Read the article Can virtual reality make you a better person? published at http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141001-the-goggles-that-make-you-nicer
and comment on/discuss it.
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Comments
One more note is, while I love the idea of oculus rift, there's something wrong about staring at screens being just a few inches away from the eyes that makes it hard to get used to, and clearly feels very bad for eye accommodation and eye health.
I believe that in order to VR become more "real" it has to be some kind of room or at least a platform where most of human senses can tell the difference between reality and virtual one.
As for empathy, I would rather say that VR makes you more entertained and in a way mentally active rather than more empathetic.
Basically, when you have just done something entertaining then you are more prone to do something extra.
The most interesting aspect of VR is its use in medicine. "Can virtual reality make you a better person?" - I think that over time, yes, when this technology would by one step further – become more real then “goggles”. Today VR serves mainly to entertainment with which we feel better, and it is good. But if such a "repair people" will not end up like in "A Clockwork Orange"?
In the current form in my opinion it can be used in education or entertainment. Great example was mentioned by Marcin - application created on the occasion of the Warsaw Uprising. It's the great idea to interest young people who are spending most of the time using their smartphones or computers.
I don't want to be misunderstood - this technology is fascinating but needs more research and development. For me the most important feature would be to feel things I can see on the screen :)
There is so much potential in combining VR with various fields of sciences and arts and I can only hope that this will continue to develop at a fast pace.The idea of literally showing people how it can feel to be someone else is very powerful and gives me goosebumps.
However, apart from all the positive aspects and possible benefits of incorporating VR into different areas of our lives, while reading this article I had one thought in my mind. For me, it is not a question of "can VR make us better people?". I keep wondering - is our reality not good enough for us? Do we really need virtual interactions with virtual people to teach us how to be human?
Considering Oculus Rift and VR technology I think it's pretty great and I'm excited about that but of course it still needs more development. I would love to use it because I've seen people on Youtube videos reacting to it and I think it can be a really fun experience. I think in the future something like that or based on that technology will be extremely popular. Actually I imagine that everything will be projected around us and that you'll be able to watch a movie or play a game that is happening "around" you. I don't think that technology can necessary make as better people but I think it can make our lives easier, better or more fun and I hope that in our lifetime there will be some cool new inventions. There is still so much that people can invent and discover here and in the universe. So many things to cure or improve. I love science fiction movies and I'm always excited to hear about new inventions and science facts.
A really great video that shows what future can look like. I love the idea of achievements like in a game :) and "facebook/dating sites" moved to another level. I highly recommend watching it:
http://vimeo.com/46304267
An if you are interested - A project that shows a phone that can be projected anywhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz17lbjOFn8
And here is a pretty neat invention that lets you walk around while using oculus rift, so it's makes the experience more realistic (looks cool):
http://www.virtuix.com
Virtual Reality has been dream of science-fistion writers for many decades. Movies like Matrix or The Lawnmower Man show us, that (like every great technology) it can be as convinient as harmful.
However, I think that in the near future, VR will be used mainly for entertainment purpose, bringing additional experience to games or even movies.
If someone is interested in Virtual reality (and technical aspects of this technology) i recommend watching Michael Abrash lecture :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2dQoeqVVo&feature=youtu.be&t=10m25s
I think this is possible to enhance empathy or social skills in person by proper VR simulation. The same applies to movies, books or even video games.
However, listed mediums(except books) are mostly used for entertainment not education because entertainment creates the biggest profit .
Having this in mind I think that altough it is possible to use VR as a tool to make people better it is not going to be used this way at least not by private companies.
There is no doubt that virtual messages have great influence on us and can be perceived by our brain like actual real-life impressions. The experiments described in the article, conducted to see how people will behave after such stimulation show us that this relatively new technology can be successfully used to manipulate (at least for a short time) people's perception of the world, reactions and thinking.
As people don't usually like to be manipulated (see: facebook's secret mood experiment:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/everything-we-know-about-facebooks-secret-mood-manipulation-experiment/373648/
it can be hard for the 'business' to introduce a product to the market, which will be known as 'subconsciously messing with one's head'.
I find it very interesting that some participants being aware of taking part in simulation, still experienced fear strong enough to stop it. It seems that virtual reality strongly affects human subconsciousness.
As for the educational application, I think there's much potential in VR, as long as it really gives sense of experiencing reality
Anyway, answering the question, this technology gives us a wide range of possibilities and it depends from us how we will use it. As the author of the article wrote the studies shows that it makes people more empathetic or let say open to the problem, which they can’t experience other way. On the other hand it may make people more aggressive as well.
I can see a numerous good ways to use it apart from games industry right now. First, as some of you mentioned already, is education. Can you imagine walking for example in Louvre while being on art classes at school? Or even better move to some ancient city like Rome to walk trough the city streets? Isn’t it more interesting way of acquiring knowledge? We also can use it in medicine. For example young doctors could exercise how to perform surgeries or ordinary person learning first aid in real conditions not only theory. Generally all kinds of simulators would be more effective.
In my opinion it can be very useful in education/practices, especially in medicine. Also it can be very useful, because simulating different situations VR can help people fight with their fears, for example fear of heights, dogs, etc.
But I think VR can be dangerous as well, I mean games. If it is popular, it might has some influence on mental condition of the people, for example shooters or games about war.
After reading the article, I remembered one film, it reminded me something about opportunities of VR. It's "Surrogates", here is a link with information about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrogates
I'm not sure if any kind of technology can "make me a better person". The whole idea sounds a bit like supraliminal stimuli (above threshold) used in 60' in commercials. In my opinion messing with someones emotions/thoughts, creating fake world is not a correct way of changing behaviour/ therapy/ helping. Check the music video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHCYHldJi_g
Everything is great. But still it's fake, it's just a dream.
On the other hand, as it is very young technology, people may react more intensively to it, just as it was some time ago when first people were introduced to cinamatography.