VR is digital LSD: expanding your mind, one virtual experience at a time
- Cosmo Scharf, founder of VRLA and Mindshow VR, believes that VR will help us grow as humanity, not just let us play better games.
- “Ultimately there might not really be a meaningful distinction between what is generated by a computer and by your physical senses.”
- Would you create a digital, believable, interactive version of a deceased loved one in VR? Why not?
It makes sense that Los Angeles is a Virtual Reality stronghold.
Words like “immersive,” “transportive” and “empathy” are repeatedly used to describe virtual and augmented reality experiences — and these are all qualities that Hollywood has been weaving into movies for decades. For all the breathless reporting on Oculus Rift, the most exciting part of this newly blossoming technology might not the be technology, but the emotions we’ll feel when we slip on a headset.
Cosmo Scharf founded VRLA when he was a 19-year old film student. In just three years, VRLA has become the world’s largest virtual reality expo, and a magnet for anyone intrigued by the possibilities of VR and AR. Cosmo books speakers like John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity (whose technology powers many VR/AR experiences) to speak to an audience composed of techies, film directors, TV producers and artists.
Cosmo, who also co-founded VR software company Mindshow, is well placed to describe the future of VR in terms of games and movies.
But when TOA.life spoke to him, he revealed that while he’s thrilled by the entertainment possibilities of VR, he’s looking much deeper than that — to a time when VR allows us to evolve as people…
TOA.life: Cosmo — at a basic level, what first specifically excited you about VR?
Cosmo Scharf, VRLA/Mindshow: “You’re allowed to jump inside of virtual worlds like no other technology before it. Video games, movies, TV shows and books are all technologies that transport your mind to other places to escape. Now VR takes you somewhere where we actually feel like we’re going somewhere new. That’s probably the most powerful part about it.
“And because you’re inside, it’s way more emotional. You have a much more direct connection to the characters or the story and it’s much easier to create this kind of visceral reaction that storytellers are looking for.
We hear so much about the positives of VR… are there any downsides we may not have considered?
CS: “People talk about VR or AR as the ‘ultimate empathy machine,’ and I think it certainly allows us to see life from many new perspectives.
“You can literally step inside someone’s shoes — and that can be a force for good, or a force for evil, like any technology. A totalitarian government might use VR to convince their population of a certain ideology, for instance.
“But what I’m really passionate about is how can we use Virtual Reality technology to improve people’s lives, and foster positivity. And that’s what we’re all about at Mindshow: enabling other people to express themselves, and be more open with each other.”
We’re in very uncertain political and social times right now, where relationships between different cultures are strained.
There appears to be a lack of empathy or understanding between certain communities. How could this empathy gap be bridged using VR/AR?
CS: “As an example, there’s a project called The Machine to be Another, where two people put on headsets with cameras that face each other — so it allows people to step into someone else’s body. That’s really important because we’re increasingly siloed from each other as people.
“But it’s not just about seeing what it’s like to be another person — it allows us to essentially broaden the dynamic range of experiences that we can have.
“That means not just experiencing what is it like to be a kid, or male, or female, or old — we can now become different animals, or even inanimate objects like trees!
“That’s something you can only get with Virtual Reality. We’re really just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what kinds of wild new experiences are going to be possible.”
You are obviously dealing with much “bigger” ideas; VR as something fundamental for humanity, not just entertainment.
You recently said, “we need virtual reality now more than ever. Not to hide or escape from the world, but as a means to shift the way we think towards a more open-minded society tolerant of all kinds of people and ideas.” (Full article and context)
What is your idea of a better future, and how can VR help it work?
CS: “That was the thing that really struck me about VR several years ago when I first started getting into it. Then Facebook bought Oculus and people are looking at the Rift as a tech peripheral for your games.
“And that’s true — but I always knew that it was way more than that, because it is changing how we fundamentally connect with information. Our phones and laptops are just different portals; different ways of connecting with people.
“We now have this new mode of communication and expression that connects directly to our senses — and it’s going to become harder to distinguish what is generated by a computer, and what is generated by your physical senses.
“Ultimately there might not really be a meaningful distinction between them.”
Whatever the ultimate device is, a mixed reality where “real” and “generated” stimuli are hard to distinguish raises brand new ethical questions.
For example: by combining AR technology and the storytelling prowess of Hollywood, it might be possible to recreate a virtual and believable avatar of a dead family member. As VR becomes normalised, will something that is now considered extreme — like bringing back a dead person — become commonplace and a moral non-issue?
CS: “Morality itself is going to be challenged with immersive technology. It already has done this with immersive porn, for example.
“A lot of the things that we think of as weird today will become normal: talking to a computer, or teleporting, or flying, or becoming a family member — or talking to a dead family member. A lot of out-there stuff that has only been read about in science fiction books or seen in movies.”
Do you think adoption of AR technology will be widespread? History shows that we’ll adopt technology quickly, if it taps into our basic instincts. People will probably adopt AR porn, for instance, as quickly as they have every other stage of porn’s technological evolution.
CS: “In terms of market size, AR can be much larger than VR, because — in theory — we’re going to have AR glasses that you can wear wherever you go. Today, you have to set up your living room with a giant PC — I think in a few years we’ll look back at that kind of technology and laugh at how large and clunky it was.
“I’m very excited about Augmented Reality, particularly with what Apple is potentially about to announce. [Rumours abound that Apple will release AR glasses soon.] I think that’s going to change the landscape for augmented reality, and really kick-start immersive technology — perhaps in a bigger way even than the Vive and the Rift already have.”
Finally — is there one thing that excites you more than anything else?
CS: “I think the most powerful potential for immersive technology is to help us see through the illusion of separation, and connect with each other on a much more fundamental level.
“Really it’s about understanding that we’re all just one infinite organism: the entire universe! And my hope is that, as VR and AR proliferate and connect to our senses more directly, we might come to a deeper appreciation of the interconnectedness between us and the world, and improve our society — because there’s a lot of really terrible stuff happening right now.
“That’s a pretty lofty, grandiose idea, but the exciting thing is that perhaps we’re about to face some kind of global awakening: a realisation that everything is actually just the same thing.
“It’s an extremely powerful idea if you really take it to heart, and you really believe it. We’re so caught up in what our five senses present to us as truth that it’s often very difficult to understand that concept.
“But you can go into VR once and start to question the nature of reality and how everything is working. That’s what happened to me in the last three years of my life. I’m starting to look at, and understand, how my brain works within the larger context of this system that we’re inside — and then I try to create platforms and conversations, to keep pushing the boundary of our understanding.”
You’re talking about AR/VR changing our perception of the universe: a bit like devotees of LSD in the 1960s, who believed they were expanding their minds with psychedelic drugs.
CS: “Well there’s definitely a lot of parallels there. It’s not like I was alive during at that time — but I might argue that it’s somewhat similar, in that we’re undergoing a revolution in consciousness, and an evolution of intelligence using technology.
“Now that it’s connected to our bodies, it’s a much more powerful, meaningful way to interact with information itself.
“This is not just a screen that you put over your face: there is something more, trying to tell us about the nature of the universe, and what’s beyond the boundaries of our understanding.”
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
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