Re: Some Questions About VRML

Rhombus Comunications ([email protected])
Tue, 28 Mar 1995 17:31:40 +0000


> Maybe this would be a good time to put in a word about censorship. How
> would our kids turn out if all they ever did was run around doing weird
> stuff to virtual characters? Wouldn't they wind up doing things for kicks
> like putting Nerve Gas in subways, or dowsing their younger siblings
> with lighter fluid and setting them on fire? There have been a lot of
> really weird and frightening things happening lately, that cause me to
> think that some people completely missed out when the commons sense was
> being handed out. I used to think that it was a sort of mental retardation
> which caused the sufferer to become a sociopath, but I'm not so sure any
> more.
>

> Virtual Reality is going to become the arena of the mind. Our vision
> could become blurred. We could actually come face to face with the worst
> parts of ourselves. Maybe we will anyway. Current events bear this out.
>

In this "post"-atomic age these are common sentiments. The question is
are we attempting to create some sterile "perfect" world, or explore ALL
of lifes possibilities? Granted, people can think, say, and do terrible
things. The only answer lies in excepting responsibility, completely,
totally and without reservation, for who you are and what you do. It is
not my right to impose my standards on all others and thus limit the
universe of possibilities. It IS my responsibility to stand up and
accept the concequences of what I do, intended or not.

This is not really in my opinion the forum for continuing this whole line
of reasoning. It seems to me that the structure of MIME and HTTP which
VRML rests on has most of the necessary hooks to allow people to filter
their input as it stands now. Perhaps HTTP should incorporate some form
of comment field which can describe contents of documents. Standards can
then be set for what various clients want to see in these places in order
to approve of that content. This is not a VRML issue however.

I won't waste anymore bandwidth on philosophising. Lets get back onto
the topic of object behaviours, OK? I want to be able to implement
avatars ala Snowcrash in my VR spaces. Then we'll talk about what's in them!

Tod Harter
Rhombus Communications

PS, check out the Rhombus Gallery at www.cybermalls.com. Its HTML now,
but this is what we can do today with 100kbps. Think about 5 years from now.