Virtual
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The term '''virtual''' is a concept applied in many fields with somewhat differing connotations, and also, differing denotations.
Colloquially, 'virtual' has a similar meaning to '[[wikt:quasi- | quasi]]-' or 'pseudo-' (prefixes which themselves have quite different meanings), meaning something that is '''''almost''''' something else, particularly when used in the adverbial form e.g., "He's ''virtually'' [almost] my boyfriend". The term recently has been defined philosophically as "that which is ''not real''" but may display the full qualities of the real. However, virtual is ultimately fake.
==Philosophy==
Numerous [[philosopher]]s have advanced conceptions of the virtual. Most prominent of these in contemporary philosophy has been [[Gilles Deleuze]], who uses the term virtual to refer to something that every object carries with it, which is neither its reality, nor merely what it could have been, but rather what it is imagined to be. "Virtual" is therefore taken to mean a potential state that could become actual. "Virtual" is not opposed to "real" but opposed to "actual," whereas "real" is opposed to "possible." This definition, which is almost indistinguishable from ''potential'', originates in medieval [[Scholastics]] and the [[pseudo-Latin]] "''virtualis''".
Recently this conception of the virtual has been challenged and another core meaning has been elicited by ([[Denis Berthier]], "Meditations on the real and the virtual" — in [[French language|French]]), based on uses in science ([[virtual image]]), technology ([[virtual world]]), and [[etymology]] (derivation from virtue — [[Latin]] ''virtus''[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=virtual]). At the same [[ontology|ontological]] level as "possible," "real," or "potential," "virtual" is defined as that which is ''not real'', but displays the full qualities of the real — in a plainly actual (i.e., not potential) — way. The [[prototype|prototypical]] case is a [[reflection (physics)|reflection]] in a [[mirror]]: it is already there, whether or not one can see it; it is not waiting for any kind of actualization. This definition allows one to understand that real effects may be issued from a virtual object, so that our perception of it and our whole relation to it, are fully real, even if it is not. It explains that virtual reality may be used to cure phobias — which remains contradictory in any conception for which the virtual is a kind of potential.
==Computer technology==
Early motivations for applying 'virtual' to computers were sharing of actual devices by many users and coordination of multiple processes, as seen with the successful use of the [[virtual machine]] approach.
Internet and communication technology fostered de-coupling of space where events happen, and storage technologies facilitate de-coupling of time between a message being sent and received.
These technologies build the environment for virtual work in teams, with members who may never meet each other in person. Communicating by telephone and e-mail, with work products shared electronically, virtual [[team]]s produce results without being co-located.
Similarly, a [[virtual world]] is a type of habitation founded upon web technology that allows interactions for pursuits, such as [[Second Life|economy and real estate]].
==Bibliography==
* ''Origins of Virtualism: An Interview with Frank Popper conducted by [[Joseph Nechvatal]]", CAA Art Journal, Spring 2004, pp. 62-77
* [[Frank Popper]], From Technological to Virtual Art, Leonardo Books, MIT Press, 2007
==See also==
*[[Virtuality]]
*[[Virtualization]]
*{{lookfrom|Virtual}} (Starting from)
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