VR & empathy + Queerskin

In this TED talk, Chris Milk speaks on his experiences with virtual reality and how he believes it can affect the world. While he started off working with music artist he had turned his skills with film making and graphic technology to make something more compelling and innovative to the world. The experiential medium of 3D camera he displays is described as, "You feel your way inside of it. It's a machine but inside of it, it feels like real life, it feels like truth. And you feel present in the world that you're inside and you feel present with the people that you're inside of it with." This 3D camera captures a world will you will inhabit other culture's reality, including places like Liberia and India. Milk has planned to work with the United Nations to shoot a series of film to capture the lives of other people's lives they can change. Virtual reality isn't seen as a video game device to Milk, he believes that VR can allow for a change in perception to other people and allow for us to become more passionate, connected and empathetic as humans.

I couldn't figure out how to access Queerskin but I did watch the 1 minute clip at the bottom of the front page. The first thing I noticed was how realistic the graphics were. It was almost like half real people, half green screen of the surroundings. From what I know about Queerskin, it seems to be an exploration of his life and struggles through a collection of his own belongings. I think when VR becomes more empathetic is when the story becomes more personal. While VR is something many don't realize is more than a video but becoming of the story and seeing its full surroundings is almost like one is living in the moment with the characters.

Cassie Haskell