their robot is “better than” a real, live pet (more like a dog than an actual dog?) As we have seen, some maintain that simulations can be equally. if not more “real ” than the objective. shared, physical thing or event. But Sheny Turkle, Wolfgang Sachs. and sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick caution us about collapsing the distinction between the real and the virtual, or between the actual and the simulated. What do you think? Is the distinction between real-virtual simply an old-fashioned prejudice? ls there something to be said for authenticity. or originary experience? It has long been believed that “reality” is external and objective; it existed before me and will exist after me; it “pushes back.” fixing limits to my will and action. But one ofthe promises of strong versions of virtual reality is that we need not accept limitation: indeed, technological progress promises unlimited possibility. Do you think this is right? Do you think it is a worthy goal to pursue?