In answer to your query of why the title VIRTUAL OBSESSION, I have to put
my hands in the air and say "not guilty!" The choice of title for Mick
Garris who directed has always been HOST, but ABC in their infinite wisdom
decide this was stronger. They could be right, who knows?
You ask if this title implies that the search for immortality is an
obsession in the story, and yes, it is, but almost every scientific
breakthrough in the history of man has been the result of an obsession,
frequently in the face of heavy criticism. The bigger the breakthrough,
the heavier the criticism - look at Gallileo and Darwin as two examples. I
think it is right that there should be criticism over man's search for
immortality. I wholly believe that we are right to challenge the dominance
of Mother Nature and to take control of our world and our destinies, but
there are all kinds of issues that need to to be addressed, and which will
be addressed for sure over the coming decades as we move closer and closer
towards it. But it is also a hugely exciting issue. We are at a giant
frontier - but who knows - in a few decades time we could be at yet another
frontier, when we discover totally new dimensions, that may make our search
for immortality puny by comparison....