Virtual (pronounced vur-choo-uhl)
(1) Being
as specified in power, force, or effect, though not actually or expressly such;
having the essence or effect but not the appearance or form.
(2) In
optics, of an image (such as one in a looking glass), formed by the apparent
convergence of rays that are prolonged geometrically, but not actually (as opposed
to a real image).
(3) Being
a focus of a system forming such images.
(4) In mechanics,
pertaining to a theoretical infinitesimal velocity in a mechanical system that
does not violate the system's constraints (applied also to other physical
quantities); resulting from such a velocity.
(5) In
physics, pertaining to a theoretical quality of something which would produce
an observable effect if counteracting factors such as friction are disregarded
(used often of the behavior of water if a factor such as friction were to be disregarded.
(6) In physics,
designating or relating to a particle exchanged between other particles that
are interacting by a field of force (such as a “virtual photon” and used also
in the context of an “exchange force”).
(7) In
digital technology, real, but existing, seen, or happening online or on a
digital screen, rather than in person or in the physical world (actually an
adaptation of an earlier use referring to political representation).
(8) In particle
physics, pertaining to particles in temporary existence due to the Heisenberg
uncertainty principle.
(9) In quantum
mechanics, of a quantum state: having an intermediate, short-lived, and
unobservable nature.
(10) In
computing (of data storage media, operating systems, et al) simulated or
extended by software, sometimes temporarily, in such a way as to function and
appear to the user as a physical entity.
(11) In
computing, of a class member (in object-oriented programming), capable of being
overridden with a different implementation in a subclass.
(12) Relating
or belonging to virtual reality (once often used as “the virtual environment”
and now sometimes clipped to “the virtual”) in which with the use of headsets
or masks, experiences to some degree emulating perceptions of reality can be
produced with users sometimes able to interact with and change the environment.
(13) Capable
of producing an effect through inherent power or virtue (archaic and now rare,
even as a poetic device).
(14) Virtuous
(obsolete).
(15) In
botany, (literally, also figuratively), of a plant or other thing: having
strong healing powers; a plant with virtuous qualities (obsolete).
(16) Having
efficacy or power due to some natural qualities; having the power of acting
without the agency of some material or measurable thing; possessing invisible
efficacy; producing, or able to produce, some result; effective, efficacious.
1350–1400:
From the Middle English virtual &
virtual (there were other spellings,
many seemingly ad hoc, something far from unusual), from the Old French virtual & vertüelle (persisting in Modern French as virtuel), from their etymon Medieval Latin virtuālis, the construct being the Classical Latin virtū(s) (of or pertaining to potency or power; having power to produce
an effect, potent; morally virtuous (and ultimately the source of the modern English
“virtue” from the Latin virtūs (virtue))
+ -ālis. The Latin virtūs
was from vir (adult male, man),
ultimately from the primitive Indo-European wihrós
(man) (the construct of which may have been weyh-
(to chase, hunt, pursue) + -tūs (the suffix
forming collective or abstract nouns)). The
–alis suffix was from the primitive Indo-European -li-, which later dissimilated into an early version of –āris and there may be some relationship
with hel- (to grow); -ālis (neuter -āle) was the third-declension
two-termination suffix and was suffixed to (1) nouns or numerals creating
adjectives of relationship and (2) adjectives creating adjectives with an
intensified meaning. The suffix -ālis was
added (usually, but not exclusively) to a noun or numeral to form an adjective
of relationship to that noun. When suffixed to an existing adjective, the
effect was to intensify the adjectival meaning, and often to narrow the
semantic field. If the root word ends in
-l or -lis, -āris is generally used instead although because of parallel or
subsequent evolutions, both have sometimes been applied (eg līneālis & līneāris). The
alternative spellings vertual, virtuall and vertuall are all obsolete. Virtual is a noun & adjective,
virtualism, virtualist, virtualism, virtualness, virtualization (also as
virtualisation) & virtuality are nouns, virtualize (also as virtualise) is
a verb and virtually is an adverb; the noun plural is virtuals. The non virtualosity is non-standard.
The
special use in physics (pertaining to a theoretical infinitesimal velocity in a
mechanical system that does not violate the system’s constraints) came into
English directly from the French. The
noun use is derived from the original adjective. Virtual is commonly used in the sense of
being synonymous with “de facto”, something which can now be misleading because
“virtue” has become so associated with the modern use related to
computing. In the military matters it
has been used as “a virtual victory” to refer to what would by conventional
analysis be thought a defeat, the rationale being the political or economic
costs imposed on the “winner” were such that the victory was effectively pyrrhic. It was an alternative to the concept of “tactical
defeat; strategic victory” which probably was a little too abstract for some.
"Virtual art galleries" range from portals which enable works to be viewed on any connected device to actual galleries where physical works are displayed on screens or in some 3D form, either as copies or with a real-time connection to the original.
In
computing, although “virtual reality” is the best known use, the word has for
some time been used variously. “Virtual
memory” (which nerds insist should be called “virtual addressing” is a software
implementation which enables an application to use more physical memory than
actually exists. The idea dates from the
days of the early mainframes when the distinction between memory and storage
space often wasn’t as explicit as it would later become and it became popular
in smaller systems (most obviously PCs) where at a time when the unit cost of
RAM (random access memory) hardware was significantly higher than the default storage
media of the HDD (hard disk drive).
Behaving as static electricity does, RAM was many orders of magnitude
faster than the I/O (input/output) possible on hard disks but allocating a
portion of free disk space to emulate RAM (hence the idea “virtual memory”) did
make possible many things which would not run were a system able to work only
with the installed physical RAM and rapidly it became a mainstream technique.
There’s
also the VPN (virtual private network), a technology which creates a secure and
encrypted connection over a public network (typically the Internet) and use is
common to provide remote access to a private network or to establish a secure
tunnel between two networks using the internet for transport. The advantage of VPNs is they should ensure data
integrity and confidentiality, the two (or multi) node authentication
requirement making security breaches not impossible but less likely. Widely used by corporations, VPNs are best
known as the way traditionally used to evade surveillance and censorship in
certain jurisdictions as diverse as the PRC (People’s Republic of China), the
Islamic Republic of Iran and the UK although this is something of an arms race,
the authorities with varying degrees of enthusiasm working out way to defeat
the work-arounds. VPNs often use an IP
tunnel which is a related concepts but the IP tunnel is a technique used to
encapsulate one type of network packet within another type of network packet to
transport it over a network that wouldn't normally support the type of packet
being transported. IP tunnels are particularly
useful in connecting networks using different protocols and (despite the name),
the utility lies in them being able to transport just about any type of network
traffic (not just IP). A modular
technology, not all IP tunnels natively provide authentication & encryption
but most support “bolt-ons” which can add either or both. So, while all VPNs use some form of tunnelling
(however abstracted), not all tunnels are VPNs.
Microsoft really wanted you to keep their Java Virtual Machine.
Then
there are “virtual machines”. In personal
computing, the machine came quickly to be thought of as a box to which a monitor
and keyboard was attached and originally it did one thing at a time; it might
be able to do many things but not simultaneously. That situation didn’t long last but the idea
of the connection between one function and one machine was carried over to the notion
of the “virtual machine” which was software existing on one machine but behaving
functionally like another. This could
include even a full-blown installation of the operating systems of several servers
running on specialized software (sometimes in conjunction with hardware
components) on a singles server. What
made this approach practical was that it is not unusual for a server to be
under-utilized for most of its life (critically components often recording 2-3%
utilization for extended periods, thus the attraction of using one physical
server rather than several. Obviously,
the economic case was also compelling, the cost savings of having one server
rather than a number multiplied by reductions in electricity use, cooling
needs, insurance premiums and the rent of space. There was also trickery, Microsoft’s JVM (Java
Virtual Machine) an attempt to avoid having to pay licensing fees to Sun
Microsystems (later absorbed by Oracle) for the use of a Java
implementation. The users mostly
indifferent but while the hardware was fooled, the judges were not and the JVM
was eventually declared an outlaw.
Operating
a computer remotely (there are few ways to do this) rather than physically being
present is sometimes called “virtual” although “remote” seems to have been become
more fashionable (the form “telecommuting” used as early as 1968 is as archaic
as the copper-pair analogue telephone lines over which it was implemented
although “telemedicine” seems to have survived, possibly because in many places
voice using an actual telephone remains a part). In modern use (and the idea of virtual as “not
physically existing but made to appear by software” was used as early as 1959),
there are all sorts of “virtuals” (virtual personal trainers, virtual
assistants et al), the idea in each case is that the functionality offered by the
“real version” of whatever is, in whole or in part, emulated but the “virtual
version”, the latter at one time also referred to as a “cyberreal”, another word
from the industry which never came into vogue.
“Virtual keyboards” are probably the most common virtual device used
around the world, now the smartphone standard, the demise of the earlier physical
devices apparently regretted only by those with warm memories of their
Blackberries. Virtual keyboards do
appear elsewhere and they work, although obviously offer nothing like the
tactile pleasure of an IBM Model M (available from ClickyKeyboards.com). The idea of “a virtual presence” is probably
thought something very modern and associated with the arrival of computing but
it has history. In 1766, in the midst of
the fractious arguments about the UK’s reaction to the increasing objections
heard from the American colonies about “taxation without representation” and
related matters (such as the soon to be infamous Stamp Act), William Pitt
(1708-1778 (Pitt the Elder and later Lord Chatham); UK prime-minister
1766-1768) delivered a speech in the House of Commons. Aware his country’s government was conducting
a policy as inept as that the US would 200 years on enact in Indochina,
his words were prescient but ignored.
Included was his assertion the idea of “…virtual representation of America in this house is the most
contemptible idea that ever entered into the head of man and it does not
deserve serious refutation.” However,
refute quite seriously just about everything his government was doing he did. Pitt’s use of the word in this adjectival sense
was no outlier, the meaning “being something in essence or effect, though not
actually or in fact” dating from the mid-fifteenth century, an evolution of the
sense of a few decades earlier when it was used to mean “capable of producing a
certain effect”. The adverb virtually
was also an early fifteenth century form in the sense of “as far as essential
qualities or facts are concerned while the meaning “in effect, as good as”
emerged by the early seventeenth.
Lindsay Lohan's 2021 predictions of the US$ value of Bitcoin (BTC) & Ethereum (ETH). By April 2024 the trend was still upward so the US$100,000 BTC may happen.
In
general use, the terms “cybercurrency”, “cryptocurrency” & “virtual
currency” tend to be used interchangeably and probably that has no practical
consequences, all describing electronic (digital) “currencies” which typically are
decentralized, the main point of differentiation being that cryptocurrencies claim
to be based on cryptographic principles and usually limited in the volume of
their issue (although the decimal point makes this later point of little
practical significance) Whether they
should be regarded as currencies is a sterile argument because simultaneously
they are more and less, being essentially a form of gambling but for certain
transactions (such as illicit drugs traded on various platforms), they are the
preferred currency and in many jurisdictions they remain fully convertible and
it’s telling the values are expressed almost always in US$, “cross-rates” (ie
against other cryptocurrencies) rarely quoted.
However, to be pedantic, a “virtual currency” is really any not issued
by a central government or authority (in the last one or two centuries-odd
usually a national or central bank) and they can include in-game currencies,
reward points and, of course, crybercurrencies.
The distinguishing feature of a cryptocurrency is the cryptotography.
Although
the term is not widely used, in Christianity, "virtuality" was the view that
contrary to the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, the bread &
wine central to Holy Communion do not literally transform into flesh and blood
but are the medium or mechanism through which the spiritual or immaterial
essence of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ are received. Within the Church, those who espoused or adhered to the heresy of virtuality were condemned as "virtualists. In philosophy, the concept of virtuality probably
sounds something simple to students but of course academic philosophy has a “marginal
propensity to confuse”, the important distinction being “virtual” is not
opposed to “real” but instead to “actual”, “real” being opposed to “possible”.
No comments:
Post a Comment