Our virtual reality future is within touching distance and that brings with it some very cool stuff. Yes, we’ll have interesting games and new ways to interact and consume media, but could it also have deeper, more fundamental implications on who we are as a species?

What if VR could help reduce violence and increase peace? Here’s a couple of ways that it may possibly do that.

BEING IN SOMEONE ELSES SHOES

This is a recurring theme in the sci-fi genre, with William Gibsons “simstim” concept and Philip K Dicks “empathy machine”, we may soon have a way to really FEEL what it’s like to be in someone elses shoes. Think about how great movies and books affect us, and now think about how it will feel to be completely immersed in seemingly real worlds where we experience every emotion in a visceral way.

The discovery of mirror neurons shows that we do have some kind of deep empathetic connection with each other (and other species), so when we see something happening to another being, our brains trigger the same response- in ourselves as if it were happening to us. Now take that a step further with VR, where we truly see the world from someone elses perspective. It sounds like hippy BS, but will this remove the artificial barriers of “us vs them” and reveal what few have known all along, that we are more alike than we sometimes like to think.

YOUR OWN SHANGRI-LA

Remember that scene in Inception where a room of people would visit everyday to dream? They chose their dream worlds over the ‘real’ world because it offered more. I think the same will eventually be true for VR.

Imagine if everyone had the chance to inhabit their own personal heaven whenever they wished. It might be a beautiful landscape, visiting a dead relative or having the best sex you’ve ever had. Whatever is important and poignant to you, could potentially be possible. Would we as a species be less inclined to fight each other if we were happier due to this technology?

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BY CHRIS ROBINSON