Abstract

Virtual reality is examined in principle as an interface concept and in practice as computational communications media. A Delphi forecasting method is used to support a theoretical core of natural and critical philosophy. ;The virtual world is seen to be ideal for supporting an understanding of how we construct objects of consciousness. We actively construct these objects. Virtuality supports awareness of the active nature of perception and awareness that all experience is constructed. ;Virtuality suggests fluid boundaries and dissolution of difference, with a synchronous intermingling of inner self with outer world. Traditional categories are too limiting. ;Virtuality suggests a qualitative change in the environment of thought. A qualitative change in thought suggests a qualitative change in the nature of consciousness. Beneath a change of age lies a change of thought. ;Virtuality supports reflection upon intentionality and the role these new media play in supporting cognitive appreciation, or 'mindfulness,' of the connections between action and experience. Freedom and choice are seen to be foundational, with attendant accountability and responsibility attached. Seen in this light, everything is at stake. ;Virtuality is the intentional, technologically mediated effort to amplify, to extend, and to manifest intentionality by extending experience. Virtual objects are acts of volition. They are minded information. The teleology of virtual reality media is to point to the inscription of media as intention. The thrust towards experiential, tangible manipulation of virtuality aims to extend our understanding of the role of intentionality in the creation and apprehension of the subtleties of reality. ;Virtuality inscribes a novel re-presentation of the theoretical concepts of the natural philosophy of the early twentieth century. These created a profound paradigm shift in the intellectual and philosophical apprehensions of reality and consciousness. VR media embed this re-presentation into the collective mind. These principles condition basic assumptions of this age and take on global cultural significance. Virtuality provides dynamic indication and sensate feeling of the demise of a mechanistic, deterministic, and linear paradigm