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Are you one of those computer freaks who spend all their nights in front of a computer screen? If so, You have surely wondered how much better it would be to be inside the computer. This would mean that you would not have to give indirect commands but the computer would be almost reading your mind.

This idea was first born in the mind of a scientist. He created his own system and gave it the name 'Virtual Reality'. The system was different from those of today: it included only a movement-detector that could follow the movements of his right hand, and a pair of 3D glasses. Since those days VR has gone through a long process of development; more and more people have become interested in the project, new pieces of equipment were designed that VR would not be complete without today. Along with the improvement of computer architectures VR has become more powerful as well. Finally, the introduction of the CD-ROM drive, which was one of the most important milestones in the history of the VR made it possible to have storage capacity as much as hundreds of MegaBytes on a single disc. But this was not enough: developers wanted full access to a second reality, a virtual world generated by a computer so the cyberclothes were invented. What it means is that anybody can enter a new world RUN-ON all he has to do is put on the cyberclothes and the 3D gasses, all connected to a powerful computer. The 3D glasses will generate pictures for both eyes, this gives depth to the picture transmitted, so you will not be able to tell the difference between the artificial and the real world. In addition to the total deception of the eyes VR stimulates other senses as well. The cyberclothes consist of millions of digital pressure detectors that can both receive and send impulses from or to the skin. This means the system is aware of your physical responses, plus it can effect pushes and other physical stimuli. The more one covers one's body the more entirely one can enter the virtual world of the computer.

If you listen in the conversation of two people talking about Virtual Reality a word will sooner or later catch your attention: CyberSpace. Despite the fact that there exists no real CyberSpace, the notion itself is clearly defined. CyberSpace is a mental materialization of a giant computer network. In this network each country of the world can be found even large data banks and companies of more importance are shown. Even their importance, weight and other characteristics are represented in CyberSpace; Silicon Graphics, Microsoft, or the White House would be represented by a giant, tall building for instance. One can freely travel around in the matrix (the ground, the environment in the Net) but cannot get access to any data unless one has the password or the access card for them. When VR reached its present state the Internet was already working, bringing a lot of people together, making information available to all those connected to the network. The idea was to bring the concept of the Internet and VR together. This network would really enable people to feel the closeness of each other as everyone could get 3D picture of the other along with CD-quality sound. In addition to all these, one would not have to type or point and click, only talk or move. The most exciting aspect, after all, is that it would also be possible to shake hands with the person at the other end of the line and one could actually feel it on one's own hand . This would be true CyberSpace*.

Finally, one might ask what the prospects of such a comlex system are. The first experiments of creating a computer network involving all of the units of a small town have been done. It worked well, though the expenses ran high: a Virtual Reality network is required to have transmission capacity over hundreds of MegaBytes per second per one user (100.000.000 bytes; the Internet transmits 100.000 bytes on average but a heavily burdened link might go down to even 1 byte per second) Having gotten acquinted with the aspects of this new, virtual world one can draw the conclusion. Virtual reality is a minefield; it might have influence on almost every scene of our lives: obtaining information, education, getting to know people, recreation, shopping. Keeping in mind that we are humans, and not computers we can turn Virtual Reality into something that all of us can benefit from.

* A great number of people call Internet the CyberSpace. It is not wrong as the idea of CyberSpace is derived from that of the Internet. However, Internet is not a true CybrSpace after all, since it is too slow, not smooth enough to operate, and some parts of the world are not even connected.