Mittwoch, 29. Juni 2016

visions on virtual worlds

some thoughts&perspectives on Virtual Reality and how technology could inspire humanity.

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. 
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.

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

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.     

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.

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






Keine Kommentare:

Kommentar veröffentlichen