VIRTUAL REALITY (P)

I had traveled to North Carolina because I had heard about people who are already creating medicines by using their eyes, ears, and muscles as well as their minds to invent new chemical compounds. I tried my hand at puzzling out a molecular docking problem with the ARM, the same way chemists at this lab do. It's part of something called "virtual reality", also known as "VR." Although I lacked the knowledge that distinguishes an expert in a field such as chemistry, I did not lack for skill at sensing my own way into the problem. Because the apparatus had made aspects of molecular docking directly perceptible to my eyes, ears, and hand, I was able to use all my experience in the world of gravity and manipulable objects, my gut-feel of the world, to advance a hard problem farther than most chemists could have done without the aid of computer modeling. For a truly skilled chemist, it must feel like an intellectual power-too. I was beginning to understand why so many of the researchers in VR talk about the field's potential with such fervor. But the molecular level isn't the only place this new technology is creating a new kind of window on reality.Rheingold, Howard is the author of 'VIRTUAL REALITY (P)' with ISBN 9780671778972 and ISBN 0671778978.