How VR can show us life, death, and the consequences we’re blind to
A topic we have discussed here from time to time is how to engage people to respond to the wider world and experience more of a personal connection to distant consequences of our choices and actions. This video focuses on climate change, but the idea applies to any problem of human activity.
It's human nature to respond to things that we experience directly. We often (most of us) genuinely care about the bigger picture of climate change as well as a great many other problems such as animal cruelty, local economic struggles, plastics in the ocean, etc. But even the most conscientious among us still make a lot of choices that adversely affect the world because it's easier or cheaper to continue making those choices.
The question I asked during one of these discussions was, "How do we engage seven million people to respond to far away events as we do with immediate, personal consequences?" A small "monkeysphere" is the evolutionary result of eons of small social groups, and of course, the ordinary limits of what any individual can do globally is a major factor.
Our brains have literally never before experienced a tribe of seven billion in a globally connected world as we have now due to technological advances and population growth. Because our most powerful drivers involve personal experiences of pain and reward, even for those who strive to take a cosmic view and expand their area of concern, it seems we are not responding well as the "knowing species" to the problems and destructive nature of our habits and institutions. At the very least, we may be adapting in useful ways but maybe not fast enough. Could VR technology be part of the answer?
We use a lot of drone shots to be able to lift you out of your normal, everyday height and place you into another perspective to see the world changing as it is so rapidly right now. There is the potential to overwhelm the viewer. This is a very intense medium, and if you place people into intense situations, they're going to respond to it.
A topic we have discussed here from time to time is how to engage people to respond to the wider world and experience more of a personal connection to distant consequences of our choices and actions. This video focuses on climate change, but the idea applies to any problem of human activity.
It's human nature to respond to things that we experience directly. We often (most of us) genuinely care about the bigger picture of climate change as well as a great many other problems such as animal cruelty, local economic struggles, plastics in the ocean, etc. But even the most conscientious among us still make a lot of choices that adversely affect the world because it's easier or cheaper to continue making those choices.
The question I asked during one of these discussions was, "How do we engage seven million people to respond to far away events as we do with immediate, personal consequences?" A small "monkeysphere" is the evolutionary result of eons of small social groups, and of course, the ordinary limits of what any individual can do globally is a major factor.
Our brains have literally never before experienced a tribe of seven billion in a globally connected world as we have now due to technological advances and population growth. Because our most powerful drivers involve personal experiences of pain and reward, even for those who strive to take a cosmic view and expand their area of concern, it seems we are not responding well as the "knowing species" to the problems and destructive nature of our habits and institutions. At the very least, we may be adapting in useful ways but maybe not fast enough. Could VR technology be part of the answer?