excerpt:
I was never especially interested in immersive technologies. There is something in their promises that troubles me as they come to enhance our senses, to expand our perception, to break through the limits of the physical world. Although I remember all VR projects I have experienced surprisingly well –so the effect is surely intense–, I am still reserved regarding their affective affordances. Described often as empathy machines, VR applications are meant to empower our capacity to be affected and affect others –reversing slightly the classic understanding of affect here1–, to mobilize people and provoke action. AR applications can also be understood within this same context as people use the screens of their devices in order to step into the shoes of others and experience what they face and feel. If empathy can be taught and is not something inborn2, it should be possible to discuss the possibilities of immersive technologies under this lens. But then again, once I put on a headset or hold a device for an immersive project I ask: Whose vision of the world and which part of a story do I enter and experience? How much does it actually affect my perception of reality? What remains from this enhanced world after I exit it?