Word: virtually
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...developed by psychologist Barbara Rothbaum and computer scientist Larry Hodges to combat fear of heights, VR exposure therapy works on the principle that if you can train people to relax in a simulation of a scary situation, they will relax when confronted with the real thing. I visited the Virtually Better clinic in Atlanta, which charges $150 for a one-hour session. It provides a headset and plane seat that immerse you in a 3-D virtual airplane, complete with vibrations, engine sounds, flight-attendant call bells, and--at touchdown--tire squeals...
...sounds a little weird, but it can't hurt, right? After all, no matter how scary the high-flying simulation gets, my feet will always be firmly planted on the ground. Before my virtual flight, psychologist Samantha Smith went over a few relaxation techniques: keep breathing, remember that the chance of dying in a plane crash is 1 in 10 million and use special tricks to distract myself from my mind's own in-flight horror movies. So far, so good. In fact, when I glanced over at the dorky plastic seat and headset I was about...
There appears to be more virtual environment on the Web than there remains real environment in the actual, tattered, non-virtual world itself. Or nearly. Yet doing research on the Internet is like taking a two-year-old for a walk. Pretty pebbles and deeply meaningful small sticks present themselves, but enlightenment seldom proceeds in a straight line. There is always some beguiling irrelevancy to be clicked, which is good. Often, however, the environmental pilgrim discovers to his surprise that there is not much depth of information. A surprising number of green websites are little more than 16-bit fund...
Here is one of the back alleys in which the Web can be brilliantly educational. Will enough high school kids, rummaging for term-paper material, find this alley and see what it means? Which is, perhaps, that virtual power, not real size, is often what's important. Envirolink has few staff members and little money, but it has power, because it is an entry to 400 enviro and animal-rights websites. Off-Road.com is an unknown, except to its communicants, who are mostly Western motorheads determined to keep Forest Service logging roads open at a time when rising environmental awareness makes...
...HAVE A DREAM A change of mind-set may be all that stands between humanity and a healthy environment, according to the Dream Change Coalition www.dreamchange.org) The site invites visitors to join trips (real, not virtual) into the Amazon and the Himalayas to learn about eco-concepts known as dream changing and psychonavigation. "Earth-honoring changes in consciousness," says the coalition, are what's needed to put the planet on a path toward environmental and social balance...