'Narrative As Virtual Reality'

So I've been reading 'Narrative As Virtual Reality' by Marie-Laure Ryan, its basically a discussion of the social/cultural influence of various electronic media with reference to people like Baudrillard and Pierre Levy. In one of the earlier chapters Ryan talks of the "quasi-human" language that computer programs are written in - a kind of binary code translation for non zero one zero zero people-brains. I think it's funny when you start looking at the software we use, how we need all these reference points to understand what certain 'tools' are for, like how you can turn your 'paintbrush' into a 'magic wand' in a single click. In some ways these are reference points in others, computers are programmed in order to simulate specific tools of the 'real world'...
"As a machine a computer has no intrinsic function. Through its software however, it can simulate... existing devices and human activities, thus becoming a virtual calculator, typewriter, record player, storyteller, teacher, bookkeeper or adviser.."
I like the idea that we need a visual reference point in order to understand how something works, that programs have to be 'designed' with complete human accessibility in mind. I think this extends much further than the computer world, for example in the science world, in textbooks we are given diagrams of what atoms and protons 'look like', of course they don't look like anything we could ever imagine, just as in the complete opposite end of the spectrum trying to picture the shape and size of the expanding universe, or what lies outside the universe, what 'nothing' looked like before the big bang etc.
"We live in simulacra because we live in our own mental mode of reality. What I call "the world" is my perception and image of it."
In this case we need a 'virtual' depiction to understand what these things are, a necessary simulacra. Our view of an atom is not "reality", as humans we cannot "see" atoms but we can envision them only by use of a referent. This is not necessarily unreal, just our interpretive model of the real in order to understand "genuine" reality. With this view in mind, the progression of technology in creating 'virtual' learning environments, is a positive one, it allows us to be creative in ways we couldn't possibly be before, a greater sense of accessibility and interactivity in world's of virtual film editing and design studios, paint buckets and swirl tools. Through these visual reference points artists' with no knowledge of coding or computer programming can use various creative means to explore our view of "the world" as we see it.

All quotes

Ryan; Marie-Laure, 2001. Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.