Virtual America : sleepwalking through paradise / John Opie.
Material type:![Text](/opac-tmpl/lib/famfamfam/BK.png)
- 9780803232785
- E 169.1 .Op3 2008
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Aklatang Emilio Aguinaldo-Information Resource Center | E 169.1 .Op3 2008 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 9ALRC201101277 |
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E 169.1 .G656 1999 American chronicle : year by year through the twentieth century / | E 169.1 .G656a 1987 American chronicle : six decades in American life, 1920-1980 / | E 169.1 .M521 2002 American studies / | E 169.1 .Op3 2008 Virtual America : sleepwalking through paradise / | E 169.1 .Sm62 2004 Poplorica : a popular history of the fads, mavericks, inventions, and lore that shaped modern America / | E 169.12 .B388 2007 An inconvenient book : real solutions to the world's biggest problems / | E 169.12 .B856 2008 What's next : the experts' guide : predictions from 50 of America's most compelling people / |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-242) and index.
Virtual America traces the complex relationship between Americans, technology, and their environment as it has unfolded over the past several centuries. Throughout history Americans have constructed mental pictures of unique places, such as the American West, that have taken on more authority than the actual gritty landscapes. This disconnect from reality is magnified by the new world of virtual realities on the computer screen, where personal immersion in interactive simulations becomes the "default" environment." "Virtual America" identifies the connections (or lack thereof) between our individual selves, an American identity, and the geography "out there." John Opie examines what he calls First Nature (the natural world), Second Nature (metropolitan infrastructure/built environment), and Third Nature (virtual reality in cyberspace). He also explores how Americans have historically dreamed about a better life in daily, ordinary existence and then fulfilled it through the Engineered America of our built environment, the Consumer America of material well-being, and the Triumphal America of our conviction that we are the world's exceptional model. But these dream worlds have also encouraged placelessness and thus indifference to our dwelling in home ground. Finally, Opie explores Last Nature (a sense of place) and argues that when we identify an authentic place, we can locate authenticity of self--a reification of place and self--by their connectedness. www.alibris.com
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