How can Science Fiction narratives help us explore ethical Virtual Reality development?
Introduction
A four part essay on the ethical implications of highly immersive VR and the responsibilities that VR developers face when making creative and technical choices.
Part 1: Safeguarding and Protection
Introduction
Like so many technologies, Virtual Reality (VR) was predicted by, and is often the topic of, Science Fiction (SF) narratives. The first description of VR in a SF narrative, Pygmalion’s Spectacles (Weinbaum, 1935) predates the first real VR apparatus, Morton Heilig’s Sensorama (1962) by twenty seven years. With recent leaps in VR technology, higher levels of immersion are facilitating new forms of escapism, creativity and innovative SF storytelling.
However, as the line between our real and virtual bodies becomes blurrier, the risk of unethical application increases. New technology and lucrative VR opportunities loom on the horizon, is it possible that the question ‘can we develop it further?” will be asked before “should we?”.
As a new era of VR technology dawns upon us, SF as a genre has become more relevant than ever with a huge repository of narratives based around how advanced VR affects society and people’s lives. The following essay will examine VR in SF narratives to illustrate how they can provide insights for current and future ethical VR development.
My interest in the relationship between SF and VR started from a conversation with Paul Cornell, SF and urban fantasy author about SF and the rise of the internet.
“second life was almost an attempt to make cyberspace like (William) Gibson had seen it, and it turned out we didn’t really want that. We don’t want to have another body, what we want is the ability to access information free and easily, through perhaps some kind of print interface like a computer screen.”
(Paul Cornell, interview, 2016)
Having enjoyed Neuromancer and tried some VR experiences myself I couldn’t help but agree with Paul that Gibson’s 1984 vision of cyberspace does now seem antiquated. I soon began to wonder about other SF interpretations of VR and wanted to learn if they might inform real VR development.
The term ‘ethical VR’ is used in this essay in two ways; firstly to describe VR that is itself developed in a way that protects users, promotes open source content and avoids exploitation. And secondly, it describes VR that can be used to empower the public, promote progressive social policy and reduction of inequality. Aiming to provide a safe and secure experience for VR users and developers alike, my essay will explore SF narratives with ethical and unethical uses of VR and link these to real life examples.
My investigation will centre around the areas of safety and protection, market forces and gender ethics. These topics have many insights to offer towards VR development in terms of ethical standards and will have a large effect on the VR experiences that consumers will see in the future. Most of my discussion is based around fully virtual worlds, however, I will also talk about augmented reality (AR) as falling underneath the umbrella of VR. The term ‘Cyberspace’ will also be used interchangeably with VR.
