Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : MINES EXHIBITION CENTRE,
SERI KEMBANGAN, SELANGOR
Tarikh/Date : 14/04/98
Tajuk/Title : MAJLIS PERASMIAN "SEMINAR ON
VIRTUAL REALITY"
Saya ucapkan terima kasih kepada pihak Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak dan penganjur-penganjur lain yang telah
sudi menjemput saya untuk merasmikan seminar dan bengkel
berkenaan dengan 'Virtual Reality' iaitu 'kenyataan yang
hampir benar'.
2. Saya percaya seminar dan bengkel ini akan menumpu
kepada pelbagai kemungkinan penggunaan 'Virtual Reality'
yang mempunyai hubungkait yang rapat dengan negara kita
dan negara-negara lain di rantau ini. 'Virtual Reality'
mempunyai potensi menyumbang secara berkesan kepada
peningkatan produktiviti dan kualiti melalui penggambaran
yang hampir benar atau 'real' sesuatu yang hendak dicipta
atau diperbuat. Daripada apa yang dilukis dan
digambarkan dalam komputer, model prototaip boleh
diperbuat dengan cara 'rapid prototyping' atau barangan
tertentu boleh dibentuk dan diukir dengan mesin secara
terus. Demikian pesawat terbang yang termoden, B777
diperbuat terus dari lukisan dan gambar yang dicipta
melalui komputer. 'Mock-up' pesawat tidak diperlukan.
Dengan ini proses pembuatan boleh dipercepatkan dan
kualiti serta 'precision' dipertahankan. 'Virtual
Reality' apabila diperalatkan bersama dengan 'rapid
prototyping', 'computer-aided machining' dan 'production'
akan mempercepatkan proses penciptaan serta menjamin
kualiti dan 'precision'.
3. Just a few years ago, virtual reality was regarded
more as a toy than a tool. The use of head-mounted
displays and data gloves supported a science fiction
impression. The entertainment business embraced the
virtual reality tools, promising to provide virtual
worlds as computer-generated alternatives to the real
world. In business, however, this science fiction
orientation detracts from the usefulness of virtual
reality. Today practical applications of virtual reality
exist, particularly in areas such as architecture and
computer-aided engineering design. Virtual reality
projects around the world introduced two important
innovations: the ability of the end user to gain a feel
and experience near real sensations in a simulated world
and become part of its dynamics; and the provision of
some interesting insights on how people and technology
will interact. Both developments attracted lots of media
attention that helped publicise virtual reality.
4. Jaron Lanier, the "VR guru" who coined the term
"Virtual Reality" and founded the virtual reality
industry, is of the opinion that there will be a new
emergent social consciousness that can only exist through
the medium of virtual reality. People tend to imagine
virtual reality as being an escapist thing where they
will be more removed from the real world and the need to
react with it. On the contrary, virtual reality will
make us intensely aware of what the real thing is going
to be and to adjust, react and adapt it to the real
situations.
5. Perhaps the best known application in virtual
reality is the flight simulator. The extensive use of
this training tool has saved much time and money without
the exposure to the kind of mishaps of actual flights
which trainees are prone to. Over the years the
simulators have been vastly improved as to make them as
nearly real as possible and this includes the management
of emergencies and accidents. There can be no doubt that
simulators of all kinds will be used in future for all
kinds of training. They will be more simple and less
costly. In fact there are already certain applications
which use the P.C. It would not be too difficult or take
too long a time before simple controls are devised or
headsets developed which will enable us to get into the
inside of objects in order to see what the hidden inside
look like. This would give us a better idea of how to
improve on designs for better function and maintenance.
6. In a few years we will see medical virtual
realities, where handicapped people can experience full
motion interaction with others, where people with
movement disabilities or paralysis will be able to
experience the functions of a complete body. Another
medical use is having surgery simulators so that surgeons
can enjoy the same benefits that pilots do and learn
without putting lives at risk. Of course, surgeons can
do that with cadavers too, but a cadaver isn't the same
thing as a body that really reacts, that can really
bleed. The other great advantage is the ability to
repeat the procedure any number of times and this will
obviously help sharpen the skills. Similarly new
techniques can be developed and tried before proceeding
to the real thing.
7. While virtual reality is still crude as an enabling
technology and major problems exist in the areas of
software support, tracking display, image generation and
the like, there are a growing number of applications
which go well beyond the confines of the virtual reality
games. The popularisation of virtual reality on PC-based
systems will enable more companies to use the technology
in their business and industry. Interactive 3-D tools
with real space and virtual reality aspects not only help
to produce higher quality designs and a more effective
market punch but also shorten development cycles
significantly. This provides a competitive edge and also
helps to reduce modelling costs substantially. On the
other hand, buyers in the future can have a virtual
examination of whatever they are buying and make
alterations to the colours or shapes in order to see how
much better or how much worse the product will be.
8. There are special things about virtual reality to
keep in mind. First, it is a reality in that the
impossible can be rendered possible, as for example
walking through the inside of a small engine which would
be impossible with the real thing. We therefore see what
the inside looks like. We can enlarge and make out the
details. We can thus know more about the design than we
can from the actual product or from a full-scale model.
9. As with everything else involving computers the
things we see or access depend on what we put in. The
more details we put in the more we can learn from the
computer simulation of the product or the function of the
products. Obviously an understanding of design,
materials and engineering involved is very important.
10. Much of the software for virtual reality is already
available but it is still necessary to learn about the
software and its capacity. Programming after that will
take a long time and will need quite a lot of work.
Skills in this area are very important or the potential
of the software cannot be fully exploited.
11. We therefore need to train a lot of people in the
application of the software if not in the writing of the
software itself. Fortunately the training required is
less difficult as the software is getting more and more
user-friendly.
12. Today there exists an impressive array of virtual
reality applications in manufacturing, finance,
education, medicine etc. But there is also a need for
new, imaginative implementations due to the rapid changes
in business and industry caused by the availability of
computers and data. While the new technology can bring
about progress and enhance the quality of life and the
wealth of our society, it can also do a lot of damage.
13. The economic turmoil that we are experiencing today
is a direct result of the application of virtual reality
to business and in fact by making virtual business
possible and real. Where before we have to deal in real
money, goods and services, today none of these are really
necessary. As a result there seems to be no limit to
the amount of business that can be done and profits made.
Unfortunately in the process real money, real jobs and
real business can be very badly damaged. Currency
trading is a very good example of how virtual money can
be used for trading and considerable real profits or
losses made.
14. In currency trading a trader can borrow millions of
unit of any currency without actually taking or handling
the money. Figures are changed on the computer screen
to show that the money has been borrowed. The trader
then sells the currency by recording the transaction on
computers and this change appears on the screens of all
the computers in the trading rooms of banks and currency
traders. Likewise he can buy the currency without
actually taking possession of it. Only the figures on
the computer screen change to record the transaction.
15. Now, in the rule devised by the currency traders,
the currency depreciates in value every time it is sold.
In normal commodity trading the price remains so long as
there is a willing buyer and willing seller. But
currency traders dealing with virtual money are not
constrained by the supply of the currency. Since it is
possible to sell the currency repeatedly, the figures on
the screens will change and the currency devalues to any
level desired. In one case the currency went down by 600
percent i.e. it ceases to be money altogether. The
trader can then buy the currency at the much-depreciated
price and deliver, again via the computer to the buyers
to whom he had previously sold at a higher price,
pocketing a big profit. The money borrowed, which had
never really been taken out of the bank, is now
electronically returned to the bank and a fee or
commission paid. Thus, vast sums of money can be
borrowed, sold and bought without a single coin or note
becoming involved. In other words, the money traded was
virtual, not real. It is not surprising that in one day
one trillion U.S. dollars are traded i.e. about 20 times
the trade in goods and services worldwide.
16. The trading is in virtual money but the effect of
devaluation is very real. Today whole countries and
regions are impoverished because of currency trading, in
some cases by 400 percent. Banks, businesses are
bankrupted, millions of workers thrown out of jobs, high
inflation results in people not being able to buy food or
medicine and a host of catastrophes befall people, real
people, not virtual people. To import goods or services
with currency that has fallen by 400 percent requires
four times the amount of local currency compared to
before the devaluation. How is an importer, how is a
country going to find four times the amount of money when
the economy has gone into recession, consumers have no
money to spend and all economic activities which can
generate profits grind to a halt?
17. The point that is to be made here is that virtual
reality, as with everything else conceived or invented by
Man, can benefit humankind or can damage it. Whether it
does one or the other depends on the users i.e. the
individual society or the state. There is a tendency for
people to be carried away by new skills and powers that
they develop. Man is by nature schizophrenic. He is
both good and bad. The struggle between good and bad
goes on all the time in Man and in the society he
creates. In this struggle there is an ebb and flow that
is comparable with that of tidewater. When an idea
catches on, the tendency is for it not only to spread but
to widen i.e. to expand in terms of interpretation, scope
and application. In the process the original objective
and principle may become very thin, very vague and may
actually deviate from the original. And so it can be
with virtual reality. Instead of constructive things
virtual reality may and can result in destructive or
morally unacceptable products. Thus the Internet for
example is the greatest instrument for direct
communication of the truth, free of Government or non-
Government censorship and distortions. But it is clear
that the Internet too can be a medium for untruth, and
for a variety of rather unacceptable activities. The
solution does not lie in technology. It lies in the
return to good ethics and values. It is worthwhile to
ponder over this even as we rave over the wonder of
virtual reality.
18. I wish to congratulate UNIMAS and all co-organisers
for taking this very bold and brave initiative in
organising this seminar and workshop that can directly
and indirectly give birth to solutions for macroeconomic
improvements. Although UNIMAS is a relatively young
university, it has the potential to explore new vistas
through innovations and collaborations with international
institutions, such as Fraunhofer IAO, Germany; University
of Nottingham, UK, and Link`ping University, Sweden.
Virtual reality projects have made headway in these
internationally-renowned institutions.
19. The establishment of the UNIMAS Reality Centre in
Technology Park Malaysia is to support R&D in virtual
reality. It is indeed a timely move. To make it a
reality, investments in the centre are very much needed.
I therefore call upon organisations and industries, local
and foreign, to collaborate and form a consortium. I
believe the workshop tomorrow will discuss some of the
projects that can be initiated on a collaborative basis
to identify the niche areas of virtual reality
application. I hope in the near future there will be an
equivalent of the worldwide manufacturing web -- that is
a "web" of virtual reality centres and laboratories
Malaysia-wide that will be part of a National Virtual
Reality Centre.
20. I hope this seminar and workshop will inspire many
organisations in Malaysia to consider the applications of
virtual reality in their business and industry. Virtual
reality has a very important message, which is essential
to the improvement of our economy and society. Clearly,
R&D initiatives are greatly needed in order to propel our
economy onto a higher stage of development. This
seminar/workshop provides a platform for international
exchange of knowledge and practical experiences that can
enhance R&D efforts.
21. On this note I hereby declare open VR '98 Seminar
and Workshop on Virtual Reality.
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