Friday 11am Section

I had no idea what to expect when going to The Cave this morning. How pleasantly suprised was I to be introduced to such an actively enganging visual activity. The Cave reminded me of once when I was young and had gone to Disney Land. They had a virtual reality Spider Man ride, complete with moving seats, blowing winds and most importantly, 3D glasses. The ride, although a bit more polished than The Cave, paralleled the same visual aesthetics. It opened my eyes to the idea of the virtual window. Not only did The Cave have multiple screens or 'windows' but the screens projected more windowns throughout the show. You were physically able to put your hand through a word, image or window. I feel that this creation is the beginning of virtual reality videogames, movies and more. With this concept, people could literally surf the web, be placed into a video game, or watch movies in a more complex fashion. The machine has the potential to be the cyberspace that the authors of Neuromancer and Snow Crash had in mind when they were writing their books.

However, with the potential of this new technologies also come the possibilities of someone corrupting it. Just as there are critics and spectors in modern media, with the introduction of a new invention, who/what will be the "Panoptisist" similar to our reading for the past Monday. Who will be the overseers who create checks and balances and keep everyone using it in line? The lines"Inspection functions ceaselessly" and "he gaze is alert eveywhere" are exactly my point. With so many windows in The Cave, so many possible ways to look inside and outside, who will be inspecting it, and from where?