Presence - A Paradigm Shift
Presence. It may just be our eyes that are being transported to new worlds with the Oculus Rift, but it seems to do the trick. The "trick" being immersing ourselves in virtual experiences. And still we seek to transport our entire bodies with motion tracking technology, whether to feel the environments with well-positioned fans, or even haptic feedback to make the worlds tangible. So eager we are to leave the real world, but aren't we forgetting something?
Yes, there are magical worlds to visit and awe-inspiring things to see. New perspectives previously only reserved for the few. Like seeing earth from the surface of the moon for the first time, where no lines are drawn on the globe like the ones in our classrooms, maps and on the news, in reality a tiny, "pale blue dot"(Carl Sagan) hanging in the void. Cognitive shifts in awareness that makes people reconstruct their entire way of thinking like real life astronauts have reported to experience, sometimes even leading to changes in attitude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect
At this moment these are the things we are creating for this new medium whether it's via video games or 360 degree videos that puts us in places we'd like to visit, making virtual tourism a reality. But there are other parts of our media that have yet to be ported to the perspective of Oculus Rift. But they will. And so far the impact they will bring about have yet to be adressed.
"Wish I was there". But do you, really?
Let me lay out a scenario to describe what I mean by that:
A camera capable of recording 360 degrees and microphone capable of positional audio recording is set up in Gaza providing a high resolution live feed to anyone who wants to see. You sit down with your Oculus Rift headset and start viewing the feed. It's a nice and quiet day. The sun is out, and people are out working, sitting on side walks, groups of elderly men telling jokes, children playing and pretty much everyone is smiling. You feel invisible, as the inhabitants have grown bored of the camera, no longer taking a second look as they pass by, ignoring your existence almost like you were one of them. You start following a group of kids on their bikes, followed by one on foot holding a flower. As they pass by, the child on foot stops, turns around and looks at you. His friends on bikes waits in the background, yelling and gesturing for him to come. The child just smiles and waves at you as he realizes that it's a camera and runs back to his friends, and they disappear down the street between some buildings. You look down and see that the flower he was holding is on the ground in front of you. You start to wonder where he got it, as all you see are mostly dusty streets filled with gravel, and you turn around.looking for a green patch in the direction they seemed to be coming from. You start hearing that loud whistling sound your ear makes sometimes and take off your headphones and headset to clear it out properly. It disappears so you go back in wondering what else is on live feed right now. You lower the sound as they crackle a bit, thinking "Guess it's time to buy a new set". But the feed isn't showing anything anymore, just a static gray... Gray smoke. The sun is gone. You can still barely make out the ground at the base of the camera. Then you see a shadow appearing as the smoke starts to clear. You can see the top of a person's head, and you realize it's the same kid as before that had the flower. He's looking at you, but his eyes aren't the same. He's not smiling anymore. Then you see it. His mouth is gone, and his tongue is hanging out down his chest moving sporadically like a worm sprinkled with salt. His arms are mangled and skin is torn to reveal his bone. He collapses in front of you, still alive, looking at you, crying as blood flows from the open wound in his neck. His tongue filling up with sand sticking to the blood which is dark, almost black. A man appears to your right, you could hear him yelling. You yell "He's here! He's here! Help! Call an ambulance!". But it's no use. You're not really there. There is nothing you can do. You watch the child one more time and you see him gasp and take his last breath. His tongue which is now covered in flower beads, slowly comes to a still.
The details in this scenario are graphic, but that is what something like this will be like. An unadulterated perspective on the world, and the impact of it would be many times stronger than anything seen on a video screen edited to fit a target audience and time limit.
Just as I am able to describe a scenario like this happening like a real event, with today's technology it is perfectly possible to artificially create something with the same impact on someone. You wouldn't need a panel of debaters on television news to tell you what is right or wrong after witnessing something like it. You might even be motivated enough to take action and dedicate yourself to a cause easier than what special interest and human rights organisations with million dollar budgets does with their content.Virtual Reality headsets has been used to treat mental disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder since even before Oculus Rift, and now we have something that can potentially cause it, which some might find troubling.
I expect religious institutions will start using the new generation of VR headsets to convince their followers more effectively that events in their books, like miracles and acts of gods really took place. Something like that would of course depend on their capability to create such "conversion demos", but we already know we don't have to cross the uncanny valley in order to convince someone that their sensations are real. We could see, perhaps unlikely, but not impossible, a scenario where an atheist becomes religious, because of the impact religious VR content could have, despite one's ability to use logic. Just as near-death experiences are often reported to make people turn to religion, VR demos can too. (So more space demos, people!)
A VR demo with a purpose to spread a message, incite hatred or fear mongering.
Not just religions, but any ideology or political movements can and will probably make use of this new medium to reshape the political landscape. Actors in public relations and controlling popular opinion just found their new best friend. And in my opinion, this modern society has no idea what's coming. A paradigm shift in mass media during this current age of outrage.
Yes, there are magical worlds to visit and awe-inspiring things to see. New perspectives previously only reserved for the few. Like seeing earth from the surface of the moon for the first time, where no lines are drawn on the globe like the ones in our classrooms, maps and on the news, in reality a tiny, "pale blue dot"(Carl Sagan) hanging in the void. Cognitive shifts in awareness that makes people reconstruct their entire way of thinking like real life astronauts have reported to experience, sometimes even leading to changes in attitude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect
At this moment these are the things we are creating for this new medium whether it's via video games or 360 degree videos that puts us in places we'd like to visit, making virtual tourism a reality. But there are other parts of our media that have yet to be ported to the perspective of Oculus Rift. But they will. And so far the impact they will bring about have yet to be adressed.
"Wish I was there". But do you, really?
Let me lay out a scenario to describe what I mean by that:
A camera capable of recording 360 degrees and microphone capable of positional audio recording is set up in Gaza providing a high resolution live feed to anyone who wants to see. You sit down with your Oculus Rift headset and start viewing the feed. It's a nice and quiet day. The sun is out, and people are out working, sitting on side walks, groups of elderly men telling jokes, children playing and pretty much everyone is smiling. You feel invisible, as the inhabitants have grown bored of the camera, no longer taking a second look as they pass by, ignoring your existence almost like you were one of them. You start following a group of kids on their bikes, followed by one on foot holding a flower. As they pass by, the child on foot stops, turns around and looks at you. His friends on bikes waits in the background, yelling and gesturing for him to come. The child just smiles and waves at you as he realizes that it's a camera and runs back to his friends, and they disappear down the street between some buildings. You look down and see that the flower he was holding is on the ground in front of you. You start to wonder where he got it, as all you see are mostly dusty streets filled with gravel, and you turn around.looking for a green patch in the direction they seemed to be coming from. You start hearing that loud whistling sound your ear makes sometimes and take off your headphones and headset to clear it out properly. It disappears so you go back in wondering what else is on live feed right now. You lower the sound as they crackle a bit, thinking "Guess it's time to buy a new set". But the feed isn't showing anything anymore, just a static gray... Gray smoke. The sun is gone. You can still barely make out the ground at the base of the camera. Then you see a shadow appearing as the smoke starts to clear. You can see the top of a person's head, and you realize it's the same kid as before that had the flower. He's looking at you, but his eyes aren't the same. He's not smiling anymore. Then you see it. His mouth is gone, and his tongue is hanging out down his chest moving sporadically like a worm sprinkled with salt. His arms are mangled and skin is torn to reveal his bone. He collapses in front of you, still alive, looking at you, crying as blood flows from the open wound in his neck. His tongue filling up with sand sticking to the blood which is dark, almost black. A man appears to your right, you could hear him yelling. You yell "He's here! He's here! Help! Call an ambulance!". But it's no use. You're not really there. There is nothing you can do. You watch the child one more time and you see him gasp and take his last breath. His tongue which is now covered in flower beads, slowly comes to a still.
The details in this scenario are graphic, but that is what something like this will be like. An unadulterated perspective on the world, and the impact of it would be many times stronger than anything seen on a video screen edited to fit a target audience and time limit.
Just as I am able to describe a scenario like this happening like a real event, with today's technology it is perfectly possible to artificially create something with the same impact on someone. You wouldn't need a panel of debaters on television news to tell you what is right or wrong after witnessing something like it. You might even be motivated enough to take action and dedicate yourself to a cause easier than what special interest and human rights organisations with million dollar budgets does with their content.Virtual Reality headsets has been used to treat mental disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder since even before Oculus Rift, and now we have something that can potentially cause it, which some might find troubling.
I expect religious institutions will start using the new generation of VR headsets to convince their followers more effectively that events in their books, like miracles and acts of gods really took place. Something like that would of course depend on their capability to create such "conversion demos", but we already know we don't have to cross the uncanny valley in order to convince someone that their sensations are real. We could see, perhaps unlikely, but not impossible, a scenario where an atheist becomes religious, because of the impact religious VR content could have, despite one's ability to use logic. Just as near-death experiences are often reported to make people turn to religion, VR demos can too. (So more space demos, people!)
A VR demo with a purpose to spread a message, incite hatred or fear mongering.
Not just religions, but any ideology or political movements can and will probably make use of this new medium to reshape the political landscape. Actors in public relations and controlling popular opinion just found their new best friend. And in my opinion, this modern society has no idea what's coming. A paradigm shift in mass media during this current age of outrage.
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