Before Europeans invented electronic versions, Africans had long, long ago created the first, and still the greatest, virtual reality. African virtual reality is "nommo", the power of the word in all its forms. Africa gave the world speech. And the spoken word ignites the mind. Say it, and those who hear it, see it in their mind’s eye. Think and then speak, and the listener is given your thought. The listener replies and, in turn, ignites sounds, pictures, tastes and touches in your mind. Is that not telepathy?

Africa gave the world writing too. Thoughts cut into stone speak volumes six millennia later. Words printed on a page are studied for decades. And words sent through the net are read instantaneously. Television and the movies, though not referred to as such, are, in fact, forms of virtual reality. Specific visions and sounds, bright, loud and hypnotizing.

On the other hand, the African virtual reality called reading, stimulates the mind. It does not merely imprint it. You pause at will, halting the stream, to think on what you read, to accept or to reject, or just meditate upon it. And perhaps create something new, in turn, that can be passed on to others now, and stored, potentially, until the end of time. (Arthur Lewin)