Key Points

There are four key points to Pygmalion’s Spectacles: (1) a theoretical device can be created to make dreams a reality, (2) the device can create sensations which can be interpreted by the wearer and immerses them in a dream world, (3) the wearer, within the dream world, can forget where they truly were, and (4) when returning to reality, the wearer will feel lost and eager to re-enter the dream world. All of these key points are present throughout the story, and allude to Weinbaums greater vision.

Weinbaum’s vision in 1935

Weinbaums vision in 1935, in its most simple form, was to make a dream real. This is a recurring theme throughout the story, starting off in the very beginning when Dan is questioned by the elfin man about his drinking intentions as “to make real a dream. Is it not so?” Although “drinking” is not how Weinbaum pursues this vision, this is the first time the idea is mentioned. How Weinbaum pursues this vision is through a set of spectacles. 

The elfin man brings up an argument for Weinbaum’s vision very early in the story, and mentions how if reality itself works (i.e., your daily experiences are perceived as real), then it should be possible to make a dream real as well. The elfin man describes this as “why cant you take a dream and make it real? If it works one way, it must work the other.” Descriptions of Weinbaums vision are present throughout the story and include “the incredible trees towered in numberless forms of fantasy.” 

In the story, Dan eventually reaches a point where the dream is real to him, and what would be considered reaching Weinbaums vision. There are points throughout the story where Dan is thinking again about the hotel room he is in, and the chair he is in, but then he reaches the vision of Weinbaum. When he reaches the vision, it is described as “he had forgotten the paradoxes of illusion; this was no longer illusion to him, but reality itself.” This is an important part of the story, because it can be thought of as some type of “tipping point” where the dream becomes reality.

Impact on Virtual Reality (VR)

The set of spectacles worn by Dan in the story are akin to a modern day VR headset. During the course of the story, Dan is introduced to the spectacles, learns how to interact in the world presented by the spectacles, becomes immersed in them, and then stops using them. These different use themes are all typical of VR usage today.

The headset is described in detail throughout the story. These descriptions are similar, in ways, to what is available in consumer markets today. For example, one of the complaints about the technology in the story was “Only one person can use it at a time. Its too expensive!” This is similar to headsets today, which are very pricey, an Oculus Quest headset can cost as much as $499 (Oculus Quest, n.d.). Even so today, most headsets are single-person experiences. If you can only afford one device, only one person within a space can use it. This is different from other gaming devices, such as Sony PS4, which can have up to four players at a time (PS4, n.d.). Furthermore, Weinbaum describes the spectacles as a “gas mask … and that there were goggles and a rubber mouthpiece.” This is something still common today, in the fact that these devices are not yet perfect and oftentimes the hardware design (e.g., weight in pounds) can have an effect on the users discomfort (Yan et al., 2018). Another instance of a similarity between Pygamlion’s spectacles and what is available today is a description of a wire. In the story, this is described as “a twisted wire to a device on the table.” Many VR headsets in use today require a computational intensive computer that has to sit on a table. Because of this, many headsets require a wire to run from the headset of the person wearing the VR device to the computer at some fixed location. A popular online technology news website even created a video about how to “wrangle” the cord from your VR headset (CNET, 2016), so this is a continuing problem.

In the story, there is also a common theme of Dan actually forgetting he is in the dream world. At some moments he is almost certain he is in a “the miserable hotel room” in the chair, but then his attention is grabbed by something within the dream world and he becomes fully immersed, forgetting “the chair whose arms he gripped”. Dan tries “to feel the arms of that drab hotel chair beneath his hands - and failed.” It is almost as if he wants to emerge back into the real world, but the device is pulling him back in against his will. There has been work done on ethical implications of virtual reality and how behavior is represented in virtual worlds (Brey, 1999). Although there is some work done in this area, there are still many gaps, and given that Weinbaums story was written in 1935, it is something that is not a new topic to be discussed. Kellmeyer, Biller-Andorno, & Meynen (2019) looked to understand how certain ethical implications can arise from the use of VR in a clinical setting. As VR has been introduced into new fields, especially one that is clinical, it is important to consider the basics of ethical procedures when designing, especially in one where the user can forget they are in VR.

Eventually, Dan returns to the real world after his time spent in “Paracosma.” Something that seemed interesting throughout the story was how Weinbaum consistently describes certain aspects of the real world as “miserable” while in the virtual world. It would be interesting to see how someone would define a scenario as miserable, in the real world, and how that scenario would compare with one in a virtual world. Weinbaum likely uses the word “miserable” to further his vision that what is within a dream is better than what is in the real world.

His Vision in Today’s World

Weinbaums vision is very similar to what is available today in the market of head-mounted displays. His vision was essentially to make dreams a reality. With VR headsets today, you can become immersed in a dream-like world with audio effects, music, graphics, and realistic features when looking around the world. Although these features are available, it is difficult to understand, essentially, the level of fidelity that Weinbaum envisioned. As described in the sections above, there is so much, from common complaints about a wire, or just the daunting design of the headset, that Weinbaum got correct.

What Weinbaum necessarily did not get right is this full immersion. There is not much research on people entering virtual worlds and becoming completely lost, forgetting what is real, and what is virtual. Additionally, what Weinbaum predicted with Pygmalion’s spectacles was for essentially live-action performance that the wearer would sense as well as taste and smell perhaps. Although these things are available today, they are not entirely viable in a consumer setting. It would be interesting to see in the coming years, with the advent of more consumer VR devices, if immersion goes deeper than what it is today.

Additionally, another interesting perspective from Weinbaum was about unexpectancies with the device. This was described as “Formless sounds buzzed.” This is in ways, similar to VR today when people get motion-sickness or are feeling uneasy with these systems at first (Ohyama et al., 2007).

Towards Weinbaum’s Vision

To truly approach Weinbaums vision, we need to further adopt VR headsets as common computing devices. This would likely further advance the development of devices that can interact with them, and further the immersion of the senses.

References

Brey, P. (1999). The ethics of representation and action in virtual reality. Ethics and Information technology, 1(1), 5-14.

CNET. (2016, April 7). 3 ways to wrangle your VR headset's cord (How To) [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWALdv5n58&t=1s

Kellmeyer, P., Biller-Andorno, N., & Meynen, G. (2019). Ethical tensions of virtual reality treatment in vulnerable patients. Nature medicine, 25(8), 1185-1188.

Oculus Quest. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oculus.com/quest/.

Ohyama, S., Nishiike, S., Watanabe, H., Matsuoka, K., Akizuki, H., Takeda, N., & Harada, T. (2007). Autonomic responses during motion sickness induced by virtual reality. Auris Nasus Larynx, 34(3), 303-306.

PS4 Features: PlayStation 4 Systems Feature. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/ps4/features/.

Weinbaum, S. G. (1949). Pygmalion's spectacles. The Floating Press.

Yan, Y., Chen, K., Xie, Y., Song, Y., & Liu, Y. (2018, July). The Effects of Weight on Comfort of Virtual Reality Devices. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 239-248). Springer, Cham.