My first experience in virtual reality happened on an open day of my former working place – the German Aerospace Center. One of the departments had built up a VR-installation for simulation trainings in extreme environments. I was supposed to explore a human habitat on a Martian surface through the glasses of an Oculus Rift. I ended up completely fascinated by turning around my head in a 360degress perspective, but also motion sick due to the lack of coordination between my vision and my actual movements.
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| VEMES experiment/astronaut training (c)OeWF |
From there on,
the technology infrequently popped up in my life. During a Mars simulation we
trained our astronauts using VR and I remember reveling an intense discussion
with a colleague about reality and augmentation. Another time a friend of mine
visited me with his VR-glasses and I ended up crashing into my desk because I
tried to catch a donut in my virtual environment.
Some time ago, I
randomly read an article about Virtual Reality saying that the first glasses
for private use will be on sale soon. I started wondering if this technology
will become as usual as the usage of my smartphone – and I am certain, it will
be.
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| testing VR in extreme environments (c) OeWF |
New technologies
shape a high diversity of perspectives – in good and in bad ways. I could name
some of the associations I have regarding VR: gaming, sensory stimulation,
addiction, augmented sports events, astronauts calling home, flow, architecture,
flight simulations, porn, isolation and shared environments.
blocks and chairs
Sometimes
current VR-software reminds me of the computer my parents used to have when I
was a child. I could sit for hours in front our screen sparkled with small
stars and follow a perception my brain was not used to. Today’s VR-tools
somehow show us the same applications – just using blocks. Many scenarios
include a short duration and easy tasks – such as jumping, flying, running away
or just watching. Nevertheless, excitement arises once we start using it!
I am lucky to be
part of a university project investigating the effects of virtual reality on
people, who have never experienced any of it yet. In our project we research
how VR influences physical and self-perception and how the feeling or immersion
changes if we can impact our virtual environment.
into immersion
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| physicality in VR |
Immersion – a term
which will be a part of our future in virtual worlds. The word describes the
feeling of transit from ones real reality into the virtual one.
I remember one
day in our lab, where my colleague gave me the glasses including a Leap Motion
Controller, which allows me to impact my environment by using my hands. I could
form small or bigger blocks and build towers. Therefore the movement of my
hands would be transmitted via an infrared camera, causing the result that my
embodied perspective opened the door towards an immersive experience. I stopped
listening to my colleagues’ conversation surrounding me and lost track of the
time. What I would now call ‘reality’ contained about twenty different grey
cubes, which I would nudge around the space.
including impact
What supported
my perception of virtuality as reality was that I did not only experience an
embodied perspective, in which my body would walk around in a new environment.
Being active and obtaining the possibility to impact my environment created the
illusion of being embedded in this world.
During my education as a body
therapist I learned that these two aspects – being embedded and embodied – describe
the core possibilities of interaction humans can experience. If either the
feeling of a healthy embodiment or the need to belong is inhibited or destroyed,
mental diseases might occur. Virtual Reality produces a stadium of embeddedness
into any kind of environment. This can support illusionary concepts, but also
allow learning and fulfilling desire.
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| Blocks//LeapMotion |
future steps towards the ancient
Changing our
environment allows us to change our perspective. We might be able to enter
spaces we usually would not reach using our capacities. One is – to enter
another human body. How would it feel to be taller, smaller, bigger, thinner,
male, female, in between? How would it feel if I would be you? And if I would
learn to walk in your physical shoes – would I be able to learn about your feelings
and thoughts? The theories behind the concept of ‘Embodiment’ state that during
our lifespan we incorporate all our experiences, which shapes our way of
physically entering this world. Would incorporation support understanding of
each other?
Humans already
change their perspectives in a mental way – this is what we call ‘empathy’.
Empathy allows us to feel what another person feels and opens the door towards
a compassionate reaction, if we choose to do so. Among Buddhism concepts
mindfulness and compassion are described as one of the core concepts towards a
common humanity. Could Virtual Reality be used to increase these effects and
support understanding and empathy among humans?
what inspires me is to
combine thousand year old Buddhism concepts of mindfulness and compassion with
future technologies such as Virtual Reality.
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| impacting environments via LeapMotion |
I am not the
first person to share these thoughts. The performance artists BeAnotherLab
invented an installation called ‘the machine to be another’ to investigate the
same concept. Two people face each other using VR-glasses while receiving the video
feed of the other person. In their performances the artists ask the people to synchronize
their movements and apply all kind of tasks to their test subjects. The result
is an astonishing performance supporting the idea of shaping empathy through
virtual worlds.
Synchronization
and rhythm always played an important role in human interactions. Tribal dances
occur all over the world, cultures share songs and languages (which can also be
viewed as synchronized movement as well). In my movement classes I love to use synchronization
as a method to build up teams and increase group cohesion. Virtual Reality
would allow me to leave the physical space and connect people all over the
planet.
I could use the
technology to communicate between lovers, cultures or coworkers. I could use
the technology to make people on earth understand how astronauts feel in space.
I could use the technology to show German children how to people in Africa
live. I could use the technology to leave my own physical body and enter
another one. And I would use the technology to inspire our basic need for
belonging and understanding we all share.
worth
reading
- FUCHS, T. (2010). Der Schein des Anderen. Zur Phänomenologie virtueller Realitäten. BOHRER, CLEMENS & SCHWARZ-BOENNEKE, BERNADETTE (HG.): Identität und virtuelle Beziehungen im Computerspiel. München (KoPaed), 59-73.
- Falconer, C. J., Slater, M., Rovira, A., King, J. A., Gilbert, P., Antley, A., & Brewin, C. R. (2014). Embodying compassion: a virtual reality paradigm for overcoming excessive self-criticism. PloS one, 9(11), e111933.
worth
surfing
- BeAnotherLab – the machine to be another - www.themachinetobeanother.org
- TedTalk by Chris Milk “the ultimate empathy machine” https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_milk_how_virtual_reality_can_create_the_ultimate_empathy_machine?language=de
- HyperReality – how the world could end up using VR (very pessimistic!) - www.hyper-reality.co
- EVENTlab//MelSlater (check the publication list!) - www.event-lab.org
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