Virtual Reality or Virtual Stupidity?

by on October 16, 2006 · 8 comments

I love video games, and a future filled with virtual reality technologies gets me excited, but this is out of control. Toshiba apparently thinks that people want to wear a big space helmet like this to get a full 360-degree gaming experience. I doubt it. Wouldn’t it get a little sweaty in there? Plus, how am I going a drink a beer with this thing on my head? (Somebody please tell me this is just a joke by Toshiba or another Internet hoax).

virtual%20reality%20helmut.jpg

(Note: Engadget has a caption contest going for this one).

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About Adam Thierer

Adam Thierer is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He previously served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation, as Director of Telecommunications Studies at the Cato Institute, and as a Fellow in Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation. He is the author or editor of six books on technology and media policy and also writes a weekly column for Forbes called "Technologies of Freedom." Thierer earned his bachelor's degree in political science and journalism at Indiana University and received his master's degree in international business management and trade theory at the University of Maryland. His passions in life (besides technology and liberty, of course) are fast cars, fine cigars, and good beer.

Read more articles by Adam Thierer.

  • James Gattuso

    Adam — perhaps I’m just naturally suspicious, but have you considered the possibility that this is a hoax? The photo just doesn’t look right. (Why, for instance, is she looking at a TV screen when the gargantuan device is on her head.)

    I checked around the web for more, and was unable to find any reference of this outside the Daily Mail piece that you linked to and a number of blogs that also link to it. I also noted that the Daily Mail has a second piece reporting that a Chinese scientist has made a robotic “twin” of himself, with a robotic skeleton and silica gel for skin, that looks and talks just like him.

    It is possible that both stories are true. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

  • James Gattuso

    Adam — perhaps I’m just naturally suspicious, but have you considered the possibility that this is a hoax? The photo just doesn’t look right. (Why, for instance, is she looking at a TV screen when the gargantuan device is on her head.)

    I checked around the web for more, and was unable to find any reference of this outside the Daily Mail piece that you linked to and a number of blogs that also link to it. I also noted that the Daily Mail has a second piece reporting that a Chinese scientist has made a robotic “twin” of himself, with a robotic skeleton and silica gel for skin, that looks and talks just like him.

    It is possible that both stories are true. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

  • http://www.techliberation.com/ Tim Lee

    Also, there’s no visible means of support on her shoulders, which means that the hard plastic of the device would dig into your shoulders painfully. And why is the back of the device so huge? It looks like a Photoshop job to me.

  • http://weblog.ipcentral.info/ Noel Le

    That picture is actually of Adam. The pink shirt and Darth Vader helmut are a disguise when he plays video games.

    Hmmm, strange. Why did Adam get a better computer monitor in his office than me.

  • http://www.techliberation.com/ Tim Lee

    Also, there’s no visible means of support on her shoulders, which means that the hard plastic of the device would dig into your shoulders painfully. And why is the back of the device so huge? It looks like a Photoshop job to me.

  • http://weblog.ipcentral.info/ Noel Le

    That picture is actually of Adam. The pink shirt and Darth Vader helmut are a disguise when he plays video games.

    Hmmm, strange. Why did Adam get a better computer monitor in his office than me.

  • greglas

    This is like the iPod — people will be wearing these around with them turned off, just because it’s fashionable.

    Btw — with a television wrapped around your head, why do you still have to look at a monitor full of clouds?

  • greglas

    This is like the iPod — people will be wearing these around with them turned off, just because it’s fashionable.

    Btw — with a television wrapped around your head, why do you still have to look at a monitor full of clouds?

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