Virtual Reality (noun) [ vur-choo-uhl ree-al-it-tee ]

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Have you ever looked up the term virtual reality or augmented reality? Take a moment to do so, paying close attention to definitions that do not refer to some form of gadgetry or computer-driven experience. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Did you find any?
Me, neither!

To hear it told, you'd think it were not possible or relevant to coin those terms during the primitive 1620s or even 1920s. That’s because modern-day definitions  — too eager in their wording —  erroneously conflate the experience of virtual reality with a technological marketing of it. But the truth is something you've always known:

No apparatus was or will ever be required to engage a particular (a.k.a. virtual) reality.

In fact every waking moment of our lives is a virtual reality: we wake up and are immediately overcome by continuous streams of thought. Whether induced by practical needs of the day or by fantasy, these thoughts serve to mentally project us away from the present-moment to alternative places and times, past and future. A phenomena fashioned naturally from our mind and it’s belief system. This unmistakable sensation — of never quite being where you currently are — is virtual reality, and it is our constant companion until we return to sleep... even as you read this.

The good news is that we can actively choose our virtual realities to some extent, even if we have left that to auto-pilot for most of our lives: the uninterrupted stream of pleasant thought means that we are daydreaming; while our coaxing the release of endorphins and endocannabinoids during an evening run triggers a runner’s high. Were these intrinsic virtual reality agents not available to our ancestors?

But this ability to choose also brings in tow the bad news, by way of extrinsic virtual reality agents: LSD and Magic Mushrooms are known to dangerously replace one reality with another; while alcohol significantly augments it. Research into sustained video game play has demonstrated an altering of cognitive function. And so on.

The critical distinction is this: Extrinsic agents can be engaged for longer periods of time, can create greater deviations from our base reality, and in so doing, carry a greater consequence and responsibility burden with respect to addiction and distinguishing reality from fantasy. And with the hyper-immersive V.R. technologies now emerging, this has never been more true.

A pure definition of virtual reality  must be based solely on physiological characteristics, and divorced from any means by which it is attained  (except, perhaps, to cite them as trigger agents).

In other words, virtual reality is just a synonym for reality. The superfluous virtual in virtual reality, is simply a momentary device to draw our attention to a dramatic broadening in the degree and duration of -- but never fundamentally different -- realities. Soon it will be discarded, as in: What realities did you choose today, dear?

Readers intrigued by this mesmeric term may feel somewhat disappointed right now. Whether or not this is you, take comfort in this closing definition, which will remain behind to offer liberation from a coming hypnosis:

Virtual Reality (noun) [ vur-choo-uhl ree-al-it-tee ]: A semi-arbitrary perception of the world, others and ourselves that has a minimal match to physical reality to allow for survival; and where its type, degree and duration is always ours to choose. Antonym: presence