To survive the cold on the planet Brent, Vodra Shaun and Dau Ernen must cut local vegetation and make a shelter. Although Vodra has had groundside experience, Dau:
"...was a novice, but like most Kithfolk he had passed considerable time in virtualities, which included forests, lifeways of the past, and the like." (p. 437)
Thus, in this later story, the Kith gain virtual reality as an educational medium, like the characters in Anderson's The Boat Of A Million Years, Genesis and the Harvest Of Stars Tetralogy. It becomes possible, e.g., to combine Biblical exegesis with participatory drama. Hear and understand the Sermon on the Mount in Aramaic and study its projected effect on its audience. The Kith use virtualities to learn practical skills. Will this happen in future?
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think we are already seeing some fairly crude examples of "virtualities" being used for training and educational purposes. I don't remember enough to say more than that.
Ad astra! Sean
The military are major users of VR for training and are financing research. It turns out that good VR is about as effective as real combat in increasing skills, and much less likely to kill you.
Augmented reality goggles are just this year being issued to ordinary infantry in the US army, and they’re having quite drastic effects, increasing average performance levels to ‘ace’ standards, greatly reducing friendly fire and more.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Good! Considering how I fully expect there to be either violent clashes or full scale war between the US and China or Russia at some point in time, our people will need as many edges as they can get.
And I hope the UK is also modernizing its military in similar ways.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: skirmishes are possible, full-scale war a la 1939-1945 isn’t. Not with nuclear weapons available to both sides. Industrialized Great Powers haven’t fought straight up and all-out since 1945, and this isn’t because of scruples and niceness. It’s because nobody will accept existential defeat when they can ‘do a Samson’ and take the enemy with them.
That’s why the Soviets never launched those 50,000 tanks at us, though we had no serious conventional counter.
The Peace of the Mushroom Cloud.
How long before terrorists acquire and use nukes? New York, London, Jerusalem.
Jerusalem would not be on a lot of people's lists - but you never know.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: Maybe not full scale wars on EARTH, but I can imagine the great powers feeling more free to fight more aggressively in space, an idea we see Poul Anderson exploring in "Kings Who Die." And if one power or alliance of powers gets complete dominance off Earth, I think that will translate to dictating whatever terms they want to impose on the defeated.
So I think the Peace of the Mushroom Cloud will last only as long as no one is dominant in space. And I would far rather the US and the Anglosphere in general which took the lead off Earth!
Maybe the best we can hope is something like the Early Solar Commonwealth in Anderson's Technic stories. Or the World Federation we see in STAR FOX and FIRE TIME.
Paul: I too have wondered what might happen if terrorists got their hands on either nuclear weapons or materials they could turn into such weapons. Perhaps supplied by Iran or North Korea? I think it's only a matter of time before some wretched gang of fanatics gets nukes!
Ad astra! Sean
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