#007: Making the (virtual) world a better place
Part I: Idea and Inspiration
Today’s edition is about a 8-minute read. If you’re in a hurry, here are the takeaways:
Over the next three weeks, I’ll be talking about RISC’s virtual reality project, where we explored ways to use virtual reality for good. In this post, I’ll talk about the inspiration behind the project.
My first exposure to doing good with virtual reality came from prisons, where people practice life skills, like using self-scan checkouts, withdrawing money from an ATM, and interviewing for a job.
The more I researched, the more applications I found. VR had shown promise in treating PTSD and addiction, improving people’s mental health, and expanding college access. There was no shortage of interesting ways for virtual reality to do some good, and I wanted to get involved somehow.
The power of VR goes beyond where it can take you. (1) It’s immersive; it can make you feel (emotionally) like you’re somewhere you’re not. (2) It’s interactive; it can allow you to feel (physically) a virtual environment. As these dimensions get better, virtual reality will allow anyone to experience anything. This is a powerful tool, but we should be thoughtful about when we prefer using it to reality.
It just so happened that my boss gained his own interest in VR while I was in the thick of my exploration. Suddenly I had the opportunity to lead a project around VR. Our goal was to find ways to use VR for good, and we started our exploration in the area of education.
For those who haven’t used virtual reality, I highly recommend trying First Steps on an Oculus Quest 2 (or go to a Meta Store). Using a headset for the first time, you might feel disoriented or even nauseous; you’ll have to adjust the headset multiple times to make it fit on your head; and your hair will get messed up. But if you can get past all of that, you might just feel like you’re in the future – or at least the best video game ever.
This video shows you the First Steps experience in 2D, but it feels completely different in the headset. No matter where you turn your head, you’re in a virtual world. Your hands are visible, and you can use them; I’ve never been so entertained by throwing a paper airplane or pushing a button. As you gain more exposure, you start to wonder: what else can I do here?
Over the next three weeks, I’ll be talking about RISC’s virtual reality project, where we explored ways to use virtual reality for good. Truthfully, we didn’t get very far; it turns out to be really expensive to build good content. But we did spend a lot of time thinking and learning about the technology, and I think that’s worth sharing. In this post, I’ll talk about the inspiration behind the project.
Virtual reality had been on my radar for a while
My first exposure to virtual reality doing some good in the world came from prisons. It turns out that some prisons are using virtual reality to help people with life skills training and with their mental health.
For people who have been in prison for a long time, it can be jarring to go back into the real world. Technology has advanced; you’ve adapted your behaviors to survive in an untrusting and highly regulated environment. In an ideal world, people in prison would be given extensive reentry programs to practice being in crowds, interviewing for jobs, managing conflict, or going to the DMV. But in our world, those real-world opportunities are rare, and that’s where virtual reality has some potential.
Mentioned in the article above, virtual reality programs are allowing people in prison to practice (in a virtual world) basic activities that they’ll do once they’re back in the real world. In these programs, you can use a self-scan checkout, withdraw money from an ATM, or practice a job interview in VR. Based on quotes from the people involved, it’s helpful to practice these activities. When I talked to a program manager for one of these initiatives, I was struck by the fact that it’s not just doing the activities that helps but managing the emotional response to the activities that makes a big difference. Even though these experiences were virtual (and sometimes not even that realistic), they elicited real emotions, like anxiety, stress, and anger. Social workers could then help the men process those emotions and manage their response to the situation.
While it’s early to know whether these VR prison programs had a measurable impact, my interest was piqued. As I continued researching, I found that VR had been having a measurable impact on treating people with PTSD and addiction, under much the same premise as helping the people in prison manage their emotional response. The researchers behind this work talk about VR as an alternative to role-playing with a therapist. With addiction, for example, therapists could elicit a more real craving by putting people in VR and exposing them to drugs than they could pretending to be at a party with the patient. They could then help the patient to manage their response to the craving using cognitive behavioral therapy or other techniques.
A bit more research uncovered promising applications of VR for improving mental health (e.g. enabling meditation or helping kids process anxiety about going to the hospital) and for college access (e.g. providing virtual college tours for everyone or helping students practice going to office hours).
There was just no shortage of interesting applications of virtual reality for good, and I wanted to get involved somehow.
My exploration was pointing to some unique strengths of VR
I had initially thought of VR as a field trip machine. It can transport you anywhere, shrink you or stretch you to any size, put you under water or in outer space. But as I had conversations with people in the field, I realized its powers are beyond where it can take you.
VR can make you feel (emotionally) like you’re somewhere you’re not. In other words, it’s immersive. This is why VR has been successful with addiction and mental health; you can make people have an emotional response to a situation and then help manage that response with therapy. The craziest part about this dimension is that the animation doesn’t have to look that good in order to feel it. Your brain does the work for you!
VR can allow you to feel (physically) a virtual environment. In other words, it’s interactive. This dimension will continue to improve as hardware makers create haptic devices (like for smell and touch). And better interactivity begets better immersion; virtual reality will start to feel closer to reality. That’s a little bit scary, but it could also afford some pretty amazing opportunities for learning and doing.
As these dimensions get better, virtual reality will allow anyone to experience anything. You’ll be able to go places and do things in the virtual world and feel like you’re really there doing it.
Still, a question remains. Virtual reality can be a really good simulation of reality, but certainly reality is better than virtual reality in many instances. When does it make sense to use virtual reality instead of reality? It makes sense when there are no other alternatives: for example, when the desired activity is prohibitively costly, dangerous, or straight-up impossible. But we should be thoughtful about using it where it’s most beneficial or necessary.
Then my boss gained an interest in VR
While I had been exploring my interest in virtual reality, my boss Steve had gained his own interest through his friend Sendhil Mullainathan. You can hear some of their discussion on Steve’s podcast here, but basically Sendhil bought an Oculus headset and thought it was amazing.
During one of our team meetings, Steve asked if anyone was interested in exploring a project in virtual reality, and I very quickly raised my hand. There wasn’t a specific idea at the start; we just wanted to find ways to use virtual reality for good. Naturally, Steve bought an Oculus headset for our office so that we could do some field research. That’s where I got to try First Steps and a bunch of other cool games.
We decided that the first step in our exploration was narrowing our focus to one area of impact, and we chose education based on some of RISC’s other initiatives. I think we ended up picking the wrong area, but I’ll discuss that more next week.
Until then!
Noah