Talk:Virtual

[edit] Disambiguation

I'm gonna try to make this more like a disambiguation page, since that's exactly what it's doing. --Snarius 05:25, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.orgindex.php?title=Special%3APrefixindex&from=virtual&namespace=0 --Snarius 05:37, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, when i search for virtual i am after the c++ keyword, not philosophy Noodle snacks (talk) 04:08, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

But as Snarius' link above shows, there are many uses of 'virtual', only a few of which relate to C++. However, all of these uses probably stem ultimately from the philosophical sense.

It might help if this page weren't so neglected: it looks like quite a few bits of vandalism have gone unnoticed. For instance, for some time there was a "see also" list (thanks to JHunterJ), but a certain vandal deleted it in favor of nonsense. That nonsense was later deleted, but there is no sign the harmful deletion was detected before now. (I guess I'll try to fix that while I'm here.) Ddawson (talk) 13:38, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Is this wank?

I am not a philospher, but I smell wank in this paragraph from the article.

Recently this conception of the virtual has been challenged and another core meaning has been elicited (Denis Berthier, "Meditations on the real and the virtual" - in French). It is based both upon science (virtual image), technology (virtual world), and etymology (derivation from virtue - Latin virtus). At the same ontological level as "possible," "real," or "potential," "virtual" is defined as that which is not real but displays the full qualities of the real - in a plainly actual - i.e. not potential - way. The prototypical case is a reflection in a mirror: it is already there, whether I am here to see it; it is not waiting for any kind of actualization. This definition allows one to understand that real effects can be issued from a virtual object, so that our perception of it and our whole relation to it are fully real. It explains that virtual reality can be used to cure phobies - which remains contradictory in any conception for which the virtual is a kind of potential.

If you agree, please delete it. ike9898 04:54, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

I do not agree with deletion. I would say that the last half of the paragraph is a bit garbled but the first half makes sense to me. The "virtual" is a concept that is informed by and in turn informs philosophical and technological disciplines and the etymological evidence indicates that it the concept has evolved and continues to evolve. Furthermore, whether or not it is "a wank" seems to imply that you are making your decision about what you imagine the authors motives to be rather than the veracity of his contribution.--Betamod (talk) 18:02, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Computer: virtual worlds

Computer based virtual worlds have nothing to do with web technology, you can have standalone disconnected virtual worlds which may be subjectively enhanced by connecting multiple people together in the same virtual world, whether that uses web technology or any other communications technology (most likely TCP/IP which is the protocol web technologies are build upon) is irrelevant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.45.193.230 (talk) 14:19, 18 August 2008 (UTC)