VR Prison in The House of If (Virtual Event)

Before the Meeting
This week we will be focusing the discussion around the theme of a Virtual Reality prison in sci-fi literature. Before the meeting you will want to read the following:

• Read: “Forget prisons, the future of punishment will be virtual” (Wired)
• Read: Barry Longyear’s “The House of If” (1981) from the collection It Came From Schenectady. NOTE: This title is available for free from the Internet Archive (archive.org). Simply setup an account and you can borrow it in 1 hr increments to read online. Copies may be available online and in used book stores but it can be hard to find.

Meeting Format
Part 1: Tea and Introductions (30 min.)
We will be starting by going around the “room” to find out what kinds of tea everyone is enjoying and giving folks a chance to settle in and begin steeping

Part 2: Discussion (~1.5 hrs.)
After everyone has had a chance to brew some tea and say hello we will dive into our discussion. We can take the discussion where it goes naturally but here are a few possible prompts we could take on.
Discussion Prompts:

• Do you think a virtual prison could be an effective way to approach prison reform?
• What would your inescapable VR prison be if you were to try out the VR system in “The House of If”?
• Have you encountered this concept of VR prison in any other sci-fi literature, film, or TV?
• What were your thoughts on the way Longyear played with time in the VR prison?
• Has anyone visited the real life prison this story is based on? The Chateu d’if in Marseille France? Also included in The Count of Monte Cristo.