Moving from Exploring Outer Space to Inner Space Potentiality

With the penetration of Outer Space a reality, writers of the 1960s and 1970s turned to the possibilities of exploring Inner Space, focusing on psychological and spiritual scenarios to seduce us into other worlds. This brand of intellectual, metaphysical science fiction plotlines made all things seem possible.

It was an era of staving off aging with meditation, thinking thin with self-hypnosis and achieving prosperity by drawing pictures in your mind. Hypnotists made big money claiming they could change your habits and self-help book sales soared.

However, documented stories of achievements possible through the untapped powers of the human mind did little to alleviate the immediate constraints placed upon adolescents undergoing chemotherapy or war victims missing arms and legs. Visuals play such an important part in communication. It is difficult to get past the ravages of illness or the deformities resulting from violence. It is hard to transcend physical limitations of appearance to reveal the inherent beauty of the soul.

Today, I see the technological science fiction merging with the intellectual, metaphysical science fiction to create a world where we can indeed create our own reality. In massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), like the popular Second Life, I can "Explore an ever-changing 3D landscape. Meet new and exciting people. Create a masterpiece - or an empire," Linden Labs homepage promises me.

I choose my size, shape, sex and the color of my skin. There are sliders to adjust the length of my nose, the cleft of my chin, the spacing between my eyes and a myriad of other details. I can be young or old, thin or fat, or black or white. I can even be green or blue, a monster, an alien, a bunny rabbit or a cartoon character.

How will identity and personality be challenged by these new possibilities to leave the body? How will the relationship between the real and the virtual and between body and mind, be affected by immersion into Virtual Environments? Do some environments encourage escape from the physical world more than others?

From Science Fiction to Virtual Reality

In 1869, science fiction writer Jules Verne in “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, theorizes about the possibilities of diving - without reliance on surface-supplied air. With his unique mix of scientific fact and fiction, Verne is remembered for his uncanny ability to predict inventions such as airplanes, submarines, television, guided missiles, space satellites, space shuttles, and scuba gear.

In 1929, the scientific accuracy in the launching of a rocket in Fritz Lang's last silent movie “Woman In The Moon” is absolutely astonishing. Lang depicts a trip to the moon 40 years before it actually happened. To this day we mimic the counting down to zero to launch a rocket from this film.

In 1946, when portable two-way communication seemed like an impossibly futuristic device, Dick Tracy captured the imaginations of young fans with his wristwatch radio. Star Trek was decades ahead of its time with tasers and communicators.

Author Neal Stephenson recently created an online 3D Metaverse in his 1993 published novel “Snow Crash”, where technology blurs the lines between virtual and reality with the inter-weaving of physical and digital characters and plots. It is rumored that this science fiction novel was one of the inspirations for the development of “Second Life”, a 3D Virtual World where people meet to socialize, shop, attend educational classes, do business, and even engage in political campaigning.

History appears to reinforce the belief that if we can envision it, we can create it. How do we want our world to look tomorrow? What are you envisioning today?