[FRIAM] Isness: Using Multi-Person VR to Design Peak Mystical-Type Experiences Comparable to Psychedelics

[Prof David West]

With VR your 'ordinary senses' are still functional and still sending signals to the brain—hence "simulator sickness" when your inner ears disagree with your eyes. Also, the fact that your brain still has access to "normal" data, it tends to interpolate and interpret the sensory data from the VR apparatus and the experience is always a hybrid.

Some absolutely fascinating—but totally non-respectable—research was done on virtual sex, including 'body suits' with paired sensors and effectors, olfactory stimuli, and taste to augment the visual inputs. Sex they got, but lust and arousal eluded them.

None of that conflict exists with hallucinogens.

It is a huge mistake to study hallucinogens with an exclusive brain focus. Some of the most interesting work I say in Amsterdam involved attempts to track the effects throughout the body. This would suggest that even a direct silicon-neuron connection would still fall short and the Matrix notion is not achievable.

davew


On Mon, Aug 8, 2022, at 8:30 AM, glen wrote:
> Here's the SMMRY if anyone's troubled by a paywall:
>
> https://smmry.com/https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/08/06/1056727/vr-virtual-reality-psychedelics-transcendence/#&SM_LENGTH=7 
> wrote:
>> She adds, "There's definitely differences between what a psychedelic experience feels like and what virtual reality feels like." Because of this, she appreciates that Isness-D charts a new path to transcendence instead of just mimicking one that existed already.
>> 
>> More research is needed on the enduring effects of an Isness-D experience and whether virtual reality, in general, can induce benefits similar to psychedelics.
>> 
>> The dominant theory on how psychedelics improve clinical outcomes is that their effect is driven by both the subjective experience of a trip and the drug's neurochemical effect on the brain.
>> 
>> VR is better at inducing awe than regular video, so Isness-D might similarly dial it down.
>> 
>> The startup sells a shortened version of Isness-D to companies for virtual wellness retreats, and provides a similar experience called Ripple to help patients, their families, and their caregivers cope with terminal illness.
>> 
>> A coauthor of the paper describing Isness-D is even piloting it in couples and family therapy.
>> 
>> For one phase of my Isness-D experience, moving created a brief electric trail that marked where I'd just been.
>
> I've been tempted by Steam's device: 
> https://store.steampowered.com/vrhardware/. But it hasn't been a 
> priority.
>
>
>
> On 8/8/22 07:05, Roger Critchlow wrote:
>> https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00940 <https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.00940>
>> 
>> This must be on some topic around here.
>> 
>> Originally picked up from https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/08/06/1056727/vr-virtual-reality-psychedelics-transcendence/ <https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/08/06/1056727/vr-virtual-reality-psychedelics-transcendence/>, which is paywalled.
>> 
>> The original arxiv posting is 20 years old, but the work was just published inh
>> 
>> CHI 2020: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
>
> -- 
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