Page 76 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

The system used in the devices that create the virtual world is essentially
the same as the system used in our five senses. For example, with the effect of
a mechanism inside a glove worn by the user, some signals are given to the
fingertips and then transmitted to the brain. When the brain processes these

signals, the user has the impression of touching a silk carpet or a vase with a
serrated surface, with puffy prints on it, even though there is no silk carpet or
vase around.
One of the important fields in which virtual reality is now being used is
medicine. With a technique developed in Michigan University, doctoral
candidates (in particular emergency service staff) complete a part of their
training in an artificial operating room. In this application, images related to an

operating room are reflected onto the floors and walls of a room and the
images of an operating table and a patient are reflected in the middle of the
room. By putting on 3D glasses, doctoral candidates start to operate on this
virtual patient.
These examples illustrate that a person can be placed in a realistic yet
unreal world with the help of artificial stimuli. With current technology, an

In the University of Michigan, doctoral candidates and especially emergency
service units are being trained with the same technology in an artificial
operating room. In the first stage, images of an operating room are reflected
to the walls of a simple room. In the operating room to the side, all that you
see except the three doctors (including the patient) is virtual. With simulator
devices, doctoral candidates conduct their first operations in a virtual
environment on virtual patients.

74 MATTER: THE OTHER NAME FOR ILLUSION