VR and Empathy

   Chris Milk makes an interesting argument for VR being the ultimate empathy machine. You can empathize with people more deeply when you have a deeper understanding of their situation. Using it in the way Milk did by showing it to people in government who are making decisions for these people in difficult situations is a really interesting application of the technology. It's one thing for a random person like me to understand Sidra's life in the refugee camp, but it means much more when authoritative figures have an understanding of how the decisions they make can effect people in these places which are otherwise far from them mentally and physically. We live in an increasingly globalized world, and maybe adapting this video game technology to fit empathic means will truly make us more "human" as Chris Milk thinks. 

    I like the idea of using VR to convey human emotions and experiences through immersive technology. It has the ability to tell stories that are otherwise difficult to understand, like Sidra's life in the refugee camp. The part at 6:40 where the children are surrounding you in Clouds over Sidra had the greatest effect on me. It didn't feel like children surrounding a camera; it felt like children surrounding my body. When you are watching a movie, it is easy to remain outside of it because you are still separated by the screen, and it sometimes feels like an incomplete or fabricated image. But with VR, you have the complete reality from all angles. There's no camera or apparatus distancing you from the actual experience anymore. So, I think it is effective for telling these stories, especially stories where the actual reality can be distorted through media, news, and distance. 1000 cut journey: “but rather a visceral understanding that connects to spirit and body as much as reason.” In the news story video they mention that racism can happen in a number of contexts over a person's life, and often what we focus on in the mainstream media like violence and discrimination only scratches the surface of the real experience. Using VR allows for a more nuanced and realistic telling of the specific events tinged with racism in a black person's life that may otherwise pass us by.