Lucid dreaming is, in a sense, the personal creation of a virtual reality, in that, although the circumstances of lucid dreams do not necessarily correspond to our waking experience, we have the ability to explore the dream world with full command of our cognitive abilities. Creating a virtual reality can be difficult through the technique of lucid dreaming, and is likely unaccessible to most people, but there is the distinct possibility that this will not be true for much longer. Virtual reality hardware like the occulus rift and fully immersive gaming software is being developed at breakneck speed. I think that soon, people will have the ability to slip on a headset, pair of goggles and enter a fully immersive virtual reality on a whim. The limits on the types of reality a user or producer could create would be almost non existent, especially if the brain's hardwired capability to construct incredibly realistic dreamscapes could somehow be integrated into the experience. The readings this week pointed out the many benefits of this type of exploration, with regards to mental and physical health and wellbeing. A virtual reality accessible on demand could provide people with important therapeutic experiences as well as almost unlimited entertainment value. While there are a huge number of positive implications for this technology both entertainment and utility wise, I believe there is a darker side as well.
In highly advanced virtual reality technology lies the huge potential for addiction. Imagine being able to escape the real world, which is frankly sort of disenchanting most of the time, and enter a world that affords you any opportunity you could think of at the very highest level of simulation. Given the widespread popularity of games like World of Warcraft, and Second Life, I think that a fully immersive virtual reality experience could replace the actual lives of many people, not just gamers and ultimately blur the lines between virtual and physical reality on a global scale.
Of course all of these ideas have been taken to their extremes. I think there is a high probability people would realize the dangerous and beneficial effects of VR tech, find ways to make it compatible with the real world, and negate its potentially addictive effects. But these ideas are certainly still worth addressing as we get closer to this making this kind of technology accessible to consumers.
I would like to hear your thoughts on the future of virtual reality both as a source of entertainment and utility, as well as any ideas you have that could ensure that this technology heads in a direction that is beneficial to society. I've put some links at the bottom to provide some context to the current state of this technology and its future. Unfortunately most of most of these articles only explore this kind of tech from the gaming side of things, but the content is still valuable.
Links
http://www.oculusvr.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/1080p-oculus-rift-alternative-vr-headset-totem-has/1100-6422319/
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/amd-on-the-future-of-pc-gaming-mantle-and-virtual-reality/034732
Though I agree that there is a potential for negative impacts from virtual reality gaming, I also think that strong arguments can, and have been, made for the benefits.
ReplyDeleteForbes posted a very interesting article several years ago about how video games, particularly MMORTS, help develop leadership and management skills in people. http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/19/career-leadership-strategy-technology-videogames.html
I also want to address another question you raised, regarding the line between reality and virtual reality. But something that intrigues me about videogaming and virtual reality is the idea that you have a headset and goggles. The very act of putting on the equipment that allows you to enter virtual reality helps you draw a strong line between the two. The other point you brought up regarding addiction and loss of interest in reality also struck a note with me. This has been something that I have struggled with often because I think the potential for people to become addicted to a false reality (i.e. Linda in Fahrenheit 451) is very real. However, I think that there is a potential for people to actually crave reality after having had too much virtual reality. Just as if you were to eat dessert and sweets all day and end up craving vegetables by the end of it, I think if people become too heavily involved in virtual reality, they will soon begin to crave the spiritual nutrition of real, human-human contact.
Reading your post about virtual reality made me think of a scene from the movie Matilda. She uses books as a way to escape the reality of her dysfunctional family. When one voraciously (or you might say addictively) reads, they are considered smart and praised for their actions.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that virtual reality devices are looked at negatively when both actions are done for the same end, to visit a world apart from our own?
I think the greatest benefit of use of virtual technology would be in quadriplegics and amputees. People who cannot use of their limbs could be, even if only temporarily, relieved of their condition and create things in their mind that would be of use to society. For example, if a great musician loses her/his fingers but is able to play in his mind then perhaps his/her art will not be lost to the world. Similarly craftsman and inventors could build in their virtual reality and if we ever get to the ability to record people's virtually reality we may be able to make what they build and design true reality. Perhaps this could level the playing field between the handicapped and non-handicapped. Or perhaps those with full use of their limbs could use the technology to even greater extent than those who cannot so it will not matter.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of dangers I think every technology runs the risk of people being lost in it. Computer games as you noted, just TV as Chris noted, and books all have this potential. It is certainly greater in a system that completely controls sensory perception. Given the amount of abstraction to reality that technology already lends us, computer programs to communicate with, programs to run industrial processes with, and even programs to run wars, people from the past would likely think us lost in virtual reality. Yet, we generally view ourselves as grounded in reality. So too will those in the future I believe, even if they consciously move between waking and virtual reality.