Virtual Reality I The Sword of Damocles | 1

American Innovations

Wondery

Steven Johnson, History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids, Science

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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In the 1960s a group of scientists and engineers had a vision: that one day people could put on a pair of goggles and enter a whole new world.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an episode of a Wondering Plus exclusive series to continue listening.
0:04.6	Join Wondering Plus and enjoy ad-free listening to over 40,000 episodes.
0:08.9	Early access to your favorite podcasts and more.
0:11.6	Find Wondering Plus in the Wondering App or on Apple Podcasts.
0:23.4	It's 1968 and a graduate student at the University of Utah is desperately trying to track down
0:29.8	his thesis advisor. Excuse me, have you seen Professor Sutherland?
0:35.1	No, sorry. Now I'll try his lab. He sets off down the corridor.
0:41.4	Professor Sutherland, I, um, what?
0:46.1	Ivan Sutherland is standing in the center of the room. His head strapped into a wild contraption
0:52.0	hanging from the ceiling, all metal and wires and glass. The thing must weigh 300 pounds.
0:58.3	He doesn't notice his student coming in. I see it. Yes, it's right there hanging in front of me.
1:04.7	The resolution is better than before. Uh, Professor Sutherland? Alan, is that you?
1:11.1	I'll be right with you. He pulls off the device and turns to face his student.
1:16.3	Just taking the sword of Damocles for a test run, we finally got it up and working.
1:21.2	What did you want to see me about? My thesis, but um, what's this you're working on?
1:27.4	The sword of Damocles, sword of Damocles. Like the one King Dionysus hung over
1:33.8	over Damocles, right? Exactly. What we thought this thing looked rather ominous hanging from the
1:39.7	ceiling. Someone called it the sword of Damocles and the name just stuck. He's right.
1:45.4	The contraption does look pretty ominous and more than a little unsafe.
1:50.0	But what's it for? It's sort of difficult to explain. Here, I think you should probably just take
1:56.2	a look for yourself. Alan K straps his head into the sword of Damocles and blinks.
2:05.1	There's now a small screen right in front of each of his eyes. On the screens, there's a crude
	...

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