VR - The Engine of Empathy ... and REAL Social Change

My visit to Silicon Valley last week -- and trip's highlight virtual reality (VR) tour-de-force by pioneering startup Jaunt (here is my blog post about that "must know" company and visit) -- has me obsessed with the possibilities of VR.  Yes, media and entertainment.  Yes, gaming and adventure.  Those are obvious and frequently discussed.

But, perhaps most compelling is VR's power to transport you to anywhere in the world -- and to enable (empower) you to really feel like what it is to be there.  To experience.

And, it is that VR teleportation machine that enables the tantalizing prospect of creating mass empathy and real social impact.  In other words, VR has the potential to serve as the engine for empathy and mass mobilization.

Case in point -- "Clouds Over Sidra" -- the United Nation's first foray into VR filmmaking for social good.  This "experience" (because it is much more than a film) places you directly in the middle of a Syrian refugee camp -- through which you are guided by a 12-year old refugee girl named Sidra.  As you experience a day in her life, no longer is being a refugee in some far away land merely some abstract concept.  Now, via VR, while Sidra's suffering is not real to you, it does come to life in your mind in a way that is.

And, once it comes to life and becomes more tangible ... virtually ... real emotions take hold ... real empathy! ... with the power and promise of real action to follow.  Real change.  Real impact to better the lives of Sidra and others around the world.

THAT is the potential here people.

THAT is just part of the promise of VR.

But, oh what promise that is in these early heady days ...