Proposal--March+24,+2011

To Science School Staff:

Liberate the mind!

What exactly is the “truth” or “reality”? Philosophers have been scratching their heads over this problem for eons without conclusively agreeing upon an answer. From the way we look at it, in day to day, our reality is what see and feel, and what others around us believe. We seem to think of this knowledge in absolute terms, but this notion is what blocks us from being truly innovative – these static notions don’t allow us to imaging and readily accept ideas which do not fit the model we consider ‘true’. Our goal then through this project is to shake the average Joe’s or Sarah’s perception of this ‘absolute’ reality and challenge them to open their mind to what may be possible. Teachers often ask students to think outside the box, but to challenge the visitors to do the same, we are going to trap them (figuratively of course) in one.

To create such a virtual reality, we will have a box and the base of this box will be a surface akin to the surface of a treadmill, except that the visitor would be able to simulate motion and travel forward, backwards, to the left and right on a 2D plane, but due to the nature of the dynamic surface, the visitor would always remain in the center of the 2D surface. The user would dawn on special goggles which would immerse them into a simulation of a reality. These visuals will be accompanied with a powerful sound system and a motion system. They would be able to physically interact with their ‘virtual’ surroundings – sensors will capture their physical motion and displace objects in their virtual world. The visitor will be placed in a box with padding at intervals to protect the visitor from falls.

As for what we could simulate, the possibilities are infinite. An idea we would like to simulate is the importance of our environment. The visitor would select from a series of endangered animals and become this animal, virtually. He or she would explore through one of several preset endangered habitats, with the simple goal of getting home safely.

Jane, Ali, Danielle, Niles, Jen, Gurpriya