reading vs. virtual reality

[milk]

I've been working on a sci-fi writing project with a friend and musing about the future and virtual reality. Now, this may seem like a naive thought but here goes:
In a way I think virtual technology is a de-innovation compared to simple reading.
When you read, you nearly enter the mind of someone else. If you're lost in Anne Frank or Primo Levi, for example, you become her or him as much as anyone can become another person. Whereas any virtual world seems to me like experiencing something separate. You're participating in something exterior (as the world is exterior).

There is no substitute for reading, is there? Isn't it the closest we can come to being another, or being other?

I have to confess I don't play video games and haven't tried any virtual technology.

[snyprrr]

I've been working on a sci-fi writing project with a friend and musing about the future and virtual reality. Now, this may seem like a naive thought but here goes:
In a way I think virtual technology is a de-innovation compared to simple reading.
When you read, you nearly enter the mind of someone else. If you're lost in Anne Frank or Primo Levi, for example, you become her or him as much as anyone can become another person. Whereas any virtual world seems to me like experiencing something separate. You're participating in something exterior (as the world is exterior).

There is no substitute for reading, is there? Isn't it the closest we can come to being another, or being other?

I have to confess I don't play video games and haven't tried any virtual technology.

Yes, it's just like a real blow job... errr... I mean... oh, yes!... books.... books are nice!!

[ibanezmonster]

I've been working on a sci-fi writing project with a friend and musing about the future and virtual reality. Now, this may seem like a naive thought but here goes:
In a way I think virtual technology is a de-innovation compared to simple reading.
When you read, you nearly enter the mind of someone else. If you're lost in Anne Frank or Primo Levi, for example, you become her or him as much as anyone can become another person. Whereas any virtual world seems to me like experiencing something separate. You're participating in something exterior (as the world is exterior).

There is no substitute for reading, is there? Isn't it the closest we can come to being another, or being other?

I have to confess I don't play video games and haven't tried any virtual technology.

Is your friend talking about the Oculus Rift? Seriously, you should try it. I'm getting my DK2 in a few weeks. I've only heard of people being completely awed by it.

Reading fiction and VR have entirely different purposes for escapism. If you want to want to escape to someone else's mind, reading is typically a better alternative (though extremely text-heavy games can be good for this, too). If you want to escape to a different world, VR is better, because you feel like you are there and don't have to work to imagine anything.

Do you know anything about Sword Art Online? That is basically the final goal of virtual reality that is often mentioned: full immersion.

[milk]

Is your friend talking about the Oculus Rift? Seriously, you should try it. I'm getting my DK2 in a few weeks. I've only heard of people being completely awed by it.

Reading fiction and VR have entirely different purposes for escapism. If you want to want to escape to someone else's mind, reading is typically a better alternative (though extremely text-heavy games can be good for this, too). If you want to escape to a different world, VR is better, because you feel like you are there and don't have to work to imagine anything.

Do you know anything about Sword Art Online? That is basically the final goal of virtual reality that is often mentioned: full immersion.

Thanks for the response. I've never tried any of this stuff. I guess I should. I imagine that in a few hundred years this will all be incorporated into human experience. I just had sort of a philosophical question about it. We cannot really experience another's consciousness. But reading comes closer than anything else - is my proposition. But I'm not done thinking about it.
Do some people think that something will replace reading? It seems like one can't beat a great first-person written narrative for providing the experience of being another.
Admittedly, the virtual stuff seems pretty cool though.

[ibanezmonster]

There's plenty of realistic VR videos, but the extremely odd experiences are what I can't wait for. Something like this looks like a lot of fun:

https://www.youtube.com/v/2IFwjM-rS30


And there's movement tracking:
https://www.youtube.com/v/k7n5kRRHDpw

Do some people think that something will replace reading?

I don't think so, because if someone wants to portray another person's thoughts, it would have to be either through reading or through audio (audio books, for example).

[milk]

There's plenty of realistic VR videos, but the extremely odd experiences are what I can't wait for. Something like this looks like a lot of fun:

https://www.youtube.com/v/2IFwjM-rS30


And there's movement tracking:
https://www.youtube.com/v/k7n5kRRHDpw



I don't think so, because if someone wants to portray another person's thoughts, it would have to be either through reading or through audio (audio books, for example).

Looks funny. It does make me want to try.