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(CNN) -- Six of the seven Ancient Wonders of the World have vanished into history, but now there may be a way to recreate these ancient heritage sites, as well as to people them and furnish them in a historically authentic way. (Full story) Will navigating virtual heritage worlds replace visiting archaeological sites? No, it will allow many that would never get to visit such sites a chance to do so, and create a desire for more people to visit them. It may well happen, as navigating virtual worlds is increasingly evolving to almost a real life experience, without the usual burden of crowded airports, terrorism threats and time wasting. I am worried about the future because there's a gap that's being filled in the virtual world but at the same time we are falling apart in the real one. You have bigger communities in the virtual world and more wars and discrimination in the real one, it's so sad. I think virtual heritage will ultimately become the predominant way for most people to visit the wonders of this world. Think of it: there are over 800 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. How many holidays are there in an average modern human lifespan? How many real-world heritage sites can be visited in how many of those holidays? Normal people can never hope to see even a large fraction of real-world heritage sites. Virtual heritage will give them the next best thing to being there... and occasionally even a better experience than being there. What a fantastic techno world it is! I don't think it can replace visiting archaeological sites, but it could modify our ideas about our heritage. Yes, it would in way because many people would like to log onto the virtual worlds that would be full of different things that would be new to us. Also because it would be easily accessible to everyone, unlike the archaeological sites themselves. I believe this is a stepping stone towards science's long sought quest of time travel but the main point is how will it affect the people whose livelihoods are based on tourism? Remember, an electronic image will not give you the same feeling as actual reality. ![]() Special glasses to observe virtual animation cost more than $3,000. Your comments |