Is virtual reality merely a video game that consumes and distracts the player immersed in its simulations? Or is it an immaterial world, rich in meaning, beckoning people to a better future world inside computers? In Get Real: A Philosophical Adventure in Virtual Reality, Philip Zhai tackles these questions with keen logical analysis and concludes by advocating a stance that transcends these two opposing view of virtual reality. Zhai argues that the combination of three technologies_digital simulation, sensory immersion, and functional teleoperation_in a well-coordinated manner amounts to a re-creation of the whole empirically perceived universe. His analysis of the nature and significance of this re-creation is eye-opening and completely original. This book will be invaluable to philosophers of science, philosophers of mind and anyone interested in technology's growing impact on our lives and minds. The thought experiments in the book are mind-stretching and enlightenling, and make abstract concepts interesting and tangible.

翟振明在美國獲得瞭工程學和哲學學位，曾任教於美國繆倫貝格學院。該書在美國哲學界引起瞭廣泛的反響，另一本代錶作是《本底抉擇和道德理論》(The，Radical　Choice　and　Moral　Theory)，現任教於中山大學哲學係。n　　　　該書曾於1998年在美國Rowmarl　&　Littlefield齣版公司齣版，現在首次在國內齣版其中譯本。