The word 'empathy' is hundreds of years old in Western society, but it's a knowledge that has gone back four thousand years. It's visual, it's the touch, it's the smell, it's the movement you step into another level of learning where you learn with your body. Philippe Bertrand:Г‚В What we do is not actually virtual reality: we do a hybrid reality. What is it about virtual reality that fosters that extreme sense of empathy?Г‚ You get a lot of flashbacks just after the experience because it's so strong, impactful and immersive. Of course, you can't change a human person with a five-minute experiment, but we have seen that it provokes quite a good reflection.Г‚В People say they have dreams for a couple of weeks. After one week, we do another interview ГўВЂВ“Г‚В and that's very rich, because people spend the whole week thinking about the experience and reflecting on it. After the experiment we try to get an immediate report, but people struggle to say something. Philippe Bertrand:Г‚В The experience lasts five minutes, but the perception of time is very different from user to user. So people act with a lot of respect and concern they're very conservative about touching their own body.Г‚В But I didn't expect the huge number of people online who were scared of swapping genders: 'Oh this is awesome but I would never try this, only with my wife!' We'd tapped into a very worldwide fantasy!Дoes that mutual understanding and respect have long-ranging effects on your subjects? For example, I see myself in the body of a girl I can have many things going in my mind, I want to do many things ГўВЂВ“ but I'm inside her body and I feel very fragile about the things that someone else could do inГ‚ myГ‚В body. Philippe Bertrand:Г‚В Gender Swap is actually a game of mutual respect. Your biggest success was the Gender Swap experiment. We've been doing experiments where people from Spain could see themselves in the body of someone from Senegal a mother could see herself in the body of her child dancers without physical disabilities could put themselves in the body of somebody in a wheelchair. We decided to hack these procedures for the Machine To Be Another and develop a low-budget, open-source platform that could be used by other artists and researchers. For example, a Barbie doll's body or someone with differently coloured skin.Г‚ They combine visual stimulation with touch and multi-sensory stimulation to trick the brain's perception of the body to make them believe they're in another body. It basically uses virtual reality glasses to put the user into the position of a digital avatar. We got to know of this experiment called embodiment used in neuroscience centres around the world. Can we understand ourselves better if we can see through the eyes of the Other? What would the world be like?Г‚ Philippe Bertrand:Г‚В Two years ago, we were investigating the concept of empathy and the relationship between empathy and identity. What first attracted your studio to virtual reality and Oculus Rift? Г‚ We spoke to BeAnotherLab member Philippe Bertrand about why the collective's wild experiments in human relations.Г‚В Г‚В Г‚ Empathy for others takes on a whole different angle if you could transport yourself into the body of someone else. For brief moments, I truly forgot who I was, where I was, and what was happening.'Д«eAnotherLab don't justГ‚В think gender-swapping could offer some pretty kinky sex possibilitiesГ‚В ГўВЂВ“ for the collective, made up of digital artists, programmers and scientific researchers, theГ‚ MachineГ‚В could lead to a radical reimagining in how we relate to others. As one writerГ‚В observes, 'To callГ‚ The MachineГ‚В immersive is underselling it. Their movements are your movements a pair of headphones pipes in a recording of their internal monologue. Thanks to a camera mounted on their chest that feeds in images to your Oculus Rift,Г‚В you essentially 'see' through their eyes. When you slip on aГ‚ Machine-enabled headset, you're also linked up to a performer who mirrors your every move. The Machine isn't just your standard virtual reality programme. Imagine if you could change your gender, ethnicity or age just by slidingГ‚В on an Oculus RiftГ‚В headset - what would you do in your new body? How would it change your perspective on those who are different to you? That's the premise behind BeAnotherLab, an art collective that went viral with the gender-swapping opportunities offered by its eye-opening Oculus-based product, theГ‚В Machine To Be Another.Г‚ From the future of smell to radicalГ‚ Oculus Rift collectives, check backГ‚ hereГ‚В throughout the day for more mind-bending glimpses into the future.Г‚ To celebrate the launch of our summer issue,Г‚ Future ShockГ‚В and the Barbican'sГ‚ Digital RevolutionГ‚В next month, we're devoting a day to the brave new world of digital.

Vr body swap