VR/AR (virtual reality / augmented reality) technologies could help us in some ways. However, they also could pose a threat to humanity. Metaverse is the environment that our brain was not designed for. Surrounding ourselves with VR/AR may lead to the degradation of what makes us human. It can turn us into irrational and immoral slaves incapable of setting and achieving long-term goals and moving our civilization into a bright future.
In this post, I'd like to focus on the potential dangers of VR/AR for humanity, if they are used inappropriately. Before introducing VR/AR technologies into our real life, it is important to conduct extensive research on the potential impact they could have on human values and behavior.
“Technology and industry have distanced people from nature and magic and human values.”
Laura Esquivel
Let me start with my personal story of dealing with VR. To me, VR is not only about 3D world and VR headsets. As a teenager, I was addicted to Sony PlayStation games, specifically soccer simulator. I played for hours almost every day for several years. Eventually, I became a master. I could quite easily win almost every game and all the trophies. But it was not real. It mattered only to me and happened only in my mind and on the TV screen. You see, becoming a winner in a game is about pressing buttons at the right time. I identified myself with great players and big teams, but my body was still the same. I didn't really become much better at playing soccer myself. I realized that all I got is an illusion that I was sort of invincible, but in reality, I wasn't. Not even close.
My addiction cost me a lot of time and caused some harm to my health. Plus, I kind of forgot who I was. That realization is what pushed me to spend as much time as I could with the real ball and players on the real field. Playing soccer in real life taught me a lot of lessons that I use in life.
Now, 15 years later, I would like to take a look at my addiction and the potential impact that Metaverse could have on human behavior and our society from a scientific point of view.
“Technology challenges us to assert our human values, which means that first of all, we have to figure out what they are.”
Sherry Turkle
VR/AR technologies and other ICT (information and communication technologies) can destroy your personality on different levels and make you act irrationally in the real world.
Why is it important for us to be moral and rational in our world?
Why is it important to preserve universal values?
Well, basically, that is what makes us human.
To me, being rational means being as close to our reality as possible. It is about acting according to the laws of our reality/universe. The more rational we are, the better choices we make, and the better results we get. Hence, the happier we are )
Universal values are moral principles (our behavioral «compass») shared by the majority of people.
We need to act rationally and in accordance with our universal values to stay human.
Losing your identity
Forgetting who you really are
It is really easy nowadays for people to create their online identities. You can modify your photos with the help of a graphics editor and create a user profile pretending to be something you are not. It is easy to change your appearance, but it is hard to change your values. People can forget who they really are this way and become something that other people force them to be.
Borrowing identity/behavior or its elements
People are not just trying to come up with their own fictitious appearance, but they can also borrow someone's identity/behavior or its elements. In 1961, it was shown by Albert Bandura that children mimic the behavior demonstrated to them. We can learn by imitating others’ behavior [1].
This phenomenon could be explained by the presence of mirror neurons in our brains. These neurons fire when we do certain actions, as well as when we see or hear someone else performing the same actions [2].
This way, a lot of people become full of behavioral patterns that are not always beneficial neither in terms of morality nor in terms of rationality. Think about all the patterns people could get from games, movies, anime etc.
Plus, currently, our representations in Metaverse are quite odd (there are no legs etc.). These limitations may cause irrational behavior that people then demonstrate in real life.
Also, we can get supernatural abilities in VR. Ultimately, we can get used to them so much that in the real world we forget that we don't have them and behave very irrationally in some situations.
We are shaped by our environment. Is Metaverse the best environment for people with all its irrationality and absurdity? Not yet, in my opinion.
Neurophysiological foundation. Brain
Two brain operating modes
Default/Passive mode
The default system is the neuronal network that activates at rest, when we are self-absorbed and not engaged in solving the problems of the external world. This is when our brain organizes information and calculates various options to solve problems. This is when our brain is the most creative.
Active mode. Responsive problem-solving network / central executive network
This system activates when we consume information coming in from the outside.
Both systems are antagonistic to each other. In other words, activation of the active mode leads to inhibition of the default mode. During the first 25 years of our life, neuronal networks responsible for the default mode are being formed. That's why it is of critical importance for us to not knock our default system out by keeping our central executive network active all day long (consuming tons of information via gadgets). The brain of teenagers stops forming if they spend 70% of their time in front of their gadgets [3, 4].
Three minds
Theo Compernolle distinguishes 3 minds in his book called «BrainChains: Discover your brain, to unleash its full potential in a hyperconnected, multitasking world»:
Reflex mind
It is the oldest and fastest one. It is the feelings and impressions originating in our mind without effort. It can't act proactively or learn from the past. It is unconscious, autonomic, uncontrolled, and works based on reflexes.
Reflecting mind
It is slow, conscious, rational, controlled, and works based on logic. It requires a lot of energy and processes information sequentially dealing with one thought/task at a time. It allows us to think about things that don't exist. It allows us to fantasize and invent. It needs to rest and sleep. It can take over the reflex mind.
Archiving mind
This mind is sort of a «librarian» that receives millions of bites of information coming from the outside through sense organs and thoughts coming from our reflecting mind. It decides what to store in our long-term memory and what to reject. Archiving mind is task-negative, because it is active when there is no any cognitive task done by our mind. It is the most active when our reflecting mind is asleep or at rest [5].
I assume that the reflecting mind and reflex mind correspond to the aforementioned central executive network, and archiving mind corresponds to the default system.
Cognitive biases
Reflex mind and reflecting mind are what Daniel Khaneman referred to as System 1 and System 2. System 1 is prone to systematic errors/deviations from rationality in judgments. Today we call them cognitive biases. However, in the past, a lot of them (if not all) served as an adaptive mechanism that enabled our ancestors to react instantly to threats and helped us to survive in the wild savanna. But in today's world, System 1 is what makes us irrational. And System 2 is what supposed to take control over System 1 and check its judgments [5, 6].
Now, with the arrival of the Metaverse, we are entering the world of VR/AR. I suppose that in this new environment it is going to be harder for our System 2 to check the rationality of judgments generated by System 1, and I believe we will get a lot of new cognitive biases. This way, it should be even harder for us to understand who we are, what our values are, and where we are going as humanity.
Degradation of society and human consciousness
Our modern tech-driven world forces us to be hyperconnected and to do multiple tasks at once. This is something that the human brain was not designed for. Our archiving mind needs time to rest to organize information, and our reflecting mind can deal with one task/thought at a time to be efficient.
In the XXI century, we constantly get bombarded with tons of information via technologies that we have surrounded ourselves with. Our obsession with digital technologies leads to our intelligence (as social, as emotional) degradation and results in us losing our ability to focus and even sleep (this is why you may think about using f.lux by the way) [5, 7].
Excessive usage of digital technologies leads to the default system deactivation and the central executive network overactivation. As a result, our default system may not get enough time to even figure out who we are and form our value system. I believe that this is why yogis close their eyes and keep calm during meditations. This helps them to know themselves.
Our default system is responsible for our ability to plan the future. Without it, we lose our motivation/desire to evolve and learn, and we can't set and achieve our long-term goals. Plus, our brain just tries to save energy by setting and achieving simpler goals.
The default system also has social meaning. Throughout our evolution, it helped people to form social relationships. In today's tech-driven world, we spend less and less time with other people. This leads to the societal degradation of humanity. We start forgetting who we are. We get a sort of "digital autism" epidemic. It is characterized by poverty of speech and social isolation. People lose their ability and desire to connect and communicate with other people, they stop valuing humans and lose their ability to evolve and know themselves and others.
At the same time, the overactivation of the central executive network results in our desire to get pleasure as easily and fast as possible. And if we can't achieve this, we may become aggressive and suicidal. Why would we try to achieve our long-term goals, if we can get the same satisfaction in VR without leaving our room? And setting long-term goals is what helps us to survive as a species because it helps to predict the future and act proactively [3].
Substitution bias may be another reason why we become unable to set and achieve long-term goals. We start answering simpler questions.
Speaking of motivation, we need to remember the “Candle problem” experiment which showed that extrinsic motivators like money narrow our focus and inhibit our creativity and thinking.
And in order to move our science and civilization forward into a bright future, we have to overcome a lot of problems, we need to be as creative as possible. We need to have intrinsic motivation based on our values [8].
We have already brought the world of money, crypto, and NFTs into VR. It would actually be interesting to do the opposite. We could try to build in VR the experimental world without any form of money (think about The Venus project).
VR and AR technologies were created by some people. How do we know what their real intentions are? We need to remember that VR/AR, just like any other technology, can serve as a weapon and a means of manipulation. It is far more dangerous than the real weapon, as it can impact our language, mentality, and culture. VR can be used to manipulate our consciousness and destroy whole nations. It can destroy what makes us human, our universal values [3].
Biochemical foundation. Addiction
I believe you noticed that the Internet is quite addictive. With the introduction of cryptocurrency, Internet has become much more addictive. Being the next-generation Internet (Internet + VR/AR), Metaverse should be even more addictive.
On a molecular level, our addiction is caused by molecules like dopamine. This molecule, produced in different parts of the brain, forces us to constantly seek/want new information. This is why social media news feeds are so addictive. Dopamine helps to keep us motivated in the learning process, which is critical for our survival. Other molecules called opioids allow us to feel pleasure and be satisfied with results. These two systems complement each other. The first one is stronger than the second one. Usually, we are not satisfied with the results we get, so we keep searching anyway.
In today's tech-driven world, these systems get abused. It becomes harder and harder for people to resist the temptations (checking emails, twits, messages etc.). The same happens to people in the Metaverse which provides even more opportunities [9]. Ultimately, we can get exhausted and unable to set and achieve long-term goals constantly seeking pleasure like rats.
Biomechanical catastrophe
As far as I know, when it comes to movement, Metaverse solution is the omnidirectional treadmill that allows people to walk and run in any direction staying actually in the same place. To be fair, running and walking on them looks pretty unnatural. And natural movement is exactly what we need in order for our vertebral column to stay healthy. We need to let our column to move like a spring to feed the cells of intervertebral discs. We need to walk at least 1 hour every day for our intervertebral discs to stay healthy. You can't walk this way in the room with VR headset, because the space is limited. You can try outside your house, but then there are some risks to get hit by a car or something.
No natural movement - no life.
People use a lot of tools to transmit information: inkwell and feather pen, ball pen, keyboard, and stylus. VR requires us to use motion controllers now.
There are different rhythms in our bodies. Superimposing rhythms (including the rhythm of the heart) with muscle efforts is beneficial in that case, if they are followed by periods of rest. In this case, muscle efforts strengthen the rhythm of the heart. This happens when we use a feather pen. Otherwise, a lot of our muscles get blocked, and our bodies get poisoned by metabolic waste. This happens when we use a ball pen. In this case, our diaphragm gets blocked, and other body rhythms superimpose with muscle efforts inappropriately as well. I believe the same happens when we use a stylus and motion controllers for VR. In terms of health, a feather pen is the most beneficial tool [10].
In search of harmony
People are reflections of the environment they are in. And Metaverse can change our environment drastically. It is up to us to decide in which direction. We can either take into account the properties of our brain and use VR/AR to build an environment that will help the human mind to reach its full potential and develop our inner world and human values. For example, we could use VR/AR in education (think of virtual science simulations, for example). Or, we could create such an environment that will turn humanity into unethical and immoral slaves of our technologies.
Some people use drugs and alcohol to escape reality. Why don't we bravely face our reality, acknowledge our problems, and do whatever we can to overcome them, rather than trying to escape them and hide in the Metaverse?
When joining crypto or Metaverse projects, it is easy to ask questions like:
How much money will we get?
instead of
Who do we become?
and
What kind of person this type of environment makes me?
Jim Rohn teaches people in his books that the most important is who we become.
It is time for people to ask the right questions:
Do we become rats constantly searching for pleasure and repeating like a mantra «To the MOON!»?
or
Do we become determined people with beautiful dreams and a clear vision of our future?
Hope that answering these questions will help us to do the right choice.
Metaphorically speaking, VR/AR technologies should not become our «crutches». In this case, human values will «atrophy». VR/AR should become «ski poles» that will facilitate the growth of our morality and help us to move our civilization into a humane future.
(The image above was composed by me with the help of the crutches and skiing images)
The divider was created by me.
Reference
- Bandura and Bobo
- Keysers C. Mirror neurons. Volume 19, ISSUE 21, PR971-R973, November 17, 2009
- Nekrasov, A.S. & Nekrasova, N.A. & Nekrasov, S.I.. (2021). Impact of information technology on a person and his consciousness. Ekonomicheskie i sotsial’no-gumanitarnye issledovaniya. 130-135. 10.24151/2409-1073-2021-2-130-135.
- Raichle М.Е., MacLeod А.М., Snyder A.Z., Powers W.J., Gusnard D.A., Shulman G.L. A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2001. 98(2). P. 676—682.
- Theo Compernolle. BrainChains: Discover your brain, to unleash its full potential in a hyperconnected, multitasking world, 2014.
- Daniel Kahneman. Thinking, Fast and Slow, 2011
- Small GW, Lee J, Kaufman A, Jalil J, Siddarth P, Gaddipati H, Moody TD, Bookheimer SY. Brain health consequences of digital technology use. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2020 Jun;22(2):179-187. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2020.22.2/gsmall. PMID: 32699518; PMCID: PMC7366948.
- GLUCKSBERG S. The influence of strength of drive on functional fixedness and perceptual recognition. J Exp Psychol. 1962 Jan;63:36-41. doi: 10.1037/h0044683. PMID: 13899303.
- Why We're All Addicted to Texts, Twitter and Google
- Vladimir Bazarny. The Human Child: Psychophysiology of Development and Regress, Jun 16, 2020