CIA's 'Facebook' Program

Thoughts on Virtual Reality

“You may ask yourself:  Am I right or am I wrong?

You may say to yourself: My God, what have I done?”

                                    - David Byrne

There is a general agreement among researchers and developers that virtual reality’s role in our everyday lives will become more and more pervasive in the near future.  While it is clear that there are a number of useful and productive applications of virtual reality technologies, I am wary of jumping immediately on board without taking some time to hash out some of the potential negative consequences or side effects of our increasingly virtual existence. 

Especially in these times of rapidly evolving technologies where it seems like there is hardly time to consider the social implications of one technology before it is swiftly made obsolete by another, I feel that is increasingly important to be aware of the road that we are walking and stay alert for potential pitfalls.  It is important to keep in mind that there are often important criteria, beyond simple economics or efficiency, which must be addressed when evaluating the usefulness or desirability of a new technology. 

Years ago I came across a list of just that sort of criteria, developed by the thoughtful and agrarian-minded writer Wendell Berry in a controversial essay titled Why I Am Not Going To Buy A Computer, intended to determine whether a proposed technology is indeed superior to the one it supposes to supplant.  In the interest of brevity I will not touch on all nine of the standards proposed by Mr. Berry, but I would like to briefly touch on two or three of them and see how Virtual Reality technologies might measure up.

The first criteria proposed by Mr. Berry seem to lean in the favor of virtual reality.  Paraphrased, rule number one says that the new tool should be less expensive than the one it replaces (Berry, 1987).  D. Friedman described the use of Virtual Reality as an inexpensive and effective tool for international business in the article All In Your Mind.  The author describes himself as lounging at home in his bathrobe wearing a headset in, shall we say “real” reality, while delivering an address in a virtual suit and tie to a room full of folks who have been brought together in a virtual space although in real space they are thousands of miles away from one another (Friedman, p.281).  There is a clear advantage in the virtual world here, in that it replaces the necessity to spend money and fuel and time travelling by airplane and taxi, staying in hotels and becoming generally exhausted from travel before you even get a chance to attend to the business at hand. So, if what we intend to replace with VR is in fact tedious travel, then the news is good.  I’m not sure, however, that many people would argue that a virtual vacation to tour Paris or Rome could be an equivalent substitute for the real thing, especially with the state of technology today.           

With that in mind, let’s look at one of Mr. Berry’s criteria that relies more on qualitative data, i.e. quality of life stuff, than on quantitative criteria like dollar values.  Rule number nine states that the new technology, “…should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships” (Berry, 1987).  Oh man, that’s a whole new can of worms right there.  I’m sure that different applications of VR could land all across this spectrum here.  I’m sure you could get any number of today’s parents to vent a torrent of frustration about their withdrawn teenager who spends all their time wired in to a virtual world to the detriment of their relationships at home and their success in school.  On the other hand, it could be argued that VR can have a positive impact on the fabric of family life.  For instance, a couple that may be separated by thousands of miles out of necessity may find a fulfilling method of interaction in a virtual setting. While their virtual interactions would most likely be and inferior substitute to the real thing it may still be better than nothing and serve as a proactive tool in maintaining the health and integrity of their family ties.    On the whole, however, I expect that a deeper examination of the question of the disruption of established familial and community relationships would reveal a great deal of potentially negative and disruptive consequences stemming from an increasingly virtual society.  While this may indeed be the wave of the future, we would do well to ask ourselves what among our current habits and patterns of life we hold especially dear and how those traditions fit in to the brave new world that seems to be just moments away.

Resources:

Berry, Wendell.  (1987) Why I Am Not Going To Buy A Computer.  Retrieved February 10, 2011 from http://home.btconnect.com/tipiglen/berrynot.html .

Friedman, D.  (2008) Future Imperfect: Technology and Freedom in an Uncertain World.  (pp. 275-292).  New York: Cambridge University Press.