Advancing Reality, at the Expense of its Distinctions

Computer technology is growing new appendages, e.g., 3-D, haptics, sound, collaborative, high trust, time-based. Each of these enriches the capability of automation to model the real world and interact with it. With these computer capabilities we come closer to making the computer disappear into the landscape. Computers took our world and first made it 1-space (command line), then moved us into 2-space (motif, OS2, windows), now we are moving beyond flatland. Virtual Reality, High Fidelity Simulations, Gaming & Virtual Worlds are creating hi touch computed environments. These environments will take us beyond 3-D and cause us to blur the boundaries among concepts normally separate, like media vs education, or work & play, or advertising vs eduction. A feeling of immersion, in a computer-based environment, entails mastering the combination of these recently enablable factors to recreate our real world experience.