Virtual Reality as a Transformative Technology to Develop Empathy

We can now adopt radically different visual or auditory systems, spend time out of body, in the macroscopic view, in the 3rd person, we can body swap, gender swap or remain focused in peripheral vision. How can this pursuit of new forms of experience and states of perception lead to cognitive and creative insights into the nature of empathy? The key to the effective design of empathy tech is realising that the tools we create, shape us, and our resulting understanding of reality. Using this knowledge as the basis for action, how do we design and use technology to effectively augment the human condition? Can these new mixed realities and resulting sensory augmentations actually make us feel more human?
 
In contrast, if our sensory inputs were transformed to more closely match those of other species, how long would it take for neuroplasticity to decode such new representations? Can the Umwelts of other creatures, brought to us in greater detail than ever before through Mixed Reality, help induce a deeper empathy across Earth’s species and beyond? The core question to ask is, do we need to embody other creatures in order to be able to feel the full dynamic range of compassion for them?
In order to achieve such empathy engineering we need to apply an appropriate framework….  ‘Contextology’ is the study of context or the science of ‘Context Engineering’. Context Engineering focuses less on engineering content and instead attempts to manipulate and create context directly. Context Engineering tools allow us to reconfigure our own perception directly as the primary content. This means that the lenses through which we experience the world are becoming more adjustable than ever. Contextology allows us to develop new forms of perception to explore an entirely new type of self and society.

This talk will be structured through the following projects and concepts: Umwelt Hacking, Virtual initiation, Double Consciousness, Wearable Experience, Natural Media, TeleExistence, the Proteus Effect and the Overview Engine.

“See, if you sense animals, their intelligence becomes yours. So if you sense animals and animals, for example, can tell when an earthquake is coming? You can tell when an earthquake is coming. Not maybe. Not in fantasy. You can sense what the animals are doing, why, and what you might want to be doing along with them. Animals are extensions of your own intelligence, unless you fail to establish such relationships. So, too, living places.” – Darin Stevenson.