Virtual or Artificial Cup?

May 13, 2010 1:49 PM

I just finished reading Pat Cadigan's Tea From An Empty Cup which is one of the texts of my Lit and Tech Hons course. I started thinking about why the author refers to her world as AR (Artificial Reality) as opposed to VR (Virtual Reality), and that raised all kinds of questions about identity, real, fake and simulacra. So I'm curious to know what people see as the difference (if any) between VR and AR.
posted by New England Cultist to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

I haven't heard many other writers use the term. I think it was just appropriated by Cadigan for the novel.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 2:30 PM on May 13, 2010

"Artificial reality" implies that it is as real as "natural reality" (its implied opposite). "Virtual reality" implies that it is an inferior substitute, just as virtual memory is an inferior substitute for real memory.
posted by kindall at 4:09 PM on May 13, 2010