2 Altered, Expanded and Distributed Embodiment: the Three Stages of Interactive Presence

Abstract

This conceptual chapter outlines three stages in the development of interactive presence, and outlines some possibilities and challenges raised by each, and by their combination. The first stage, presence via altered embodiment, refers to the way technology allows us to experience the world with modified or enhanced senses. The second stage, via expanded embodiment, refers to technology pushing the envelope of the mental body in which one feels present, out beyond the physical body. Finally, distributed embodiment refers to how the sense of being present in the world can be separated from that of ownership of a particular body, through the development of new approaches to deploying the technologies of virtual realization. We suggest that presence is the yardstick of embodiment from an experiential perspective. If you cannot feel presence, you are not embodied in the world.