One of the topics broached by Michael Heim that gave me great interest was the topic of immersion. I find the ability of somehow transporting yourself into a new virtual world exciting.

I'm not a giant music fan, but the example Heim uses with the music was interesting. Shutting oneself down so all you have to hear is the music live and bright in ear and darkness of night behind closed eyes, to the point of positioning yourself until you feel as though you're expriencing a live concert. I never experienced such a feeling, so I decided to sit down Tuesday night and see if I too could get completely wrapped like a finely made quilt in the A Mighty Wind soundtrack.

And it happened.

I could see Mitch and Mickey engrossed in their telling tale of "The Ballad Of Bobby And June", the New Main Street Singers laughing it up in their rendition of "Never Did No Wanderin'" and feel and see the somberness of the Folksmen as they belted out "Skeletons Of Quinto". For once in my fleeting music listenting life, I felt the music and it was an incredible experience.

The only real time I find myself fully immersed in something, it's usually in the form of a novel. The novel to me had a much stronger affect of immersion than film and television. Stephen King can make me envision Castle Discordia. Jonathan Safran Foer could focus my attention to the lively imaginary so alive in his works.

The idea of creating this virtual reality world where we could completely hide ourselves in it, is an interesting idea. Imagine being able to feel as though one is walking on the moon without paying a bucketload of money? Or to instantly transport yourself to a field upon field of sunflowers that stretch so tall that they look as though they touch the amazingly azure sky?

With improvements on HMDs and simulators and CAVEs - the world of virtual reality might just become a reality. And yet, in the end, it could become a disaster if it's mishandled. A video game with too real effects could perhaps warp the thought of someone to the point of them inflicting violence upon someone else. (But yet, if the individual - who is of a mature mind and could distinguish right from wrong - would want to take shooting practice upon an innocent person, then perhaps they shouldn't be near any violent videogames. Or anyone for that matter.) It's hard to judge the dangers of a product and it's effect on different individuals. Hopefully when virtual reality reaches its ultimate greatness, we could all experience it to it's greatest effect.