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.

翟振明在美国获得了工程学和哲学学位，曾任教于美国缪伦贝格学院。该书在美国哲学界引起了广泛的反响，另一本代表作是《本底抉择和道德理论》(The，Radical　Choice　and　Moral　Theory)，现任教于中山大学哲学系。n　　　　该书曾于1998年在美国Rowmarl　&　Littlefield出版公司出版，现在首次在国内出版其中译本。