At first glance it seem easy to describe what we experience as reality. But if you think some more about it, you may wonder whether it’s really that simple. Of course when you are outside or walking around your home everything you see is real, what you see is actually there.

But what if you’re reading a book? That book is real, but when you read the text your brains is forming images. If you immerse yourself in a book everything around you disappears. The same is true if you are watching a movie or playing a game. The moment you’re engaged by it then that’s your reality, even if you are able to distinguished it as something that is created afterwards. Yet that line is becoming less clear, with the advent of ever more realistic graphics and of course the various VR systems. I myself already notice that with some games I have issues executing specific actions because some of it looks or at least feels so real. So it isn’t a big step to be able to empathize with the job of a drone pilot, as in Good Kill. Continue reading →