Episode #824
November 16, 2024
A proscenium arch serves as a frame which encloses something different on its other side.
It can also be a portal to another reality.
In a church the proscenium arch is a threshold between the secular and the sacred. It is a passageway to God. The congregation gathers on the pew side of the arch while recipients of the Eucharist pass through the arch to commune with God.
The stage of a theater is often framed with a proscenium arch. On this side is the audience, seated in the normal world. On that side is the fantasy world of a play.
Science fiction fantasies have featured a variety of proscenium arches. “The Time Tunnel” TV show featured a conical time machine which sent time travelers to various historical events. While the present was on one side of the tunnel and the past was on the other, interactions in the past never changed the reality of the present. Each reality was fixed, literally in time, and separated by the tunnel arch.
In H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” the time traveler is not able to change the future, but decides that he prefers to be with his friend Weena 800,000 years in the future. His time machine was a proscenium arch.
The door of a DC3 is a proscenium arch for skydivers. Here, sitting in the airplane, is the environment of gravity… jumpers are stuck to the benches in a familiar way. When a skydiver passes through the arched door he enters an environment of weightlessness, free to fly in any direction or to hover in midair with his friends.
The Gateway Arch is a proscenium which greets travelers and provides a passage from the Mississippi River to Saint Louis, Missouri.
Star Trek had a technology called the Holodeck where a virtual reality environment was created. It was a place where crew members of a Starship created alternate worlds and realities. They would interact with real and imagined characters and objects. When a person wished to exit the Holodeck they said, “Display Arch.” An arched doorway with programing and exit controls would appear. They could pass through this proscenium arch to return to normal reality.
Modern day virtual reality is entered via a proscenium arch in the form of an immersive headset. In a networked virtual reality users can interact with other real users, imagined characters and objects. Some of these realities are created for the users by programmers, others can be created by the users themselves. In any case the presence of the user changes the environment. When I am in a virtual reality my essential self is present. Even if I look like an avatar, I am there.
Other types of computing are less interactive. Creating a spread sheet, writing a story with a word processor, reading and writing email or creating or watching a video are two dimensional. Even Artificial Intelligence, albeit very smart, is a Q&A session. By design, in these data driven realities, your presence is outside of the computing environment looking in.
The best science fiction is ultimately about the human condition. A future reality created by the author is a stage for human interaction behind the proscenium arch of the book covers.
While virtual reality is interesting and stimulating, its best gift is one of contrast. Understanding and participating in a VR environment evokes a greater empathy between yourself and others. Seeing others in a different light increases your depth of appreciation. When you exit through the proscenium arch you see more clearly the nuances of normal reality.
So when crafting your reality, frame it in a proscenium arch and use the arch as a portal to be who you are, where you are, whenever you are.
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That’s deep….real deep!