VR Dreaming: A new phenomena?

How will VR will affect our minds?

With the advent of any new technology, excitement and curiosity always abounds concerning the possibilities.

Why not? Something new is here. We’ve never seen it before. That’s exciting.

However, what if this “new thing” had negative consequences.

What if a particular technology produced adverse results? Would we wholeheartedly embrace it? Maybe. Maybe not.

I’m not a doomsayer at all, but unintended consequences arise with new technologies.

If I told you I’m releasing a product that would kill 40,000 people a year, you would think I was crazy. The government would ban it. Yet, the invention of the automobile has resulted in millions of deaths since the Model T.

I am not advocating getting rid of cars. However, it’s interesting such a “deadly” technology exists.

What’s my point? Whether it’s the internet, cars, smartphones, or pharmaceutical drugs, unintended consequences always seems to rear their ugly head. We weren’t fully aware of it at the time, but something negative was deeply rooted inside the core. Ultimately, when we discover the negative, we may decide the risk is worth it.

Let’s talk about virtual reality. The most advance consumer VR headsets have recently hit the market. In short, they are amazing. The immersion level is deep and compelling.

At a minimum, VR takes over 3 of the 5 senses: Sight. Sound. Touch (vibrating, feedback controllers). This is more than enough to fool the brain. That’s why you see people falling over and screaming in VR experiences. For anyone that has put on virtual reality headset, they can testify to the fact that it “feels so real.” They know it’s fake, but that doesn’t stop the brain from reacting.

What does this have to do with virtual reality and dreams? Recently, I experienced something I’ve never experienced before. It wasn’t necessarily a negative thing, but I believe it was directly related to using VR headsets.

Long story short, I woke up with a confused sense of identity. I did not forget things like my name or that I was married. However, I awoke with a sense that my reality had been altered. In those waking moment, my subconscious could not distinguish between the real and the virtual images my brain was firing off to me. The brain was booting up “wake up software” and the images were from my virtual reality experiences. It took concentrated effort to tell myself what was true.

Sounds crazy?
Am I the only one?

I thought I was pioneering the idea of virtual reality and dreams, but many people are already on the case.

This article from The Atlantic was fascinating:
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/virtual-reality-may-help-you-control-your-dreams/500156/

(Also check out — http://www.igi-global.com/article/game-transfer-phenomena-video-game/58041)

“All this points to one thing,” Gackenbach said. “When you alter people’s waking realities, their memory changes. The more you think you’re in one reality, it alters your memory of other realities.”

At the end of the day, we are in the infancy of this new technology. And it’s good to know there are individuals with the expertise to study the effects of this new technology.