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Virtual Reality Essay

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Virtual Reality

Take the human mind's imagination and stretch it to its farthest limits. Write a computer program to breathe life into the conceived idea. Hook up the whole contraption to the latest cutting edge technological equipment and the end result is guaranteed to overload our perception of reality, the reality as we know it. Yes, folks, virtual reality is taking our society by storm, invading almost every aspect of our lives. With some special equipment such as helmets and gloves, the average person can immerse himself in a virtual world where he can travel to Africa or learn how to drive. Due to the great leaps made in today's technological arena, nothing is impossible with virtual reality; it is only limited to the …show more content…

The doctor wears special gloves and shutter glasses to interact with the patient "virtually" through images generated by cat scans, magnetic resonance imagery, and ultrasound (Hodges 17). This technology allows the doctor to plan the best possible way to execute the medical procedure for the patient. Using virtual reality, the doctor can practice the procedures until he or she is confident enough to actually perform the procedure (18). Due to this feature, the software is making its way into medical schools to train soon-to-be-doctors. Immersive Workbench is a stand-alone software where an instructor is not required to be present in the training and simulations (19). Virtual reality allows doctors to have hands-on experience without actually performing the medical procedures. This cuts down on expenses and reduces the time of training. The doctor also gains from virtual reality practice through lowering the stress levels and reducing tense situations because the doctor can have all the practice he or she requires without a life-threatening situation.
Like all good things in life, there is, however, a hefty price tag that society must pay for this technology. With virtual reality taking over as "teachers" in the medical schools, instructors and seasoned doctors become obsolete. This "lack of instructor-to-student contact is detrimental to our society" (Grantham and Vaske 82). However, by practicing through

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