Advances in virtual reality technology are increasing the likelihood of creating environments that are indistinguishable from the real world, which requires deep philosophical and scientific exploration of how humans can recognize and distinguish between reality and virtual reality.
Virtual reality refers to a specific environment or situation that resembles reality but is not real, or the technology itself, created by artificial technology using computers. Currently, virtual reality technology is already commercialized in the military, with virtual reality simulations such as fighter jet operations and tank operations centered on the U.S. military. However, the current virtual reality technology has a limitation that the body must move together. Virtual reality that moves only the brain, such as in the famous movie The Matrix, which was watched by the entire country, is still in the research stage. Here’s something to think about. Will we ever be able to distinguish between virtual reality and reality if we ever create the perfect virtual reality? My conclusion here is: no, we won’t.
First of all, if technology develops in the future, like in the movie The Matrix, it is possible to create a virtual reality that looks exactly like the real thing. There are five main human senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing, and skin sensation (touch and pressure). These five senses are felt by receiving sensory input from differentiated sensory receptors in different parts of the body that are responsible for each sense. Each receptor differs in the type and structure of the stimuli that trigger a response. These sensory receptors include photoreceptors, gustatory receptors, olfactory receptors, auditory receptors, mechanoreceptors (touch), and Pacini receptors (pressure). Each of these sensory receptors receives a sensation and then sends the sensation to the brain via nerves, which in turn receives the sensation in the brain. We need to learn more about the mechanisms by which the brain receives sensations. First of all, sensory receptors are made up of nerve cells. When these nerve cells feel a sensation, they release neurotransmitters, which bind to the receptors and allow nerves to communicate with each other. This is how all sensations are transmitted to our brain. So, if we can artificially produce these neurotransmitters due to scientific advances, we will be able to virtually feel all sensations in the brain. This suggests that the creation of virtual reality through neuroscience could happen in the distant future, or even in the near future.
Before discussing the possibilities of virtual reality, it’s important to understand that these possibilities are getting closer and closer to reality as science and technology develop. For example, recent advances in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology show great potential for artificially generating sensations by directly connecting signals from the brain to a computer. With further advancements, we may be able to not only artificially generate neurotransmitters, but also fully simulate sensations. This is not just the realm of science fiction, but something that is actually being researched and developed.
We have concluded that virtual reality is possible with the development of science and technology, so the next most important question is: can humans distinguish between virtual reality and real reality? Humans sleep about 8 hours a day, which means that 33% of our lives are spent sleeping, as there are 24 hours in a day. During this essential part of our lives, we dream. Dreams that are memorable upon awakening (i.e., dreams where you are conscious that you were dreaming) are known as lucid dreams. However, in terms of physiology, dreams can occur at any depth of sleep because the excitability of the central nervous system decreases with the sleep process, and as a result, the overall unified state of brain activity is gradually disintegrated, resulting in a so-called dissociative state of representation, so dreams can occur at any depth of sleep. After all, we spend 33% of our lives dreaming. You can think of dreams as another form of virtual reality. What happens in dreams has nothing to do with the real world, so it’s virtual reality. This raises the question. Isn’t lucid dreaming, where you realize that you’re in a dream, a symbol of the distinction between virtual reality and reality? Here we need to look at the process of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is divided into two parts. There are two types of lucid dreams: those in which you dream during sleep and gradually realize that you”re dreaming, and those in which you enter the lucid dream state directly from wakefulness. The first, where you gradually realize that you’re dreaming, is usually characterized by noticing features in the dream that are so different from those in the real world that you know you’re dreaming. The second is when you enter a lucid dream state directly from wakefulness, and you are consciously lucid dreaming in the waking world. What they both have in common is that you are able to distinguish the dream from the waking world by your memories of the waking world. There’s also something similar called a false awakening. False awakenings are when you have a vivid dream and perceive it as real. It can be seen as a state where you don’t remember your waking life. We need to pay attention to this phenomenon of false awakenings. In a false awakening, the dream is seen as real because there is no concept of waking up. This supports my argument that we cannot distinguish between virtual reality and reality. After all, if you have memories from the real world, you can distinguish virtual reality, but if you have no memories from the real world and only memories from within the virtual world, you cannot distinguish it from the real world.
From the above, we can see that virtual reality can be created and that it is difficult to distinguish between virtual and real worlds if there are no memories of the other world, whether in the virtual world or in the real world. We can then ask the question, “What if the world I am currently living in is a virtual reality? What if I’m writing this article right now and I’m living in a virtual reality, and I feel like it’s all for nothing? However, as I said above, we can categorize our lives as 1/3 virtual reality in our dreams and 2/3 in our waking state. We are already moving back and forth between virtual reality and reality. In the end, we can see that the distinction between virtual reality and reality is completely meaningless. Virtual reality can be real if you believe it to be real. We need to remember one thing. Just as virtual reality can end at any moment, we are not actually infinite beings, so we need to accept where we are right now, whether it’s the real world or virtual reality, and focus on the present world.
In this context, the development of virtual reality is more than just a technological advancement; it raises deep questions about human perception and the nature of existence. The philosophical discussion of how we perceive and define reality and how the lines can blur should continue. As the distinction between virtual reality and reality becomes blurred, we may need to develop new criteria for what we judge reality by. These discussions will not only advance science and technology, but will also bring about significant changes in our mindset and values.
In conclusion, the distinction between virtual reality and reality will become increasingly difficult as technology advances, and we will need to adopt a new perspective that embraces both worlds rather than separating them. While there are still many challenges at the current level of technology, there may come a day when virtual reality is indistinguishable from reality. When that happens, we will live in a more complex and multi-layered world than we do now. In this article, we’ve explored the possibilities of virtual reality and the philosophical and ethical questions it raises. We hope to continue discussing these topics in the future.
