Darkness... not night-time with its accompanying glow of silver starlight, nor that of a closed room with the inevitable seepage of street light around the edges of curtains and doors. This was the blackness of the tomb, a complete absence of all light. It was the kind of darkness that could suck eyeballs out of sockets such is the desire to find any stray radiance. The disorienting inability to see your own hand centimetres from the face, not knowing where the phalanges are hovering till the shock of a touch on the tip of the nose sends you crashing to the ceiling, that sort of darkness.
When vision returned it was to find myself in a domed habitat, furnished in warm wood and sleek, low slung, modern furniture. A floor to ceiling window looked out over a valley where other domes glowed like grounded fireflies, mountains loomed in the distance, snow covered, vast, glowing pink in the setting sun.
Luminous flowers floated into view, slowly opening to display a profusion of multi coloured petals as silver drops of dew glistened and rolled to the ground exploding in a shower of diamonds, throwing prism rainbows joyously all around the room.
No, the jeni hasn't been sampling hallucinogens, she has been inducted into the wonderful world of virtual reality via an Oculus Quest headset. To my amazement i walked into a fully functioning alternate world where i could touch, throw, move items around, walk from room to virtual room, communicate with other Questers, change my surroundings, play games. How real can it be? Well, if my son hadn't shouted "don't sit down" i would be nursing a bruised coccyx from dropping into an office, swivel chair that wasn't. Wasn't what? WASN'T THERE !!! The virtual is so incredibly realistic the brain very rapidly accepts it as actually existing corporeally. As you walk around this constructed world handling and moving objects, interacting with others, you become so immersed it becomes your universe, an insulated world where you can be whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want limited only by the apps available.
When vision returned it was to find myself in a domed habitat, furnished in warm wood and sleek, low slung, modern furniture. A floor to ceiling window looked out over a valley where other domes glowed like grounded fireflies, mountains loomed in the distance, snow covered, vast, glowing pink in the setting sun.
No, the jeni hasn't been sampling hallucinogens, she has been inducted into the wonderful world of virtual reality via an Oculus Quest headset. To my amazement i walked into a fully functioning alternate world where i could touch, throw, move items around, walk from room to virtual room, communicate with other Questers, change my surroundings, play games. How real can it be? Well, if my son hadn't shouted "don't sit down" i would be nursing a bruised coccyx from dropping into an office, swivel chair that wasn't. Wasn't what? WASN'T THERE !!! The virtual is so incredibly realistic the brain very rapidly accepts it as actually existing corporeally. As you walk around this constructed world handling and moving objects, interacting with others, you become so immersed it becomes your universe, an insulated world where you can be whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want limited only by the apps available.
Imagine how this technology can be used as it is perfected... for good and for evil. The ultimate opiate of the masses. Plug the impoverished in and feed them an unlimited diet of false promises. slums transformed into palaces, junk food become a feast for the eyes if not the taste buds, a blasted, barren land devoid of all beauty can thrill to the Sound of Music even as it is buried by landfill and pollution on the 'outside'. In a potential future of high unemployment, untrammelled poverty and spiralling inequality living in a phoney Pollyanna universe would be preferable to a daily dose of actuality, so a government could find it kinder on the public purse to dispense headsets instead of addressing privations. Classic dystopian society. A malign government would have the ultimate torture instrument, Room 101 become incarnate. Fill that room with huge virtual spiders indistinguishable from the real beastie and i would consign my grandchildren to Guantanamo Bay for crimes against the state in a nano instant.
But also imagine being elderly or severely disabled and spending your waking hours bed bound or sat in a chair unable to set food outside your room without help, an existence where television is the only company to fill the long hours, human presence a half hour call by harassed carers. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, when your life is full of daily indignities and loneliness, it were possible to step out of your chair and wander around the world's capital cities, see the texture of ancient stones and participate in the richness of a multitude of cultures. Or travel to the stars, dance with a super nova, swim in the milky way, dive into a black hole. We all could walk the streets of Atlantis, freshly risen from the waves.... once the appropriate app had been written.
Those isolated by dementia could revisit their past, spend time in old style shops and pubs. Family members, also wearing a headset, could meet with their elderly relative in a replica of a childhood home where everything would be familiar and safe. The article below talks of apps that are being trialled to help reduce falls by giving a virtual space to walk in, those who are prone to wandering needn't leave their chair to widen their viewpoint.
77% of women using virtual reality goggles in labour report experiencing less pain as the pleasurable experience of watching scenes from nature releases endorphins and other neurotransmitters that act as nature's pain killers. How lovely to give birth in a woodland dell or your own candle lit bedroom when in reality you are in a maternity suite surrounded by the clinical accoutrements necessary for unplanned emergencies.
Do you ever wonder why when poorly you always feel worse at night? One reason is there aren't the distractions that abound during an active day to take your mind off your miseries. Some are able to train themselves to focus on a pleasant thought or image and step outside their physical discomfort, most of us lack the mental discipline and training for this type of meditation and need something more tangible. The potential for helping people with chronic pain escape their torment for a while is huge. Instead of lying awake becoming more and more consumed and desperate simply plug into a summer wildflower meadow and fill your soul with birdsong.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2019/08/13/virtual-realitys-latest-use-easing-the-pain-of-childbirth/#659f5c0a9568Do you ever wonder why when poorly you always feel worse at night? One reason is there aren't the distractions that abound during an active day to take your mind off your miseries. Some are able to train themselves to focus on a pleasant thought or image and step outside their physical discomfort, most of us lack the mental discipline and training for this type of meditation and need something more tangible. The potential for helping people with chronic pain escape their torment for a while is huge. Instead of lying awake becoming more and more consumed and desperate simply plug into a summer wildflower meadow and fill your soul with birdsong.
When world changing technology comes along the inner Luddite of human nature stirs, raises it's head and growls.... "HUMBUG, if we were meant to fly God would have given us wings." It turns out He didn't need to, instead He gave us intelligence, creativity, technology and the imagination to implement them. Virtual Reality is now Analogue Reality, it's here, it's being used, it will become normality, we need to embrace it's positive applications and pray it's potential dangers are recognised and contained.
