P/Virt Machine

From PVirtWiki

A P/Virt Machine is a device that houses and directs electricity through a P/Ball, thus generating an autocausality field.

The patent to Philosophical/Virtual reality is owned by the University of California, and they have refused to license it commercially. However, through unknown vectors, P/Balls have made their way into the larger world, and there is a steady grey market for P/Virt machines. Owning such a machine is not generally illegal, although some municipalities have banned them, to little effect.

A typical entry-level P/Virt machine generates a field approximately 12 feet in diameter, weighs about fifty pounds, and has an automatic shut-down that can be set for any amount of time. These entry-level machines are expensive, costing about as much as a high-end computer. More powerful or smaller machines quickly become astronomically more expensive. Owning a powerful machine bestows a certain amount of prestige in P/Virt culture.

A recent innovation is a small, local-range P/Virt machine affectionally called a Philosophical Toaster, or just "toaster." This overlays an artificial autocausality field over the wearer's personal neurological field. The sensitive is not shunted into the P/Virse, but instead it allows the user to create a glamer that can be perceived by sensitives passing close to one another, as well as by certain perceptives. There is a certain social danger to revealing oneself in this way, which can cause a thrill that some P/Virts seek out.