While speculation about technological advancements is often pie in the sky, the trajectory of virtual reality points towards increasing realism and immersion. Virtual reality will allow people to not only witness but also experience the perspectives and memories of others, virtually visit faraway places, and assume new identities. The potential opportunities and applications for virtual reality are vast.
The philosophical implications of virtual reality are profound, touching on morality, politics, identity, ethics, social dynamics, and evolution. At its core lies an inquiry into the nature and perception of reality and whether humans can identify and understand it.
The human experience has always involved distortion, illusion, misinformation, and false beliefs. Humans have always lived in a virtual reality. Even if there is an external physical reality that to an extent aligns with our conception of it, our individual and species perceptions of it are shaped by false memories, emotions, storytelling and cultural myths, and the limits and distortions of our senses, knowledge, and ways of thinking.
In an increasingly digital world, video meetings, interactions with AI, social media, and online gaming are becoming commonplace. Scholars including David Chalmers, an eminent philosopher and cognitive scientist at New York University, challenge the common notion that virtual experiences are inherently inferior to physical reality. Chalmers argues that virtual worlds can be just as genuine and meaningful as our everyday experiences,
Chalmers and Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor and artificial intelligence expert at Oxford University, entertain the possibility that we might inhabit a simulated reality, though this idea remains speculative and unverifiable. While some, including I, dismiss it as idle conjecture, others find value in exploring such thought experiments, recognizing the philosophical insights they offer into the nature of existence, perception, and consciousness.
The following is a short video where Chalmers introduces key philosophical ideas about virtual reality.