Abstract: Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have transitioned from science fiction concepts to tangible technologies with the potential to redefine human-computer interaction. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the evolution and future trajectory of AR/VR. We begin by establishing the fundamental requirements dictated by the human visual system—such as field of view, resolution, and vergence-accommodation conflict—and benchmark them against the current state-of-the-art in near-eye displays. Through a scoping review of the field's progression, we analyse publication trends, geographical research focus, and application domains, revealing a maturation phase with strong roots in healthcare, education, and industry. We then delve into the specific optical and display challenges in both VR (e.g., resolution enhancement, VAC mitigation) and AR (e.g., FOV expansion, brightness requirements), drawing on recent advancements in waveguides, microdisplays, and computational optics. Furthermore, we present original findings from a comparative user study on immersive analytics, highlighting that while user performance is comparable in AR and VR, user perception and navigation strategies differ significantly, suggesting a need for context-aware and user-selectable reality modes. Finally, we synthesise these perspectives to outline the future horizons of AR/VR, emphasising the critical role of emerging technologies, such as the AR cloud, cross-virtuality systems, and next-generation micro-LEDs, in driving the next wave of adoption and innovation. Keywords: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Near-Eye Displays, Human Visual System, Immersive Analytics, Optical Combiners, Microdisplays, Vergence-Accommodation Conflict.

Abstract In this paper I use contemporary theories of fiction in order to show that the fiction- as-travel, and especially fiction-as-flight metaphor is used by Lucian as a metafictional signal. Whereas this metaphor has been studied in other metaliterary significations, it may be used to understand Lucian’s conceptions of fiction in texts that explicitly tackle story-telling and lying. Indeed, celestial travels are part and parcel of the structure and themes in these texts. Flight illustrates the acts of telling and listening to a fictional story. Insofar as they lead to faraway lands, aerial movements are metaphors for the access granted by fiction to possible worlds. But celestial travels are particularly speedy, just like fictional immersion must be immediate. The nature of fictional immersion is problematised by flying characters who lose sight of planet Earth. The fall down to Earth is therefore used to illustrate the end of fictional illusion and narrative.

The present article aims to analyse some of the ways in which realism is experienced in mixed media films. The definition of what is real appears to be challenging in this context; however, delineating the semiotic and philosophical approaches to reality, and characterizing the various elements that engender an experience of ‘realism’ in viewers of audio-visual representations, based on the premise that ‘realism’ can be defined as an evaluative feeling based on perception, cognition and habituation, may prove beneficial. The starting point is a discussion of how mental schemas can provide images as abstractions of objects and spaces, making some types of realism that are subjective decunstructions. The purposes of this article are mostly philosophical, according to an intellectual exercise that shows how some socio-semiotic and aesthetic theories of reality can fit into an analysis of mixed media cinema. The objective is not to provide comprehensive answers to profound philosophical questions concerning the concepts of fiction and reality, but rather to encourage the reader to contemplate the potential of philosophy as a preliminary investigative framework for the concept of cinematic realism, which is deemed essential for the perception and comprehension of films as artistic creations. The examination of cinematic realism will draw upon the contributions of authors such as Vaihinger (fictionalism), Meinong (inexistent object), Foucault (heterotopia), Walton (fictionality) and Lotman (semio-sphere) whose ideas will be applied to the films under scrutiny.

Abstract: This essay explores how the fundamental qualities of the psychedelic experience—including heightened affective intensity, the disorganization of the ego, and a sense of cosmic interconnectedness with the universe—offers a hopeful alternative to contemporary left-wing identitarianism. This is a widely popular political logic that associates the pursuit of social justice with the passionate defense of seemingly coherent, bounded marginalized subjectivities that are depressively defined by their perpetual subordination to rigid hierarchies of power. Building on Wendy Brown’s classic formulation of “wounded attachment,” I argue that in a painful paradox, the obsessive attachment to cultural identity as the vehicle for articulating marginalized subjects’ bids for political freedom, often masks the underlying desire to commune freely across our differences. Against this logic, I turn to the distinctly psychedelic animated films, Spider-Man: Into (2018) and Across the Spider-Verse (2023), which use the titular superhero’s signature “webbing” as a visual theory of attachment and affiliation across infinite phenotypical, temperamental, and stylistic differences, or radically distinct forms of life. By visually and conceptually fracturing Spider-Man’s seemingly coherent ego across time and space, the film presents the fictional concept of the multiverse as a distinctly psychedelic figure for conceiving differences as an endless web of relations forged between multiple dimensions rather than rigidly formed identities.

I interrogate the ‘host’ label within refugee studies, taking into consideration multiple scales of analysis from international rankings of states to individuals and communities. Critically examining who counts as a host – and who counts the hosts – has important implications for practitioners and scholars. Critiques of big picture assessments of ‘host state’ rankings invite scholars to consider how geopolitics shape recognition and erasure, in turn influencing broader understandings of global displacement and reception. The findings also draw from in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations in Jordan with refugees, citizens and residents. I describe how individuals confront the refugee/host binary in their daily lives. I introduce the concept of humanitarian fiction to explain contemporary limitations of the ‘host’ designation. Analogous to the socio-legal examination of ‘legal fiction’, humanitarian fiction recognises that there is a gap between aid-informed knowledge production and empirical contradictions in studies of refugee displacement and reception.

This article argues that Eliza Haywood’s novella Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze (1725) presents a theory of fiction in its diegesis rather than in metafictional reflections. In other words, the protagonist engages in world-building actions—constructing a secret plot with a specific setting and a cast of different personas—that reveal the novella’s form to be evidence for the content of its theory. Resisting the critical tendency to read Fantomina as evidence for its historical context or as characteristic of a primitive stage in the novel’s rise, the author contends that the novella’s episodic, atemporal conception of fiction provides a model after which critics may construct more varied, maze-like, histories of the novel.

In the modern literary process, the productive or creative reception of Russian classics has become noticeably more relevant, attracting active research attention. Noting the vagueness of the concept of "creative/productive reception" (from convergence with intermediality to the interpretation of this type of reception as "perception and reinvention based on perceived own thoughts, ideas, texts; the intersection of impact and perception, "recreation" and "re-creation", leading to the generation of meaning, scientists (S.E. Trunin, M.S. Sloistova, V.V. Abramovskikh, and others) build a typology of such a reception. However, the available typologies and, accordingly, the research field exclude productive artistic reception that is not related to the professional one: works created as a result of the reception of classics by non-professional authors, which constitutes the subject of the proposed research, determines its aim, relevance and novelty. This article on the creative reception of Chekhov's works by modern non-professional authors presents the collected material in the aspect of the problem of the text's existence and transformations in a digital society. The methodological basis is Michel Foucault's theory of social discourse, his understanding of the text as a product generated by specific socio-historical practices that define the theme, structure, modality, etc. and relegate to the background the individuality, uniqueness of the creative act of creating and perceiving the text. Within the framework of this theory, the leading role in modern textual and semantic generation, designed for the general reader, is obvious, realized most often not by a professional writer, but by a reader who transforms himself into a writer, not so much of the genre as of the text format, which means the way it is presented (in a broad sense), orienting the creation of the text to a certain the perception of the mass reader seen primarily as a consumer of content who highly appreciates the technical possibilities of presenting text, Internet communication about the text. By random sampling, 25 essays were selected and analyzed. Summarizing the main features of the presented corpus of texts, it can be seen that the range of Chekhov's writings that modern non-professional authors focus on in search of their author's "self' is mainly his early works, which become for them a kind of a universal text that generates their writings. On the other hand, the study shows how wide the range of modern works and their non-professional authors who respond to Chekhov's work is - they create a special kind of hypertext to the creative legacy of the classic writer. A significant result of the study is the revealed paradigm of the author's receptive strategies - from remake to paraphrase, from simplification of the meanings of the classic works, which is most common, to new meanings, which, however, are very far from Chekhov's. The most popular type of reception is artistic, direct, and formal (according to M.S. Sloistova's classification). The general conclusion is made that the small online prose of nonprofessional authors, which is the result of the productive reception of Chekhov's prose, characterizes the modern literary process and reveals the transformation of the concepts of fiction, literary creativity, reading. It is in demand by the readers of the portal, influencing the formation of a modern readership. However, all this requires a more complete argumentation and, consequently, the continuation of research on the problems stated in the article, which, in the author's view, should be carried out in line with the arguments of scientists about the modernization of society and all spheres of its activity, including culture. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

With the rapid development of information technology, virtual reality (VR) technology has gradually transformed from the concept of science fiction to reality, and become an important driving force for innovation and development in the field of education. As an immersive technology, VR can break the limitations of time and space in traditional teaching modes and create an immersive learning experience for learners. This technology can not only make the learning process more vivid and interesting, but also improve students’ learning efficiency and initiative through interaction and immersion. Especially in the field of distance education, the application of VR technology is redefining teaching methods, increasing the efficiency of educational resource sharing, and enhancing the fairness and accessibility of education. This paper will take VR technology as the starting point, analyze its basic principles and technical characteristics, and deeply discuss the diversified practices of VR in distance education, including teaching scene simulation, interactive experience optimization, other aspects of educational resources equity, etc.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), like an unstoppable force, is reshaping the global economic landscape and social structure at an unprecedented rate in the 21st century. With the continuous refinement of algorithms, the leap in computing power and the increasing abundance of big data resources, AI is gradually moving from science fiction concepts to real-world applications, and has become the core engine for social progress and change. The purpose of this paper is to deeply analyse the current status of AI development at home and abroad, and to explore the far-reaching impact of this technological revolution on the management efficiency of enterprises and governments, in an attempt to draw a picture of the future management driven by AI at the intersection of theory and practice. A blueprint for future management driven by artificial intelligence, with a view to providing ideas for future management innovation.

The article propones echoes of a theory of the novel by Machado de Assis based on his own novelistic work, emphasizing his last novel, the Memorial de Aires. As such, after performing a critical revision specially from his Second Fase works and establishing from this moment a relation between those and certain propositions by Schlegel, the article aims to analyze, focusing on the formal specificity of a fictional diary (as is the case with the Memorial), suggestions about the concept of fiction itself underlying Machado’s corpus. The article engages critically with Blanchot’s theory on the intimate diary and brings upon a reading on the constant quotations from Shelley throughout the novel with the intention of articulating such recurrence to a particularly Machadian way of dealing with questions such as truth, lie, fiction and dissimulation.

This study explores an art education program that uses design fiction to help adolescents develop problem-solving skills for future societal issues. Through a literature review, the concept of design fiction was clarified, and a design process was developed for educational settings. The process includes understanding and categorizing future issues, selecting key issues with the card sorting technique, encouraging creative thinking through “what-if” questions, and creating and presenting scenarios and prototypes. The program was tested with 42 first-year high school students, and 10 expert evaluations confirmed that the students demonstrated problem-solving skills related to future issues. This study suggests that using design fiction in education can creatively enhance students' understanding of the future and their problem-solving abilities, contributing to art education that prepares them for future challenges ultimately.

Chinese science fiction's growing popularity and integration into an increasingly diverse global science fiction field have sparked discussion of the genre's approach to gendered subjectivity. This article explores the intersections of gender and genre in Chinese science fiction on both textual and extratextual levels. The author argues that Hao Jingfang's 郝景芳 “Beijing zhedie” 北京折疊 (Folding Beijing) and Xia Jia's 夏笳 “Baigui yexing jie” 百鬼夜行街 (One Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight) combine, subvert, and reinterpret tropes of premodern Chinese literary genres like caizi jiaren 才子佳人 (scholar beauty romances) and zhiguai 志怪 (tales of the strange) to critique gendered and racialized expectations placed upon Chinese women via discourses like patriarchal authoritarianism and ornamentalism. Such strategic mobilizations of generic tropes, when considered in the context of larger discursive fields, challenge popular conceptions of science fiction as a male-dominated genre and expand definitions of science fiction within China and globally.

Abstract: "Cellular Self-Making" connects Octavia E. Butler's first (and last) short story with her early interest and practice of hypnosis. The essay suggests that to understand Butler's narrative endeavors to unsettle conventional representations of the human, one should turn to her archive, which is particularly revealing. "Cellular Self-Making" argues that readers can understand Butler's breakdown of the traditional (and exclusionary) Cartesian subject by attending to her translation of hypnosis into recognizable science fiction concepts like telekinesis and psionics. Presenting Butler's narrative engagements with mind-body connection, "Cellular Self-Making" reveals new readings of humanity and presents new Butlerian methods of survival and self-making for Black women.

Indian English fiction started as a major force with three pillars of Indian English fiction where stories more or less moved around freedom struggle and Gandhian philosophy to country life in India with their traditions, class, caste, religious affairs. But from mere user to English language to major force in style and output was achieved with Indian diasporas contributing to English literature their original tell of living abroad as Indian and their urban stories as well as stories of modern urban Indians. They are well travelled and they can see Indian stories objectively. They are well read and has good idea of Commonwealth literary output. They are writers who are living abroad and they at ease with language and modern in their outlook. These new stories they tell is about youth, urban world, affluent Indians etc. have changed the typical Indian fiction concept. They are the new face of India.

This article analyses Ricardo Piglia's last novel, El camino de Ida (2013), which is influenced by the emphatic concept of fiction and the epistemological potential of literature, postulated by its author. The article discusses how the author aims to develop through his crime fiction a capacity for critical reading allowing us to recognise and read the state and economic fictions that, according to Piglia, fill reality. It will be shown how Piglia deliberately plays with fictional and factual elements at various levels of the complex narrative to provoke a critical and even suspicious attitude and to incite a reflection on reading. Thus, the novel anticipates on a meta-level central aspects of the recent debate between "critique and postcritique".

Following recent years’ “audiobook boom”, audio fiction apps have emerged that focus on romantic and erotic content. The article examines how the audio format and its associated uses shape or reshape existing concepts of romantic fiction. Focusing on the case of the app Blanche Stories, the article analyzes new romantic texts, written for the app, along with older texts, love letters, and excerpts from classics, which are adapted into sound. Drawing on theories on “bookishness” (Pressman), along with established work in audiobook and romance studies, it is argued that a “romantization” of literary tradition and book culture takes place in the app: partly through the way book culture is represented in the new romantic texts, and partly through the selection and adaptation of older texts in the app. At the same time, the audio format is also used in the app to reinterpret the texts and adapt them to modern uses of audiobooks, following the app’s goal of providing a “15 minutes of pleasure” in everyday life.

This paper uses analytic philosophy to prevent merely verbal disputes about the concept of fiction within discussions on fictiones iuris. It provides a survey of potentially fruitful connections between legal fictions and fictionalism. More specifically, I will argue that by enriching current accounts of legal fictions in legal theory with insights from (1) the philosophy of language on fictional speech and from (2) contemporary metaphysics on philosophical fictionalism, it seems natural to explore the position that talk involving fictiones iuris is structurally an exemplification of elliptical speech. Such fictionalism about legal fictions illuminates why prominent condemnations of fictions in law – e.g. as blatant falsehoods, shady fraudulences, or legal defects – are theoretical myths, since they fail to distinguish between analytically distinct (ontological, epistemic, alethic, semantic, and evaluative) levels. Moreover, a fictionalist account might even sharpen our sense of which legal fictions are more “innocent” than others. I will begin by introducing philosophical fictionalism (II), before the fictiones iuris will be characterized as an operation in legal reasoning by consulting the Leibnizian reconstruction of Roman Law’s epistemology (III). Sections IV and V seek to provide further clarifications on the ‘fictional’ / ‘fictitious’ distinction as well as the heterogeneity of fictionalist research questions. Section VI then contains a little guided tour through the different analyses of the concept of fiction(s) within fictionalism. Subsequently, I will show how insights from those discussions contribute to demystify some of the most prominent allegations raised against legal fictions (VII). Fictionalism about legal fictions, Section VIII tentatively suggests, might not only harmonize with both classic and recent treatments of legal fictions, but help to also highlight their epistemic values. In slogan form: fictiones iuris are instruments to preserve legal truths worth having.

This study explores the novels of contemporary Austrian writer Raphaela Edelbauer (Raphaela Edelbauer, b. 1990) “The Fluid Land” (Das flüssige Land, 2019), “DAVE” (DAVE, 2021), “The Incommensurables” (Die Inkommensurablen, 2023) in the context of contemporary Austrian literature of the early third millennium. The relevance of the research is driven by the necessity to comprehend the trends in Austrian literature during an era of global changes. It is revealed that, on one hand, the author continues the traditions of Austrian literature of the second half of the 20th century, particularly on a thematic level (Austrian identity, overcoming the past, the false idyll of provincial Austria, conflicts between fathers and children, etc.), while on the other hand, delving into pressing contemporary issues (transhumanism, artificial intelligence, etc.). The concept of fictionality is central to the analysis, exploring the ways and specifics of its implementation in the artistic text in alignment with the author’s communicative intentions. Special attention is given to Edelbauer’s individual style, the uniqueness of narrative organization in the examined genre varieties (parable novel, science fiction novel, historical novel), and the quest for a “personal” language. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that Edelbauer’s work, distinguished by prestigious literary awards in Austria and Germany, has not been a subject of study in Russian literary studies.

This paper analyzes David Peace’s novel Nineteen Seventy Four (1999), first part of his Red Riding Quartet, to revise how the author uses the dynamics and conceptions of journalism and noir fiction to problematize the concepts of truth and fiction within the genre, on the one hand, and to reflect on the notion of historical past in relation to the present, also subordinated to the crossings between truth and fiction, on the other. By constructing a detective that in this case is embodied by an ambitious journalist in the Yorkshire County of 1974 and exploiting his sordid narrative style, the novel demands comparisons between the contemporary context and the past he fictionalizes through the presence of real-life events. Taking meticulous advantage of the precepts and expectations of noir fiction, the novel leads to a conscientious reading that exacerbates the growing instability of the boundaries between the discourses of reality and fiction in the 21st century. This analysis focuses first on the characterization of the protagonist since the construction of a reporter as the detective and narrator of a noir novel emphasizes the thematization of journalism when seen in relation to the search for truth for profit. Then, it turns to the importance of the journalistic style of the narrator and protagonist, since the narrative characteristics of the text outline very peculiar ways of reading that lead to questioning hegemonic discourses.

abstract: Taking the recently published records of Vladimir Nabokov's 1964 dream experiments as a point of departure, this article considers media affinities between transatlantic interwar psychical research—taking John William Dunne's 1927 An Experiment with Time , which inspired the novelist's experiments, as a focal point—and Nabokov's idiosyncratic conception of narrative fiction as a spatial (rather than temporal) medium. I suggest that, instead of modernity's better-known time media, both Dunne and Nabokov appropriated the media logic of older inscription technologies in their respective attempts (a metaphysics of serial time for Dunne and an aesthetics of timelessness for Nabokov) to overcome time's linearity.