Theoretical limits of Virtual Reality

TL;DR

This paper explores the theoretical limits of virtual reality, questioning whether it can deceive the mind into perceiving simulated or non-physical worlds, and discusses the conditions under which such deception is possible.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of VR's capacity to simulate reality and non-reality, highlighting the role of observer's awareness and degrees of freedom in deception.

Findings

VR can theoretically deceive the mind into perceiving non-reality.

Deception requires hiding degrees of freedom from the observer.

VR experiences are fundamentally experiences of reality for the observer.

Abstract

In recent years there has been a strong development of the concept of virtual reality (VR) which from the first video games developed in the 60s has reached the current immersive systems. VR and the consequent deception of perception pose an interesting question: is it possible to deceive the mind to the point of not being able to recognize whether the perceived reality is real or simulated? In addition to this question, another question arises spontaneously: is it possible to simulate a non-reality in which the physical laws do not apply? The answer to the first question is that it would theoretically be possible to deceive the mind to the point of not being able to recognize whether the perceived reality is real or simulated, furthermore it is also possible to simulate a non-real, i.e. magical, world. However, this possibility is based on hiding degrees of freedom from the observer, therefore it requires the complicity of the observer to be realised. It can be said that a VR system can simulate both a real and non-real experience. For an observer, a virtual reality experience is still an experience of reality. This experience can be exchanged for a different experience, that is, for a different reality that can be real or not real.