It’s dangerous to think virtual reality is an empathy machine | Curio
News and insights read out for you.
10,000+ audio articles. 30+ world-leading publications.
All in 1 subscription.
Aeon logo

It’s dangerous to think virtual reality is an empathy machine

9 mins | Oct 26, 2018
story image

What informs our perception of reality? "Conscious experiences, even your experience of reading these words right now, acquire their meanings in part via a panoply of nonconscious (‘subdoxastic’) processes. These include not only your biology, but also your cultural concepts, past experiences, emotions, expectations and even features of the specific situations in which you find yourself. As the philosopher Alva Noë explains in his 2004 book 'Action in Perception', perception is something we actively do, not something we passively experience." Erick Ramirez, assistant professor in philosophy at Santa Clara University in California, offers us a warning against our current perceptions of VR.

Get the best of 30+ publications for the price of one
Start your 7-day free trial