The apple has indeed fallen far from the tree, gone are those days when all we had was just CDs, pads and a black and white screen to play with. It was the closest thing we had to a virtual reality. The world has evolved beyond that l, we are now in an era of limitless possibilities, most technological innovations we have now were once considered a myth. Gradually, humans with immense creativity started turning imagination to reality. Not just that, humans are trying as much as possible to mirror reality or create an alternative for it.
Virtual reality is used for different purposes in different fields. To some, it is a tool for learning, it creates simulation of what can be, it makes people prepare for what to come. In aviation, a lot of aspiring pilots use simulators to perfect their craft, I mean you wouldn't want to hand over an aircraft worth millions of dollars to someone who is just finding their ways around flying a plane. It is the same for the medical field, I know there are lot of dead bodies for medical student to practice on, that is one thing this world can't grow short of but then it is messy.
With virtual reality, they get to perform some surgical operations like it is being done in reality. There are some medical issues that can't really be found on just any dead body but with virtual reality, it is already programmed to portray the reality you wish to operate. The emergence of this has definitely reduced the rate of medical malpractice or errors in the medical field because medical practitioners don't necessarily have to learn from their actual errors, there is a means for that, that wouldn't cost anyone their lives.
We also have the military that make use Virtual reality for training and also use it to predict the possible outcome of an operation. How do you think they are able to calculate the impact of a missile strike before launching it? It is through the usage of virtual reality that gives them the closest analysis. I would know, not because I'm a military person but I watch lot of military kind of movies, enough to award me a black belt lol.
It is quite obvious that virtual reality is definitely a miracle tool for many fields, as a person, I learnt how to drive from playing Dr drive, among many other driving simulator games, the movie fast and furious, asphalt games definitely played a part too lol.
One of my favourite definition of literature is, "it is an escape from reality. I'm sure who ever came up with this statement never knew something that would indeed mirror reality would be created. We have lot of games and other stuff that uses virtual reality tech and this is where addiction can set in.
We live in a strange world filled with all kind of challenges, it get harder everyday. To some people living has become a burden, they want to escape their reality. With virtual reality, it is actually possible. People can live different kind of lives using virtual reality but the fact remains, it is not real. At the end of it all we still have to wake up to reality and face things as they are but the brain is a tricky organ. If a human should use virtual reality to fulfil their inner desire and consistently depend on it for comfort, soon enough the brain would begin to feel more comfortable existing in a virtual reality than actual reality.
In cases like this, virtual reality won't be just a tool that makes us perfect our craft but a tool that grant our wishes, it becomes a part of us. If we all live our lives through virtual reality, in the actual reality, who will get things done? I guess we just have to find a way to strike a balance but as long as there is means, humans will always seek ways to escape reality and this is why some people are hooked up on drugs, to make their reality more tolerable by suppressing their painful and miserable thoughts. It is indeed tough to be human.
This write-up was inspired by week 28 SciFi multiverse prompt titled "Virtual reality" in SciFi multiverse community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
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