
What kind of world do the people of this generation live in now? What changes could make this world a more enjoyable place to live in? Has the thought ever occur in the recesses of the mind that this place that is known as reality the only place that a human can live a normal, successful life? There are various types of answers to those questions, and many more responses that could lead to further questioning; however, if the audience can try to understand the point-of-view of another, will that let them come closer to understanding the topics that are being discussed? This is one form that reality has shaped itself to the eyes of man. Is there a way to escape this reality and live a different path? The answer to this question is not definite, but a way to try to escape this reality is through one’s own mind focused on a particular place that cannot be obtain though this reality. The path to escaping this reality is virtual reality. San Junipero, a world separated from reality, is an accomplishment that the people of this generation cannot being to fathom. Brought to our view from a show called “Black Mirror” that aired the episode on October of the year 2016, the concept of the world can only be imagined with the reality that the people of this time period live in now. San Junipero, to the best hypothesis that can be formulated without premier knowledge of the theory behind the show, is a virtual reality world that puts the conscious of an individual into a similar environment to that of the 1980s. In the shows timeline, the technology must be a few centuries ahead of the ones in 2016. The concept of the virtual reality has only developed far enough to make shows that follow unexplained ideas and gaming headsets that only allows the person to think that they are somewhere else, but they body is still fully responsive to what they think they are doing. To give further details on how relevance of this analysis, the topics that best supports this are observations that were made during the San Junipero, other examples from shows/gaming headsets, and a theory from a college student that did research in the field of virtual reality. Once all the information is inscribed within the fathom of the mind of the audience, then the analysis will show how great San Junipero is and how far this world are from achieving anything like that.

After close observations to the San Junipero, there are many topics that can be pointed out, but for the sake of the audience’s time, only the information that has been identified as relevant information will be stated. The most important clue to indicate how the future that San Junipero lived in and how they were able to make a virtual reality world to that degree is the remote device along with the mechanism that attaches to the head. From what can be observed, this mechanism that is placed on the individual’s head has two functions, one is to submerge the individual into a virtual world by use of the remote and the other is to store the conscious into the device. Realistically speaking, that is far too impossible to develop in the next millennium, especially since the consciousness can be contained after the individual dies. Another topic that could be discussed is the limitations to the world. From what was shown, the individual has full control over everything that they possess. For example, Yorkie changed her clothes into a wedding gown with only imaging she had one on, instead of finding one and putting it on. Another example that can be seen was Yorkie being able to appear in front of Kelly after her crash that happened when she was going 60 miles per hour over a certain interval time. That event brought up the last relevant topic, which is the pain sensors in that world. Kelly was able to get up unscathed after the car crash. Although Kelly made a joke to Yorkie when they were on top of a roof, stating that she hoped that Yorkie’s “pain sensors were set to zero,” the possibility that changing the amount of pain that can be felt is close to zero, unless Kelly honestly did not want to hurt herself in the crash (Black Mirror). Although there are many more observations to discuss, these enough should give the audience an idea of what San Junipero is related to virtual reality. 

 There are plenty of examples that uses some kind of virtual reality that was not included within this paper, but two examples should be well more than enough to show comparison between San Junipero and others. The first is an anime that goes by the name Swords Art Online (SAO). The reason why this was picked wasn’t because of the theory behind the virtual reality, but the aspects within it. In the show, 10,000 players were trapped inside a virtual reality game for more than two years, being hospitalized and horribly out of shape by the time they go out. The device that allowed them to go into virtual reality was called the NerveGear. It was voice activated to start from reality and could only be turned off safely from logging out from the inside. The body was completely immobilized while in the game. Other than the unrealistic parts that come with being a game, the user still felt damage and had the characteristics of themselves outside the game. Besides having beyond human capabilities, to an extent, the game had nearly the same limitations as people in the real world. In short, Swords Art Online was an ideal virtual reality that became a nightmare once they couldn’t escape from the world and if they died within the game, they would die in real life as well. As for the other example, it would have to be the Oculus Rift and other gaming headsets. The reason for choosing this is to show how far behind in technology the current civilization is compared the future that developed San Junipero. As for all gaming headsets in general, every movement and sound that you make as you play can be seen and heard from the real world. Most virtual reality headsets now needs a controller or heavy sensors that manage to constrict movement if anything is to be done. The only thing the headsets can do is let the user see more of the game and hear like anyone can with a mic. Compared to the description of San Junipero, gaming headsets are disappointments in all aspects. With these two examples, a thorough comparisons could be made to show San Junipero’s advance technical features and flawed mechanics.

Of all the theories that has been formulated to produce the ideal virtual reality that people truly hope for, there is one that has the possibility of working, yet no testing has been made to determine how much of his theory could actually become the hope for virtual reality. As a business major at his school, one might not think that his theory could have any possibility of working, but with an open-mind, let’s explore the simplified version of his theory. The main component in his theory is the understanding of dreams. People should already know that dreams are hallucinations that the mind produces that occurs throughout one’s life, but has the audience ever been inform that dreams are thought as “reflections of reality, sources of divination, curative experiences, or evidence of unconscious activity” (Britannica Academic). With so many possibilities as to what dreams really are, the only correct response is that the subconscious of the mind is able to act freely within the unconscious state, allowing images to appear in order to buy time as the body recuperates during sleep. Once people understand what dreams are, devices that helps obverse brainwaves are the next important measure to the theory. Although the technology is not completely compatible with the idea of this theory, one devices does play a huge factor in the theory. The device is known as an electroencephalography. “The nerve cells of the brain generate electrical impulses that fluctuate rhythmically in distinct patterns[,]” which allows this device to record and determine the electrical activity in the brain (Britannica Academic). To put it in simpler terms, the electroencephalography can see the changes that occur in the brain, allowing scientists to make theories of their own about what occurs in the brain and how to predict it. Like the other examples for virtual reality, a device would be need to be attached to some part of the user’s head. However, the explanation is a little different from others. Using a device that can work as an electroencephalography, while being able to manipulate the subconscious of the dream to focus on a singular point is the simplified theory of this individual. The function of this form of virtual reality is to allow the person to leave and return to reality at any given time, while hopefully getting the rest that is needed to function throughout the day. This is important to the discussion because it shows a possibilities of visiting a place like San Junipero more realistic, without going into full detail about the consequences and perks of the idea in full.

For a somewhat simple conclusion to this analysis into “San Junipero” and virtual reality in general, the points that must be reinforced is how the topic of the discussion relates to San Junipero, and how does San Junipero help the idea of the topic flourish. As for discussing the observations seen from San Junipero, this helps explain the ideals that the creator of the episode had for virtual reality. From the looks of it, his idea is far too extravagant that not only would it be impossible to make any time in the near future, but also may cause a revolt against virtual reality because of the physiological effects that it could potentially cause for the individual, especially differentiating reality from virtual. The other examples shows comparison to San Junipero’s version of virtual reality. This also allows the ideas of virtual reality to circulate with each individual viewing this analysis, potentially triggering their own version for virtual reality. As for the theory behind virtual reality by the college student, San Junipero helps identify possible assumptions that could delay the theory further than it needs to be. As for how it helps San Junipero, his theory gave some kind of incite on how they potentially initiated the world, and further developed it to become what was seen. No matter what style of virtual reality is used, the four key elements to the virtual reality experience are “a virtual world, immersion, sensory feedback (responding to user input), and interactivity” (Sherman, 6).
