The Presence of Illusion, Magic and Virtual Reality

by

Heather Lander

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of

the

requirements for the degree of

Master of Fine Art

at the

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The Presence of

Illusion:

Magic

And

Glasgow School of Art

University of Glasgow

2015Abstract

Formerly a science fiction dream, relegated to the dystopian futures

of films and novels, virtual reality – the immersion of oneself in an

entirely virtual environment – has historically been derided as

implausible and impossible. In the early 90s, failed attempts to bring

virtual reality to the masses – such as Nintendo’s ill-fated Virtual Boy

– had merely stoked the flames of the naysayers.

Amidst the virtual reality dream of the 90’s, Luckey Palmer was

born. By 2008, at just sixteen, this prolific engineering prodigy was

experimenting with unchartered realms of virtual reality. Three years

later, at 19, he founded Oculus Rift; a start-up on the cutting edge of

immersive technology with a vision to make virtual reality work. In March

2014 VR naysayers were silenced once and for all when Palmer’s vision

became headline news. Not even a year later Facebook purchased Oculus

Rift for two billion dollars. VR is about to become big, global business.

This essay will look at the idea of magic and virtual reality with

the dawning of the Oculus Rift. Beginning with the evolution of magic and

its links to religion, science and education; a focus will be made on

magic as an art form of illusion, designed to have the appearance of

defying laws of nature. We will look at the idea of the VR world in

reference to both Huizinga’s and Zimmerman’s idea of a magic circle. The

idea of suspension of disbelief will be discussed in relation to how we

think about magic. This will lead into a close look at the idea of one’s

sense of presence, and how this can be understood in regards to magic and

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VR. Presence within VR has become a commodity, and this has led to

ongoing research into the ways in which this sense can be heightened.

Through examination of the malleable idea of magic and its integral

connection to nature and the physical, we will see that the idea of magic

within VR would inevitably result in the dissolution of one’s sense of

presence in the VR. To conclude we will look at how the art world is

working with ideas about illusion and VR. One artist in particular, Mark

Farid, looks to immerse himself into someone else's life via the Oculus

Rift headset for a month.

Although Oculus Rift has created a new platform to discuss these

ideas, many of the same discussions have been popular in conversation for

some time. Postmodernism deals directly with simulation and proliferation

of symbols and signs obscuring actual reality. VR might be seen as the

next step in the inevitable evolution identified by Postmodernism: a

reality that is not real and is created from code, presenting itself as a

technical moving image of fiction. Just how mainstream VR will become is

impossible to tell at this stage, but it will become an accepted norm,

that much is signified by the Oculus-Facebook narrative.

***

Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset which “creates a

stereoscopic 3D view with excellent depth, scale, and parallax. Unlike 3D

on a television or in a movie, this is achieved by presenting unique and

parallel images for each eye.” (Oculus Rift, 2014) It is a head-mounted

display that replaces the users sight with a virtual reality. “One day, we

believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of

people, states Facebook chief executive Brendam Iribe. By feeling truly present,

you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life.” (Ewalt,

2015).

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Oculus Rift presents us with a new era of immersion, potentially

marking the end of the screen-based interface and the beginning of the

integration of the real and the virtual. No longer two separate worlds

interfacing via a computer screen, virtual reality via the Oculus Rift

creates the illusion of entering the screen. VR is already having a

revolutionary impact on approaches to education, military enterprise and

training, gaming, healthcare, engineering, adult entertainment and many

more besides.

By its very definition VR lacks the physical component of reality.

It is not physical space, but an illusion of such. The better it can

achieve this illusion, the more successful it is deemed. Although in the

making for quite some time, we are just on the verge of seeing VR really

enter the main stream of our society. With any new ground breaking

technology there arises the need to re-evaluate our understanding of the

things it affects. VR technology devices such as the Oculus Rift

introduce a new kind of need for the reevaluation of our understanding of

reality.

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Fig. 1 Oculus Rift headset

(2015)Fig. 2 imagery from Oculus Rift headset

(2015)

Virtual reality is an illusion: unlike the universe it has no

mystery of origin. Magic cannot exist in this illusion, because it is a

manipulation of pixels, not the physical particles around us. By its

nature as a technological creation, and one that renders, rather than

captures, VR can be seen as a simulation of an environment rendered to

appear as physical reality. In examining why magic cannot exist in this

illusion of a simulated reality, one can begin to understand what the

consequences of VR may be. Society’s relationship with VR will be an

evolving process; and it could, subtly but acutely, change the way humans

acknowledge their sense of presence in the physical world and the way we

understand reality. Magic can help to show us how this could work.

***

“Magic: the art of producing illusions as

entertainment by the use of sleight of hand,

deceptive devices, etc. The power of apparently

influencing events by using mysterious or

supernatural forces.”

“Illusion: An instance of a wrong or

misinterpreted perception of a sensory

experience”

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- Oxford Dictionary

Magic highlights the importance we place in our understanding of the

true physical natural world, the very thing it purports to manipulate and

defy. Examining the idea of magic within VR can help prepare us for the

era of the virtual. As a species we relay, one generation to another, a

quest for further understanding of the natural physical world, a quest to

which magic is inextricably linked.

The belief in and the practice of magic has been present since the

earliest human civilisations and continues to have an important

spiritual, religious and medicinal role in many cultures today. (Thomas,

1971) Society’s idea of magic has evolved over its long history. Once

widely practised as a real ability to influence events by using

mysterious or supernatural forces, it evolved (or divided itself) into

the art of appearing to influence events by using mysterious or

supernatural forces. This revision to the popular perception and

definition of magic happened over time, and both interpretations

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Fig. 3 Hieronymus Bosch: The Conjurer (1475-1480)

overlapped each other to varying degrees, and as this essay will discuss,

in many ways still do.

Religion, science and education has each played a role in the

evolution of magic. In the history of mankind magic has consistently

struggled to remain a part of society. As civilisations expanded and

became better educated and more advanced (Thomas, 1971) science and

religion have been known to both embrace and persecute magic. Science,

like mankind itself, has been both antagonist and saviour of magic

throughout history. However, it is religion that can be seen historically

as magic’s true and committed rival. Though many religions embraced

magic, as the Protestant population grew in Britain, so did the idea that

magic was diametrically, and ethically, opposed to the creed of hard work

and transparency. (Thomas, 1971 p. 256)

The world’s view of religion has changed, but not fundamentally in

the same way that our view of magic has. There have been many that have

tried to break the hold religion has over much of the world. Nietzsche

may famously have declared ‘God is Dead’, of course, but it almost seems

he was heard but not listened to. The world is still enslaved by religion

in many brutal ways. “Atheism is in decline worldwide, with the number of7

Fig. 4 Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)

atheists falling from 4.5% of the world’s population in 1970 to 2.0% in

2010 and projected to drop to 1.8% by 2020.” (Chapman, 2013) Religion

declares faith should be proof enough to believe, and for much of the

world that is good enough. Magic has never been able to do that to the

same magnitude. It, like science, demands physical proof. “It is

therefore possible to connect the decline of the old magical beliefs with

the growth of urban living, the rise of science, and the spread of an

ideology of self-help.” (Thomas, 1971 p. 665)

Religion is arguably following the evolutionary path of magic, but

it is taking a lot longer to reach irrelevance and implausibility. It is

conceivable that at some point in the distant future both will be

considered solely forms of entertainment and science will have dominion

over the place that all three battled for across hundreds of years. Both

religion and science (including the availability of education services)

have forcefully guided magic to its current place in society and as

individuals we are protective and suspicious of it at the same time. Many

people would say they don’t believe in magic but at the same time are

quietly practicing it, in everything from good luck charms to

superstitious rituals. We have an interesting relationship with magic in

the west, nurtured from youth. It is a wonder we hold it so dear to our

hearts even as we mature and come to understand that magic doesn’t really

exist the way we first understood it to. As the philosopher Dan Dennett

states during a Ted Talk in 2003, “Real magic isn’t real. The only real

magic isn’t real magic.” (Dennett 2003) What Dennett is revealing to us

here, is that “magic” in the contemporary west is no longer a term

applied to the “influence [of] events by using mysterious or supernatural

forces”, but rather is a term relegated to fiction.

In many societies, including our own, magic has almost completely

evolved into entertainment. This type of magic uses illusion to alter

one’s perception of reality in ways that seem to defy certain laws of8

nature understood to be present in reality. It disrupts one’s sense and

understanding of reality at that moment. It is common and open knowledge

that the majority of magicians in popular culture today do not pretend to

have magical powers. Society doesn’t seem to mind this. Many people are

still captivated and amazed by the magic show. Some people engage their

suspension of disbelief to partially pretend it is real magic. Others

choose not to; instead finding value in the illusion as an illusion,

appreciating its skill and achievement in its success as such.

A child may believe in magic, and an adult ‘knows better’. However,

in the transition from child to adult we see proof that one seems able to

both believe and not believe in something quite easily. Similar to the

realisation that Father Christmas might not be real; it takes time to

digest this, and during that time the mind can flip between both beliefs.

Perhaps it is the memory of the enjoyment we experienced as children in

thinking something was magic that helps to perpetuate its existence in

society, whether via suspension of disbelief or admiration of the

illusion.

Choosing not to engage one’s suspension of disbelief during a magic

show demonstrates the desire that exists to test the boundaries of our

senses in their ability to perceive the world. In visual illusions we

test the balance of communication between our brain and our eyes that

make up our vision. We inherently know that there is a physical way to

achieve the illusion but it is so well devised and executed that the

senses, at least one of them, have missed something. You were physically

present when it technically happened in physical space, but you can’t

understand how it could have technically and physically happened. This is

the physical world of illusion that the magician has mastered, and we as

society have validated its existence as evidenced in its popularity as

entertainment.

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Knowing that we exist in the world, tied to nature through this

physicality, is our reality. In watching a magician perform, we allow

them to momentarily alter our perception of the physicality of reality.

We understand this as illusion, and enjoy the slight altercation it

causes our vision. As humans we are innately curious and we want to

understand everything. The ultimate example of this being the Large

Hadron Collider. “The LHC is nearly 30 years in the making - and costs

the member countries of CERN and other participating countries an

estimated €4.6 billion (about US$ 6.4 billion)”.(Santoso 2008) “The LHC

is the world's largest and most powerful particle collider, and the

largest single machine in the world.” (Rabouin 2015) Physicists hope the

“LHC could open new frontiers in understanding space and time, the

microstructure of matter and the laws of nature.” (Giddings 2010) In

short, they hope it will help unravel the mysteries of the physical

world.

We are constantly striving to better our chances of survival in

life. We believe the more we know about the physical world the better

equipt we are to successfully survive and prosper within it. Like all

species we are designed to try to stay alive. That is our main goal. At

every moment we are trying to stay alive and in achieving this in the

present we start to look ahead to the future, to what we can do to make

sure we can stay alive for as long as possible, in the best conditions

possible. We have come to learn many ways to proactively and

intelligently work towards this goal. At one time in our history we

didn't have all of this knowledge, and the methods of magic were born out

of the desire to improve one’s life. Magic and prayer can both be seen

as born from this desire. And thousands of years later they both remain a

part of our world despite our knowledge of a plethora of ways- a whole

structure of laws and education founded through science etc.- that we can

proactively implement to improve our lives, and the lives of others.

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Illusion and magic remind us that our perception is not perfect. Our

reality can only be defined by what we perceive of it and/or what we can

prove through science; sometimes what we see is not what is really there,

and vice versa. Perhaps if we can perceive a truer sense of our

world/reality, we will have more control over it, and can use it to

improve our life. Our physical world is not under our control however, at

least not fully, and we can only strive to further understand it and

exist successfully within it. The more we are able to understand the

relationship between what our senses are telling us and what

discrepancies this communication might have made up or left out, the more

we can understand how this happens. This gives society more knowledge to

better understand the way we perceive reality and how we can best live

within it. We can see how malleable our sense of presence in reality is,

and that we don’t yet fully understand it. If we could fully understand

our reality we would have more control over improving our lives.

Our desire to fully understand reality is demonstrated in the recent

internet debate over whether a dress was blue and black or white and

gold. An illusion was created by the fact that it was a photograph of the

dress, taken in questionable lighting conditions, and seen only on a

screen. The dress could not be seen in ‘real life’, and this is what

prevented the public from being able to settle the debate over what

colours it was. It seemed consensus was split down the middle, with each

side being 100% sure they were right. Without being physically present

with the dress it seemed the argument could go on forever and no further

at the same time. The wikipedia webpage for ‘the dress’ can be found in

Appendix A and explains the phenomena in detail. It is an amusing example

of how shaken up people can become when physical reality appears too

subjective and open to misinterpretations. We thought we understood the

screen, and what illusions it can create, but in this particular we case

we were proven wrong.

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To perceive our reality it is understood we must be present within

it. We acknowledge our presence through our senses and our mind, and the

way they give us our perception of ‘being there’ is the reality we

experience, it is the reality we are a presence within. Magic gives us

the illusion that some law of nature has been defied- that our reality

has been physically manipulated somehow. In reality, outwith a magic show

or perhaps intoxication, the idea of feeling like your reality is not

what you thought it to be is a very disturbing thought to consider. The

Oxford definition of insanity: “a state of mind which prevents normal

perception, behaviour, or social interaction”. (Oxford Dictionary) A

sense of presence directly connects us to our reality both mentally and

physically. If we lose sense of it we lose sense of ourself. The art of

magic looks to momentarily disrupt one’s connection to reality by means

of illusions.

Virtual reality attempts to create the illusion that the user is

actually present in a virtual environment. The idea of presence has come

under new investigations with the dawning of the virtual, and most

recently with devices such as Oculus Rift. “The effectiveness of a

virtual environment corresponds to the sense of presence reported by

users of that virtual environment. For Biocca (1997), the presence that

emerges is not just a side benefit, but an end goal.” (Çiflikli B., İşler

V., and Güdükbay U. 2010, p.5) The idea of manifesting a strong sense of

presence for the user of the VR has become a commodity, and there are

potentially billions to be made in achieving this in the strongest sense

possible in a VR world. In light of these new examinations into the idea

of presence, and the distinction that must be made between the real and

the virtual, the term telepresence has come to define this type of

virtual presence: “Telepresence is a sensation of being elsewhere,

created by virtual reality technology.” (Oxford Dictionary)

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Vision works by sending electrical impulses of light from the eye to

the brain. The eye and the brain communicate to decipher what these

impulses of light are actually showing us. The brain learns to adapt to

and recognise common illusions such as being able to tell if a small ball

is in fact smaller then the large ball it is next to, or if it is

actually further in the distance. Our field of vision is essentially two

flat screens, just like the Oculus Rift offers. We know that context and

depth perception are key to vision, and without them we would be left

struggling to comprehend our environment. If we did not learn these

skills our field of vision would appear flat.

Some illusions are less common, and therefore our brain may take

longer to identify and adapt to these. In the 1930’s, Professor Theodor

Erismann, of the University of Innsbruck, devised an experiment which

created an upside down field of vision for his subject. A headset that

made everything look upside down was worn continuously for two weeks.

After ten days the subject had become accustomed to his upside down

reality and he was able to function normally. (Abrahams 2012) When the

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Fig. 5. context is key to depth perception (2006)

headset was taken off, vision went back to normal again after a short

period. “It is believed that for the first few days, babies see

everything upside-down.” (Kermanshahi, 2010) It is possible they also see

two images. This is because light is taken in upside down and with two

eyes. So we are reminded that, from a very early age, our vision has

already adapted to and even created its own illusions so that we can

properly function in, understand and feel present in our physical

environment.

Investigations into presence in the virtual world have been

reinvigorated because Oculus Rift type devices are creating an illusion

that the screen has disappeared, just as it did in Erismann’s experiment

(and in a sense, as it does when our vision develops). With the Oculus

Rift the screen has now encompassed our complete field of vision and the

entire physical world is unseen. This erases any visible border, frame or

window into the virtual. There is no television screen, no computer

monitor; the eyes are 100% saturated by this rendered environment, the

virtual reality. Never before have we seen the screen disappear to this

extent in any successful way. Screens have adapted and advanced, becoming

clearer and sharper, smaller and bigger, but they have always been

visible. The screen is of course still there, in fact there are two, and

together they create the same kind of field of vision that your actual

eyes create, stereoscopic vision. By simulating our own vision so

acutely, we no longer feel separate from the virtual, we feel we are

within it. The stereoscopic imagery shown through the Oculus Rift on

these two tiny screens are creating an illusion of vision itself.

With the ability to interact with computer screens, beginning as far

back as the 1950’s, the first real forward step towards a heightened

sense of presence within the virtual was imagined. Now that the Oculus

Rift makes the screens almost imperceptible, it gives the user a much

more real sense of presence in a virtual world. The eyes cannot see the14

boundaries of the screens, but the mind understands they are there, and

it learns to adapt to this new illusion. It gives the expressions ‘as far

as the eyes can see’ and ‘seeing is believing’ new meaning. The VR user

understands what they are doing when they put an Oculus Rift type device

on their head. Before the illusion has begun it has already been revealed

to the user.

Without reflecting upon what the screen has represented throughout

its history, it is difficult to understand the significance of losing it.

However, the disappearance of the screen to our eyes, like the non-

existence of magic in the virtual, will no doubt force us to rethink what

we want from the screen, as it will force us to rethink what we want from

magic. Without the boundaries represented by the edge of the screen, the

line between the virtual and the real becomes easily blurred. This all-

encompassing view of the virtual presents our mind with a peculiar state

of being. We become part of the illusion of this virtual world, and we

feel a stronger sense of presence within it. As the screens have all but

visually disappeared, we are presented, for the first time, with the

illusion of first hand experience and presence in a virtual world. We

have stepped into the illusion of the virtual and magic means nothing in

this nonphysical world.

“The term Magic Circle has been given by the authors of Rules of Play,

Zimmerman and Salen, to represent the threshold between reality and

virtual reality within gaming”. (Zimmerman 2012) They claim the virtual

is within this Magic Circle. Originally coined by Huizinga, the term

“Magic Circle is described in “Homo Ludens (1955) : the act of game-

playing requires the crossing of a boundary (The Magic Circle) which

marks the game from the ordinary world.” (Calleja 2013) This term seems

to use the word magic in an ambiguous nature, as is popular in modern

culture. It therefor leaves the whole idea of the Magic Circle weak and

ambiguous. This ambiguity has already been discussed and debated amongst15

VR experts in the gaming world. Edward Castronova argues against the term

in regards to its implication that there is an enclosed circle at all,

instead referring to the boundary as ‘unsealed’ and synthetic:

As noted by Edward Castronova in Synthetic Worlds:

The Business and Culture of Online Games, “this membrane

(the Magic Circle) can be considered a shield of

sorts, protecting the fantasy world from the

outside world.” Castronova uses the term

synthetic world because “a synthetic world

cannot be sealed completely; people are crossing

it all the time in both directions, carrying

their behavioural assumptions and attitudes with

them.” He states “the virtual is blending so

smoothly into the allegedly “real” as to make

the distinction increasingly difficult to see.”

(Castronova 2005)

By crossing over into these ‘synthetic worlds’ “all the time in both

directions”, it can be seen how ideas already solid in the minds of

humans in the real world may be altered once they have experienced VR.

Magic is one of these ideas, which will be further defined in

understanding its presence (or lack there of) in the virtual. Reality

itself is another, and there will no doubt be boundless research across

many fields that will explore how our understanding of reality is

changing with the coming of VR and Oculus Rift type devices.

Everything within the virtual is just that, a virtual illusion. It

has been made by humans and at the same time is immaterial, it has no

grounding in the laws of nature or physical reality. The only laws that

exist are those programmed by humans using our technology, and the

confines of this technology. The only physicality existing is the16

illusion of the physical. There may come a time when we will have the

ability to make all of our senses enter the VR illusion effectively,

leaving the mind as the only part of us that can identify reality from

the virtual. Quantum physics is bringing us closer to understanding that

reality itself can be thought of as an illusion, the ultimate illusion

that not even our mind can comprehend. It will be interesting to see if

VR will improve the way we are able to structure our thoughts about such

things.

By examining one’s sense of presence, both in and out of the virtual

world, we can understand it better and therefore understand our sense of

reality better. Magic highlights an innate difference between reality and

the virtual, and by examining this we can begin to imagine some of the

ways in which virtual reality will change our overall idea of reality. In

being part of the VR illusion we will have to forfeit the logic and

history behind our ideas of magic due to its intrinsic link with the

physical, laws of nature and mysterious supernatural forces. The validity

we give it does not translate into the virtual.

We may value many experiences within the virtual world, but magic

would be impossible to validate without denying one’s presence in the

virtual world, and mistaking it for reality instead. In seeing something

magical occur in the VR world, one would inherently not think of it as

magic, or as an illusion. It would be seen as part of the coding, its

origin and composition not a mystery. If something disappears in the VR

we wouldn’t wonder where it went, as we would know it is not physical and

doesn’t need to have actually ‘gone’ anywhere.

With the Oculus Rift and other simulation devices, we are

experiencing the virtual world first hand, and by knowing it is virtual,

we know that mystery and nature do not exist within it. The mystery is

absent through knowing that humans made the VR, and it can and is17

controlled by humans. Nature is absent as the virtual reality is not a

physical creation of nature, and therefor it is not ruled by the physical

forces of nature - super or otherwise. There is no physicality to the

virtual, and the physical is what we have come to define as a key element

to our sense of presence and

perception of reality. Our environment within physical space and time,

and the way we interact with it, is our most solid and practical

foundation to perceiving reality.

The mystery of nature and our physical world will always be of the

utmost importance to scientists and philosophers etc. We are tied to the

physical and it keeps us grounded to the reality we must navigate through

and survive in, as humans. Until we die we are tied to our human body,

and it is tied to the physical world. The mind can take us anywhere, but

the body will bring us back to the laws and mysteries of nature. This is

why magic is denied entry into the virtual world of Oculus Rift. No

physicality, no nature and no mystery = no notion of magic as we have

come to understand it over hundreds (if not thousands) of years.

Interestingly, where magic cannot venture there does seem to be a

place for religion. As far back as 2011 the Catholic Church embraced the

virtual by approving an iPhone app that helps

guide worshippers through confession. “A spokesperson from the Catholic

Bishops' Conference of England and Wales told BBC News the app was a useful

tool to help people prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.” (BBC, 2011) There are

also places of worship in some VR worlds,

and VR users can virtually go into them to pray/worship. Reverend Benek

of the First Presbyterian Church of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was

interviewed about the idea of religion in a VR world: “I think that as

technology like Oculus Rift becomes more developed, immersive, and

available to the general public, we may soon be able to easily develop

virtual worship and Christian education experiences. This would be a18

great asset to the church universal, as it will enable the infirm,

homebound, and potentially even the poor to participate from afar

regardless of their personal mobility or lack of affordable

transportation.” (Prisco 2015)

There will be few properties of life that won’t successfully

transfer into VR in some way. Magic will be an exception, and in

identifying this we become more familiar with the idea of what the

virtual is compared to reality, and what we consider magic to mean to us.

The virtual world has created a metaphysical space, which presents us

with a new type of reality that is working towards becoming a complete

simulation of feeling truly present in the virtual environment. By

removing the ability to visually recognise the screens the mind has less

difficulty in feeling the state of presence of actually being in an

altered reality, despite knowing it is virtual. The VR is a space we can

inhabit despite its immateriality. It attempts to create the illusion

that you are in another space physically, despite that being the one way

in which you will never be present within the virtual world. One day you

may be able to see, smell, hear, taste and touch the virtual world, but

it still won’t physically exist. Physicality, it would therefor seem, is

our most powerful indicator of our sense of presence in reality.

VR technology, including Oculus Rift, is looking to haptic studies

to help not only make the VR world look like a real physical space, but

also to have it feel physically real. “Haptics is the science of

understanding and improving human interaction with the physical world

through the sense of touch. Haptic interfaces are computer-controlled

electro-mechanical systems that enable a user to feel and manipulate a

real, remote, or virtual environment. They often take the form of a

lightweight, back-drivable robotic arm, measuring the motion of the human

hand and providing appropriate force feedback throughout the interaction;

other haptic interfaces focus on tactile interactions directly through

the skin.” (Kuchenbecker 2012)19

Extensive clinical research concerning presence in the virtual is

ongoing, with the goal of seeing how close we can get to complete

simulation of reality indistinguishable from the real world; 100%

presence. Haptic studies have a long way to go before coming close to

achieving this in VR. In the meanwhile, researchers are looking at all of

the other ways a sense of presence can be heightened without the physical

touch element. The ambitions we have for these devices to reach total

simulation creates the need for our ideas about them to continue to

evolve as the VR experience evolves.

Presence “is a psychological emergent property

of an immersive system, and refers to the

participant’s sense of "being there" in the

world created by the VE (Virtual Environment)

system.” (Slater, Steed, Usoh, 2013, p.97)

Having the knowledge of being in the virtual world while you are

present in it means there is no action that could happen with in it that

could not be explained by the origin of the VR world being synthetic,20

Fig. 6 Dexmo F2, haptic interface for hand (2015)

coded by humans; unanswered questions or acts do not exist. There is no

mystery and there is no nature. The VR world is itself an illusion and

has no ‘natural’ laws. The VR world adheres to the laws of its creators -

people. We can look to magic to remind us what the physicality of our

reality actually represents, and how malleable our perception of this

world is. In this way magic can keep us grounded and connected to our

universe. It will keep us connected to our physical reality, and aware of

the consequences involved in neglecting or denying its importance.

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We can see that in the apparent dissolution of the screens with

which we enter the VR world, we are presented with an illusion that our

vision needs to adapt to in order for the mind to grasp what is going on.

It brings us to a new comprehension of reality, new standards for the

idea of presence. With the Oculus Rift we can fool our vision, and one

day probably most, if not all, of our other senses. The mind’s ability to

recognise when the body is inside an illusion will be the only way of

recognising the virtual as not ‘real’. Strange that the mind, an

immaterial thing, is what appears to stay grounded in the real, while our

senses are the things that can accept the virtual as real much more

easily. One only needs to think of the Rubber Hand Illusion to remember

how malleable our sense of proprioception is.

The Rubber Hand Illusion, only discovered about fifteen years ago,

demonstrates that we can go in and out of different states of presence

and perception of reality very quickly. One moment the subject knows it

is not their hand, and the next they feel like it is. When a hammer comes22

down to strike the rubber hand, the subject flinches away from the

perceived pain that is about to come. Our self preservation instinct

overrules the mind’s understanding of reality, even if just for a brief

moment. Looking at these types of phenomena reminds us that what our

bodies perceive can be read differently by the mind, and even our

physical sense of presence is a malleable thing.

Artists have always been interested in illusion. The illusion

created through perspective in painting was one of art’s biggest

milestones. Op-art investigates illusion directly, and most artists

employ ideas of some kind of illusion indirectly. Modernism and Post

Modernism question reality and whether it is anything more than an

illusion. Now art can and is opening up discussion about the experience

of entering the illusion of virtual realities, and how it can change us.

Fine art has a place in culture in helping to explore and

simultaneously ‘visualise’ current ideas, worries and passions within

society. Fine art has freedom, and with this freedom, power and strength

to affect minds, belief systems and ideologies. Its ‘magic’ lies in its

ability to give the viewer the feeling that being in the presence (or

even having been in the presence) of the artwork is ‘improving their

life’ somehow. Investigation into the effects of a VR world in relation23

Fig. 8 St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha (1425) with lines showing perspective & vanishing point

to presence is introducing artists to new ways of engaging their

audience. It is also opening up a new discussion of reality and one’s

sense of presence, at the same time as offering a whole new medium to

investigate. In identifying how to heighten one’s sense of presence in a

virtual reality we will become more familiar with what this idea actually

means to us, and what it means to our perception of reality.

“Silicon Valley touchstone and media theorist

Marshall McLuhan once noted that the real

effects of technology are never noticed until

it’s too late. Any machine we use, also uses us;

the real impact of tech, then, is not what it

does, but how it changes our thinking. The serious

artist is the only person able to encounter technology with

impunity, McLuhan wrote, …because he is an expert aware

of the changes in sense perception.” (Doyle 2015)

Seeing I is a project initiated by artist Mark Farid in which he

seeks to immerse himself into the life of another person (referred to as

the Input). He is currently working to fund this elaborate project and it

is set to take place in a London gallery. For 24 hours a day for one

month, Farid will wear a VR Headset through which he will experience life

through another person’s eyes and ears. This project will investigate

one’s sense of presence and how it is affected by being cut off from

one’s actual state of presence and ‘transported’ into someone else’s. The

only two-way communication he will have with anyone during this time is

with a psychologist for one hour a day after the Input has gone to sleep.

These discussions will form a diary of the project and make sure Mark’s

mental health does not come into danger. The implications of being cut

off from your self, and communication with others for 28 days are hard to

fathom. (Seeing-I, 2014)

24

Seeing-I opens the mind to some of the more serious questions

concerning VR. Can we lose our sense of self in this way? What are the

potentials of combining hypnotism with virtual reality, already termed

VRT (Virtual Reality Therapy) (Mind Matters Hypnotherapy, no date)- or

using it to potentially help someone in an unresponsive or vegetative

state? (Rose, 1996) It doesn’t take long for the mind to flood with ideas

about the use of VR in all kinds of therapy.

Artists will one day be creating their own VR worlds, and this

medium will create some of the most powerful emotive artworks to date, or

at least it seems the potential is there. It would be interesting to

create M.C. Escher’s staircase in the VR, and experience the illusion

first hand. Would you be able to tell if you were walking up or down,

could it feel like an illusion in addition to looking like one? If the

power of a Rothko is its ability to feel like you are present within it,

that it is a real presence of colour or darkness of mass, then a VR

Oculus Rift experience could go a long way in helping to achieve this.

How would one feel differently about the power of a piece of work such as

Rothko’s Red on Maroon (1959) in VR? Within this new reality the power may

feel more real, because in a strange sense it would be; but it would no

longer be a painting- what would it be?

As we have seen, one’s sense of reality and presence is malleable to

begin with, and without considerate appreciation of what VR is, we could

be in danger of losing some sense of presence and understanding of

reality, rather than gaining it. Presence adds weight, insight and

character to the virtual world, as it does for reality, but in the VR it

retains a constant awareness that everything is digital, and nothing is

physical. Once we enter a VR, this understanding should take the place of

magic. If and when a time comes when this is not possible, and magic is

validated in the VR, we will have a serious social, moral and ethical

situation to deal with. The consequences of that are probably terrifying.25

As technology improves the presence we feel in VR will become more

and more ‘real’. This will promote debates that carry on with age-old

arguments and add a plethora of brand new ideas, data and evidence

towards further development in ideas of presence and our perception of

reality, both in the virtual world and the real physical world. If we

think about the way the word analog has had a ‘rebirth’ since digital

appeared and became its ‘opposite’, and magic had a rebirth when religion

and science pushed it into entertainment; we can start to see how a

similar rebirth may occur in reality as a result of VR.

It is easy to imagine how the next 20 years will witness

advancements in VR capabilities much like the advancements seen in

computers between 1965-2015. We need to take a proactive stance, and

carry out research to help determine its potential impact on society. VR

technology will change the way we view reality and the way we identify

our sense of presence. It is going to enter almost every facet of our

lives, from finding a mate, buying a house, going to college, visiting

the doctor and so on.

26

As the virtual becomes more ‘real’, we risk losing part of

ourselves, and our society, to the virtual. Thinking about the way we

understand magic, as discussed in this essay, should help us keep our

grounding in the physical. We must remember the importance of the

physical, none of us are above the inevitabilities of the natural

physical world. Earthquakes, typhoons, tornadoes, famine, disease: none

of these are escapable within the virtual world. Environmental concerns

cannot afford to be forgotten, and our physical ties to this world are

the most important factor in our survival. Real magic may not be real,

but it will play an important role in keeping us grounded to what is

real. VR has the potential for massive psychosocial impact, and this

needs to be acknowledged, understood and perpetually

critiqued.

Illustrations

Figure 1. Oculus Rift headset (2015) [Photograph] Available at:

http://techtimeindia.com/featured/oculus-rift/#prettyPhoto. [Accessed

24th April 2015].

Figure 2. imagery from Oculus Rift headset (2013) [Photograph] Available at:

http://timloram.me.uk/blog/2013/06/03/oculus-rift-first-impressions-top-

5-things-to-try/. [Accessed 24th April 2015].

Figure 3. Bosch, Hieronymus (1475-1480) The Conjurer. [Painting] Available at:

http://www.hieronymus-bosch.org/The-Conjurer.-Alternate-title(s)-The-

Magician..html. [Accessed: 20th April 2015].

Figure 4. Wright ‘of Derby’, Joseph (1768) An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump.

[Painting] Available at:

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-wright-of-derby-an-

experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump. [Accessed: 8th November 2014].27

***

Figure 5. context is key to depth perception (2006) [Digital Image] Available at:

http://hboyaci.bilkent.edu.tr/Vision/index.html. [Accesses 24th April

2015].

Figure 6. Dexmo F2, haptic interface for hand (2015) [Photograph] Available at:

http://www.dextarobotics.com/products/dexmo. [Accessed 24th April 2015].

Figure 7. Rubber Hand Illusion (2015) [Photograph] Available at:

https://twitter.com/cracked/status/583156350286372864. [Accessed 23rd

April 2015].

Figure 8. St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha (1425) with added lines to show

perspective & vanishing point (2004) [Digital Image] Available at:

http://www.webexhibits.org/sciartperspective/raphaelperspective1.html.

[Accessed 23rd April 2015].

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33

APPENDIX A

(12 pages)

wikipedia webpage for ‘The dress’

4/28/2015 The dress (viral phenomenon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A slightly cropped version of the original photo of the dress

Designer Roman Originals[1] Material Lace

[2]

34

Contents

1 Origin

2 Response

3 Scientific explanations

4 Legacy

5 See also

6 References

The dress (viral phenomenon)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The dress, also known as Dressgate[3]

and associated

with the hashtags #thedress, #whiteandgold, and

#blackandblue,[4]

is a viral photo and meme which became popular on the evening of 26 February 2015. Thememe originated from a washed-out photograph of a dress posted on the social networking service Tumblr, and a dispute over whether the dress pictured was blue

and black, or white and gold.[5]

In the first week after the surfacing of the image alone, more than 10 million tweets mentioned the dress.

35

Although it was confirmed that the dress actually was

black and blue,[6]

the image prompted discussions surrounding the matter across various platforms, with users discussing their opinions on the color and why they perceived the dress as being a certain color, while others discussed the triviality of the dispute to begin with. Members of the fields of neuroscience and colour vision provided scientific commentary on

the optical illusion.[7]

The dress itself, which was identified as a product of the retailer Roman Originals, experienced a major surge in sales as a

result of the meme.[8]

The Dress

Origin

About a week before the wedding of Scottish couple Grace and Keir Johnston, Grace's mother sent her a photograph of the dress she planned to wear to the wedding. The couple disagreed over the color of the dress. They posted the image on Facebook, and their friends also disagreed over the color; some saw it as white with gold lace while others saw it as blue with

black lace.[9][10]

36

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress_%28viral_phenomenon%29


Caitlin McNeill is a friend of the Johnstons and a member of the Scottish folk music group Conach, which performed at the wedding on the island of Colonsay. Even after seeing that the dress was "obviously blue

and black" in real life,[10]

the musicians remained preoccupied by the photograph; they "almost didn't make it on stage because we were so caught up discussing this dress". On 26 February 2015, McNeill reposted the image on a Tumblr blog she operated and asked the same question to her followers, which led tofurther

public discussion surrounding the image.[9][10]

Response

Later in the day, the image went viral worldwide across social media, including on Twitter, where userstook to hashtags such as "#whiteandgold", "#blueandblack", and "#dressgate" to discuss their opinions on what the color of the dress was, and theories surrounding their arguments. The photo also attracted discussion relating to the triviality of thematter as a whole; The Washington Post described the

37

dispute as "[the] drama that divided a planet".[9][11]

[12] Some articles suggested that the dress could

prompt an "existential crisis" over the nature of sight and reality, or that the debate could harm interpersonal relationships. One man was so intrigued by the dress that he decided the best option was to get his friend’s opinion, a tattoo artist. He then gota tattoo of the dress with the hash tag BlueandBlack.[9][13]

Ben Fischer of the New York Business Journal noted that interest in the first BuzzFeed article about the dress exhibited vertical growth instead of the typicalbell curve of a viral phenomenon, leading BuzzFeed to assign two editorial teams to generate additional articles about the dress in order to drive ad revenue,[14]

and by 1 March, the original BuzzFeed article had

received over 37 million hits.[15]

The Dress was citedby CNN commentator Mel Robbins as a viral phenomenon having the requisite qualities of positivity bias incorporating "awe, laughter and amusement", and was compared to and contrasted with a video that went viral earlier that week of llamas loose on an Arizona roadway, and tributes paid to actor Leonard Nimoy

after his death on 27 February.[16]

68% of BuzzFeed users polled responded that the dress was white and

38

gold as of 1 March.[17]

Some commenters have suggested

that the dress changes colors on its own.[9]

The dressattracted the attention of celebrities; Taylor Swift, Jaden Smith, Frankie Muniz, Demi Lovato, Mindy Kaling,and Justin Bieber announced that they see the dress asblue and black, while Anna Kendrick, B.J. Novak, Katy Perry, Senator Christopher Murphy, Julianne Moore, and

Sarah Hyland saw it as white and gold.[18]

Kim Kardashian tweeted that she sees it as white and gold,while her husband Kanye West sees it as blue and black. Lucy Hale, Phoebe Tonkin, and Katie Nolan saw different color schemes at different times. Lady Gaga described the dress as "periwinkle and sand," while David Duchovny called it teal. Other celebrities, including Ellen DeGeneres and Ariana Grande, mentionedthe dress on social media without assigning it a

color.[3][19][20][21][22][23]

Politicians, government agencies and social media platforms of well-known

brands also weighed in on the issue.[24]

Media outlets noted that the photo was overexposed andhad poor white balance, causing its colors to be washed out, giving rise to the perception by some that

39

the dress is white and gold rather than its actual

colors.[9][25]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress_%28viral_phenomenon%29 2/6


The dress itself was identified as being a royal blue "Lace Bodycon Dress" from the retailer Roman Originals; although available in three other colors (red, pink, and ivory, each with black lace), a white and gold version was not available. The day after McNeil's post, Roman Originals' website experienced a major surge in traffic; a representative of the retailer stated that "we sold out of the dress in the first 30 minutes of our business day and after

restocking it, it's become phenomenal."[8]

On 28 February, Roman announced that they would make a single white and gold dress for a Comic Relief charity

auction.[26]

Scientific explanations

Neuroscientists Bevil Conway and Jay Neitz believe that the differences in opinions are a result of how

40

the human brain perceives color, and chromatic adaptation. A similar theory was expounded by the

University of Liverpool's Paul Knox.[27]

Conway believes that it has a connection to how the brain processes the various hues of a daylight sky, noting that "your visual system is looking at this thing, andyou're trying to discount the chromatic bias of the daylight axis", and that "people either discount the blue side, in which case they end up seeing white and gold, or discount the gold side, in which case they

end up with blue and black."[7]

Neitz remarked that our visual system is supposed to throw away information about the illuminant and extract information about the actual reflectance... but I've studied individual differences in color vision for 30 years, and this is one of the biggest individual

differences I've ever seen.[7]

One hypothesis focuses on the naming of colors as a possible explanation. According to this view, the eye can differentiate between over 3 million colors but we

only have names for 20 to 30 of them.[28]

Neuroscientist and psychologist Pascal Wallisch pointsout that while inherently ambiguous stimuli have beenknown to vision science for many years, this is the first such stimulus in the color domain that was

41

brought to the attention of science by social media. He attributes differential perceptions to differences in illumination and fabric priors, but also notes thatthe stimulus is highly unusual insofar as the perception of most people does not switch. If it does,it does so only on very long time scales, which is highly unusual for bistable stimuli, so perceptual

learning might be at play.[29]

In addition, he notes that discussions of this stimulus are not frivolous, as the stimulus is both of interest to science and a paradigmatic case of how different people can sincerely see the world differently, an acknowledgement of which is a precondition for

world peace.[30]

The philosopher Barry C. Smith has invoked Ludwig Wittgenstein and the rabbit–duck

illusion by way of comparison.[31]

There is explanation of the colors of the dress with additive color mixing. The explanation is of Ignat

Ignatov and Oleg Mosin.[32][33]

42

The duck-rabbit, described in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations



Legacy

Daniel Howland, a Texas piercer, got a tattoo of the dress in blue and black with the words "White and Gold?". According to Howland, "It's actually a great tattoo. It's just dumb." He also "thought it was funny

that it upset a lot of people”.[5][34][35]

The dress effectively captured the collective attention of online networks; in South Africa, the Salvation Army has attempted to re-direct some of this mass awareness

towards the issue of domestic violence.[36]

43

SSI Shredding Systems Inc. based in Wilsonville, OR featured the dress in their weekly YouTube series Shred of the Week. The April 1, 2015 episode features a woman wearing the blue and black dress. The dress is shredded and in the process turns to white and gold.[37]

See also

List of Internet phenomena

References

1. Spargo, Chris (27 February 2015). "The optical illusion dress that's divided the internet: Celebrities join fierce debate over whether this dress is white and gold or blue and black... so which colors do YOU see?" (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2971409/What-color-dress-White-gold-blue-black.html). Daily Mail. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

2. "Lace Detail Bodycon Dress" (http://www.romanoriginals.co.uk/invt/70931?colour=Royal-Blue). Retrieved 27 February 2015.

3. "#Dressgate the dress is in fact black and blue" (http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/dressgate-the-white- and-gold-dress-making-our-mind-work-

44

until-its-black-and-blue-20150227-13qqrc.html). Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

4. Klassen, Anna (26 February 2015). "What Colors AreThis Dress? White & Gold or Black & Blue? The Internet Is Going Insane Trying To Find Out – PHOTO" (http://www.bustle.com/articles/66892-what-colors-are-this- dress-white-gold-or-black-blue-the-internet-is-going). Bustle. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

5. Moss, Caroline (2 March 2015). "A man has tattooedthe color-changing dress on his leg" (http://www.businessinsider.com/tattoo-of-the-dress-2015-3?op=1). Business Insider. Business InsiderInc. Retrieved 11 March 2015.

6. "Optical illusion: Dress color debate goes global"(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands- 31656935). BBC. Retrieved 28 February 2015.

7. "The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress" (http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one- agrees-color-dress/). Wired. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

8. " 'The Dress' flying off racks following Internet sensation: 'We sold out in the first 30 minutes ofour business day' " (http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/the

45

dress-flying-racks-article-1.2131584). New York Daily News. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

9. "The inside story of the 'white dress, blue dress'drama that divided a planet" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/27/the-inside-story-of-the-white-dress-blue- dress-drama-that-divided-a-nation/). The Washington Post. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

10. "The Dress Is Blue And Black, Says The Girl Who Saw It in Person" (http://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/the-dress-is-blue-and-black-says-the-girl-who-saw-it-in-pers). BuzzFeed. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

11. "Color Bind: This Dress is White and Gold, Right?" (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2015/02/26/this-dress- white-and-gold-right/MxsJKvqOKtV4lMg84ffNEM/story.html). Boston Globe. Retrieved 27 February 2015.



46

white-and-gold-right/MxsJKvqOKtV4lMg84ffNEM/story.html). Boston Globe. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

12. "The Official Live Blog: Is This Dress Blue and Black or White and Gold?" (http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/02/26/the_great_blue_and_black_versus_white_and_gold_dress_d ebate.html). Slate. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

13. King, Kirsten (26 February 2015). "This Dress Is Ruining People's Lives" (http://www.buzzfeed.com/kirstenking/this-dress-is-taking-over). BuzzFeed. Retrieved 1 March 2015.

14. Fischer, Ben (27 February 2015). "The Dress phenomenon didn't happen by accident. It took big money." (http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/blog/techflash/2015/02/the-dress-phenomenon-didnt-happen-by- accident.html). New York Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 1 March 2015.

15. Holderness, Cates (26 February 2015). "What Colors Are This Dress?" (http://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/help- am-i-going-insane-its-definitely-blue). BuzzFeed. Retrieved 1 March 2015.

16. Robbins, Mel (28 February 2015). "Why blue/black/white/gold dress went viral"

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(http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/27/opinion/robbins-llamas-dress/). CNN. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

17. Holderness, Cates (26 February 2015). "What Colors Are This Dress?" (http://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/help- am-i-going-insane-its-definitely-blue#.oc130dDPQ). Buzzfeed. Retrieved 1 March 2015.

18. http://www.mtv.com/news/2091624/dress-blue-black-white-gold-kim-kardashian-miley-cyrus-justin-bieber/

19. Iyengar, Rishi. "The Dress That Broke the Internet, and the Woman Who Started It All"

(http://time.com/3725628/the-dress-caitlin-mcneill-post-tumblr-viral/). Retrieved 27 February 2015.

20. Jinks, Caitlin. " 'I feel like it's a trick somehow': Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian join other celebrities in dress

debate taking over the internet" (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2971498/I-feel-like-s-trick- Taylor-Swift-joins-celebrities-dress-debate-taking-internet-says-frock-obviously-blue-black.html). Retrieved 27 February 2015.

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21. Sanchez, Josh. " 'What color is this dress' confused celebrities, too" (http://fansided.com/2015/02/26/color-dress- confused-celebrities/). Fansided.com. Retrieved 27February 2015.

22. Mahler, Jonathan. "A White and Gold Dress Overloads the Internet" (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/28/business/a-simple-question-about-a-dress-and-the-world-weighs-in.html? _r=0). The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

23. Iyengar, Rishi (26 February 2015). "Taylor Swift Says The Dress is Black and Blue" (http://time.com/3725450/dress-taylor-swift-black-blue-white-gold-celebrities/). Time. Retrieved 1 March 2015.

24. Jim Dalrymple II. "Politicians, Police, And Brands Have Weighed in On "The Dress" " (http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/politicians-police-and-brands-have-weighed-in-on-the- dress#.reMRDqg90). Buzzfeed.com. Retrieved 6 March2015.

25. "Why that dress looks white and gold: It's overexposed" (http://mashable.com/2015/02/26/dress-white-gold-

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blue- black/). Mashable. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

26. " 'The Dress' returns in special edition gold and white version for Comic Relief charity auction" (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/the-dress-special-edition-made-in-gold-for-comic-relief- charity-auction-10085484.html). The Independent. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.

27. "Viewpoint: Blue and black or white and gold?"(http://news.liv.ac.uk/2015/02/27/viewpoint-blue-black-white- gold/). News.liv.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2015.

28. "The Dress: The Big Color Debate" (http://www.beamled.com/info/blog/the-dress-the-big-colour-debate/). Beamled.com. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.

29. "An experts lesson from the dress" (http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/02/what_color_is_this_dress_a_scientist_explai ns_visual_ambiguity_and_color.html). Slate. 2 March2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.

30. "Why discussing the dress is not frivolous" (http://pensees.pascallisch.net/?p=1901).

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pascallisch.net. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.

31. "What would Wittgenstein say about that dress?" (http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor- 31662317). BBC. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.

32. Ignatov, I., Mosin, O.V. (2014) Photoreceptorsin Visual Perception and Additive Color Mixing. Bacteriorhodopsin in Nano-and Biotechnologies, Advances in Physics Theories and Applications, Vol. 27, pp. 20 -37.

33. Ignatov, I., Mosin, O.V. (2015)ElectromagneticConception for the Eyesight. Explanation for what the People See Different Colors in Additive Mixing, Journal of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics, Vol. 11, pp. 39-57.

34. Durando, Jessica (2 March 2015). "Man tattoos #thedress on his leg" (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/03/02/man-tattoo-the-dress-leg-texas/24266425/).USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc. Retrieved 11 March 2015.

35. Kooser, Amanda (2 March 2015). "Tattoo celebrates blue/black/white/gold dress meme" (http://www.cnet.com/news/tattoo-celebrates-

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blueblackwhitegold-dress-meme/). CNET. Retrieved 11 March 2015.

36. Salvation Army uses The Dress in ad targeting violence against women



36. Salvation Army uses The Dress in ad targeting violence against women

(http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/salvation-army-uses-the-dress-in-ad-targeting-violence-against-women-

1.2985043), at CBC.ca; published March 6, 2015; retrieved March 25, 2015 37. SSI's Shred of the Week: The Dress (https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=eIb0GhMbex4&list=UUQBMdhVX8w_Q6J8UrEglvkg), ; published April 1, 2015; retrieved April 1, 2015

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The Presence of Illusion, Magic and Virtual Reality

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