Machines that make us better at being human? Yes! Some smart folks at Stanford University are using virtual reality (VR) to give people a chance to feel what it’s like to, say, be homeless with a family.
Once you’ve been there, it’s hard to not to care.
Inside the VR headsets are entire worlds. When you have the headset on you can move around the space and interact with the characters. You meet them, hear their stories and ultimately live with them for as long the simulation lasts.
The Stanford studies show that after using VR people feel strong emotions for the folks they met. And they carry that empathy with them into the real world.
The thing is, our brains are really good at dividing the world into ‘us’ and ‘them’. And then totally cutting out the ‘thems’ from our reality.
Virtual reality might help create a new, compassionate reality that includes all of us.
