The ethics of virtual reality: the digital and its predecessors

The creation of virtual reality environments has become one of the major celebrations, attractions and causes of concern in the development and application of digital technologies today. Because of their profound social, economic and humanistic implications, the development and applications of technological virtual realities are urgent and vital areas for ethical reflection and debate. Doing so, however, requires clarifying not just what is meant by 'virtual reality', but also locating digital virtual realities within the context of the place of virtual reality in human experience and historical instances of differently mediated virtual realities.