Virtual Reality - Brain State Training
I have been deeply immersed in new technologies since the early 1980's. The development of these “interactive” technologies made it possible for storytelling to become a co-created art between artists and their audiences. Video game machines, personal computers, laserdiscs, the Internet etc. have fundamentally expanded our platforms for storytelling.
The current emergence of virtual reality denotes a significant evolution in these storytelling approaches. VR has the capacity to create altered brain states. What interests me the most is the work going on in research labs studying its potential for trauma treatment. We believe these brain state change programs are the harbinger of breakthroughs in treating the behavioral challenges all humans experience. A significant step towards a more generative world.
As I tried to get my hands around what the current state of VR was, there are two excellent books on the subject that gave me a very wide view of the possibilities. The first is Jeremy Bailenson's excellent offering "Experience on Demand" and the other is "Dawn of the New Everything" by Jaron Lanier. Both these noted scientists and authors have been experimenting with VR longer than most. Their long relationship with what is possible is now fully enhanced by the advances in VR and AI technology and software. Check out the interviews with both of them below.
In this C-SPAN interview Jeremy lays out the current status of Virtual Reality. Jeremy is a noted author and is the founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Thomas More Storke Professor in the Department of Communication, a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, and a Faculty Leader at Stanford’s Center for Longevity.
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Jeremy Bailenson - C-SPAN Interview
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Jaron Lanier Interview
In this interview, Jaron, noted pioneer in VR technology and programming, talks about his current view of VR development, after years of experimenting with all kinds of VR concepts. Jaron is an American computer philosophy writer, computer scientist, visual artist, and composer of classical music. Considered a founding father of the field of virtual reality, Lanier and Thomas G. Zimmerman left Atari in 1985 to found VPL Research, Inc., the first company to sell VR goggles and gloves.