Virtual Reality and Knowing What It Is Like

Yuri Cath (La Trobe University)

Can virtual reality help us to “walk in the shoes” of other people? Optimists claim that VR is the “ultimate empathy machine”, a way for those who have never been to war, lived on the streets, or been a refugee, to know what it is like to have these experiences from the comfort of their living room. Pessimists hold that it is absurd and dangerous to think that VR could be a way of acquiring ‘what it is like’ knowledge. In this talk I will develop a position which can accommodate the important insights of the pessimist’s critique, whilst also allowing us to agree with a qualified version of the optimist’s claim that VR could help us to acquire ‘what it is like’ knowledge. This position builds on previous work I have done showing how ‘what it is like’ knowledge comes in different grades and degrees.