The holodeck and why I wouldn't come back

Though I for would love to have a holodeck, especially after Murrays disection of the holodeck as a model for where electronic narrative could be going, I could certaintainly see myself becoming far too involved in it. Just as we had discussed in class, I feel that the idea of a holodeck would potentially be a very destructive invention within our current culture.

Of course one may say that the Star Trek "continum" or the world of Star Trek is one that is more civilized and altruistic and would be able to handle the holodeck with all of its potential vises and dangers. The people of the Federation would not get become lost in the holodeck because those people have chosen a better life for not only themselves but for humanity. They are (assumably) a more educated humanity. Which is by Murray's own account the only thing that saves Captain Janeway from the allures of the holodeck.

I found the distinction Murray drew out between the holodeck and the feely interesting. The primary seperation between the two devices is that one (the feely)presents a narrative by taping directly into the sensational and 'feeling' part of the brain while the other (the holodeck) allows the allows the user to dertermine their own level of invovlement. Murray terms the holodeck as "The Thinking Womans Feely," a device that allows the user to their own level of physical involvement and while still adhering to a predetermined narrative.

I really enjoy the position that Murray brings to the perverbial table of new media as it concerns the narrative in new media. As she states in so many words that the direction that new media is taking us we do not even have the terminology or technology to understand what is coming. As someone who has been looking at what it means to study a new medium, video games, I have found myself using the much of the same venacular and terminology I use with my friends and other people I game with to describe and discuss video games as I have used in my research.