New Publication:

Virtuality and Humanity: Virtual Practice and Its Evolution from Pre-History to the 21st Century
By Sam N. Lehman-Wilzig

Publisher: Springer Singapore, 2022
ISBN: 9811665257, 9789811665257
343 pages
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-6526-4

Hello all:

I am happy to announce the publication of my new book VIRTUALITY AND HUMANITY: Virtual Practice and Its Evolution from Pre-History to the 21st Century (Springer Nature).

As we are well aware, today’s news is full of the “future”: Metaverse, Virtual & Augmented Reality, and the like. My book looks in the opposite direction: virtuality’s expression and expansion through human history in numerous fields of endeavor: Communication (Technologies); Literature and the Arts; Economics; Religion; Philosophy, Math, & Physics; Nationhood & Government; and more. In addition, it analyzes the interaction of modern media with other “virtualizing” areas (e.g., physics, the arts, etc.). It places contemporary “compunications” within a far broader social environment, showing how the phenomenon of virtuality (broadly defined) influences – and is influenced by – communications, also broadly defined.

However, it doesn’t stop there. The book delves into the psychological and social reasons for the universality of virtuality, past and present. The central thesis is that virtuality has always been an integral part of humanity – indeed, a core element of what makes us human. That stems from our brain’s partial and distorted perception of external reality and faulty internal cognition; a full chapter is devoted to brain psychology i.e., psychological virtualization processes. Another chapter shows how virtuality serves six core functions in human existence, among them escaping boredom, future planning, and relieving existential dread. From there it moves on to the question of how will future “compunications” and other technologies affect virtuality. And finally: can/should there be limits to human virtualizing?

You can access the Front Matter of the book for free: especially the (substantive) Preface and detailed Table of Contents (first click on the “Table of Contents” menu, and then on the first PDF download arrow – then scroll through the title page etc.): https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-6526-4

The book is expensive, but you might wish to have your university library order it if it doesn’t fit your academic budget.

If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to send them on to me: Sam.Lehman-Wilzig@biu.ac.il

Prof. Sam Lehman-Wilzig
School of Communication (Chairman, 2014-2016)
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat Gan 52900
Israel