Virtual healing

Here’s a feel-good story with a technophillic, Croquet-like feel to it: a network of children’s hospitals across North America get together to form a digital virtual universe for their patients and families. It was founded by Steven Spielberg and Norman Schwarzkopf.

In the demonstration presented at the conference, E.T. and the four-star bear, the on-screen characters of Mr. Spielberg and Gen. Schwarzkopf, were met by a child from Mount Sinai who presided as their tour guide through STARBRIGHT World. Together they joined friends from other hospitals where they explored the three virtual environments in STARBRIGHT World: Tropical World, Cave World and Sky World. In Sky World the group fell through a funnel cloud that transported them into a unique space where they can build sand castles, playhouses and forts, or anything imaginable – alone or with help of a few friends.

More on the story at Muniwireless.

One Comment

  1. Cool beans.

    I think we’re going to see a lot more of this sort of thing. Right now, it’s still pretty hard, expensive, time-consuming and risky to set out to build a world that works. But that will change…

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