          It is quite apparent how the digital world has shaped the society of today.  Most people, are reliant on the constant stream of social media and the news to keep themselves in the loop and to avoid everyday boredom. It is easy to forget that not too long ago these essential technologies did not exist. So much of our lives is centered on computer devices that were once called fantasy less than two decades ago. Some tech, such as Virtual Reality (VR), is still considered more of a novelty than a commodity for daily life. However, the hype that VR has brought to the entertainment industry cannot be understated (Forbes).  One contribution that digital technology has provided, which people tend to give not as much credit to, are the advances in the health and medical fields.  The promises of VR technology, are the tools it provides for the therapy and rehabilitation of people with mental and physical abilities.  Additionally, VR could be very helpful in teaching doctors about human anatomy on the microscopic level, and in a much more 3D interactive fashion.  VR could also provide surgeons with practice for difficult procedures via virtual simulation (BBC). In the long term, VR could save hospitals and medical research facilities billions of dollars by removing the cost of liability when trying a new procedure or trial experiment on a patient.  Another cost cut VR could provide is using simulated human tissue in studying anatomy rather than using real tissue which is difficult to access and more expensive. With so many benefits to using VR as a medical aid, it’s hard to see why more resources and interest haven’t been invested into promoting the technology in a positive light.  Perhaps part of the reason why this is not the case, is that some VR experts are wary of the dangers of virtual reality on people.  A lot physicians have already noted the damage that VR devices can do to one’s vision and mental health (Stein). But it is important to remember that anything in excess is deadly to a human and without risk there is no reward in the study of science.  Despite the threat that VR technology poses to humans’ psychological and physical well-being, the medical benefits that it could provide far outweighs the potential detriment to societies’ general health.  This essay will focus on the applications of using virtual reality in the medical field and how these applications benefit society. It will also address the counterargument to relying on virtual reality as a technology and its warranted dangers.

          Regardless if VR will ultimately increase or decrease the quality and longevity of life for the average human, most would agree that advancements in medical research have resulted in a positive outcome for millions of afflicted patients.  Illnesses that once killed mankind, are now shrugged off with a quick syringe in the shoulder. If not for the risks taken by doctors to experiment with the science of inoculation, many of us would not be currently alive.  Every one of us has an instinct that helps us evaluate a situation or predicament so that we make decisions with the greatest likelihood of success. A choice that society will make in the future will be whether we make virtual reality a tool that we use to support our survival. Dependency on VR is not necessarily a bad thing, unlike materialistic things, VR is not a limited resource. By rejecting VR, we may lose an opportunity for society to reach a greater level of success or face technological stagnation which would result in a decrease in social productivity.  Misuse of VR technology by either doctor or patient is inevitable.  There has not been a single medium has not been abused in some fashion.  Painkillers are a notorious example of something that has great medicinal value, but is sometimes used in a way it was not meant to be. Granted, a problem that may arise when using VR as a form of treatment, is that side effects are not as easily interpreted since most of the damage that VR would do would be to the mind, which is harder to read using physiological examination (Wilson).

         A useful trait that VR possesses as a technology is that it can be used in tangent with other mediums that are more grounded in the physical world. Sometimes both virtual and real solutions are necessary to solve a problem. As stated by the research article source NCBI, “in some applications real and virtual objects need to be integrated making it necessary to present and manipulate them simultaneously in a single scene, leading to the development of hybrid systems referred to as augmented reality systems”.  Augmented reality (AR) is useful in a number ways, first it makes it easier to toggle through both virtual and real data without leaving either of the realms. Augmented reality is sort of a bridge between the two dimensions and possesses properties of both. Some could argue that augmented reality is just a display that superimposes virtual objects over real ones, which is pretty much true, but in augmented reality, you can distort real life objects into new ones without physically changing the life objects.  AR also allows doctors to interact with both the data and their peers without needing a virtual avatar to represent themselves, which may seem more professional in a work place environment.  Augmented reality could also be a cheaper solution than that of true VR tech, due to the technology being less demanding regarding the human senses that are being imitated. Since taste, touch, and smell are not as necessary to interact in a semi-virtual environment, almost all augmented reality devices only affect the persons’ sight and hearing.  Consequently, a problem arises with implementing AR, as it is not as immersive as virtual reality which could potentially make it less useful for simulations or perceiving digitized models of human anatomy.

          In the future, Virtual Reality simulations could become a valuable tool for doctors examining charts and biologic depictions of human symptoms/anatomy, while also allowing them to relay their analysis more efficiently. Radiologists require great training to accurately read conventional medical reports and procure a clear diagnosis for their patients. Unfortunately, radiologist often have an incomplete picture when looking at data, since they have no 3d representation of the images. Virtual reality solves this by providing a rendered image which can make it easier for doctors to interpret radiological cross sections.  Although we already have computational modeling used in radiology, the issue is that the simulations aren’t as interactive or hands on as what VR systems would provide. Another problem is that the models created require interpretation from an experienced technician who understands what the image means using the scarce amount of information provided. Even if the technicians understand what they are looking at, it is hard for them to communicate to fellow workers without an in-depth explanation or visual representation of what they are talking about.  Despite the imperfections of the current VR systems, companies have already saved in expenses (mostly in materials) by replacing real world simulations with virtual ones.  This is because, human tissue is a very valuable resource which is quite difficult to ethically and sanitarily process. The issues right now with using VR for radiological examinations is that the visual and the tactile feedback do not yet have the detail to give accurate representations of biological matter.  Another serious problem with current technology is that using VR to make examinations could result in the misinterpretation of data by doctors, due to the disconnect from the experts’ observational comparisons of virtual objects and real ones, since there are so many subtle details that cannot be captured (Himma).  Once the potential of using VR in Radiology has been realized, the technology can be improved to help the biomedical scientist community better use their findings in an applicable context.

          A concern that arises with the use of virtual reality in research, are the ethics to the technology. Are there some things that medical scientists can be allowed to do in the virtual world that are illegal in the real world? For example, experimenting with virtual human cloning or gene splicing.  While this question is difficult to prove with empirical evidence since we have no absolute record of such experiments being conducted, (probably because they are illegal and under the radar of any respectable scientific community), we can answer this problem with reason.  Anything created in a virtual environment is not real, it is an interactive representation of the physical world (Fox). Proof of this is that virtual environments are made up of data that has a finite amount of detail. Real environments have an unlimited amount of depth and detail, which goes way beyond the subatomic level. VR is created to imitate and emulate real life and not vice versa. If we were to create a virtual human being, unless they had an infinite amount of detail or depth of personality and were capable of individual, thought they would not be on the same level of conscientiousness as a real person. It is currently legally and for the most part, socially acceptable for institutions to perform experiments on animals. This is because they do not feel or have the same amount of awareness as human beings do to pain, suffering, or even understanding as to what is happening to them. Admittedly, this is somewhat opinionated, but it is a belief shared by many human beings.  If this was belief was not commonly shared by a large majority of people, then we would have laws against such experimentation. This paper however, will not discuss the morality of performing virtual experiments since morals require certain presumptions of what is right and wrong. Furthermore, it cannot be proven (or disproven) logically or be countered with physical evidence.

          Although VR has been around for a while, it has only recently recognized as a viable technology since the 90’s. But virtual reality has not seen real commercial success until a couple years ago, (from the time that this essay was written) when Google Cardboard and the Oculus Rift were released.  Virtual reality has finally reached the point where it is no longer just a conceptualization and is now actualized as a form of media and a tool for research. As state by Paul Chapman, a TED Talk speaker and the Acting Director at Glasgow’s School of Arts, “much like the time during the 1980’s when the PC revolution occurred, the moment for virtual reality has finally arrived” (YouTube).  Companies are beginning to see the profitability of investing in VR and are commercializing it. Researchers are receiving more funds to properly experiment with new tech and ideas leading to better products in the market. The better the technology gets in designing and producing VR tech, the cheaper it will be for hospitals and psychiatric institutions to use the products. While VR can become a great learning tool it can never replace the actual doctors’ job.   Assuming humans will have physical bodies in the future, we will always have doctors to wrap our bandages, give us shots, and cut tissue. Now whether those doctors will be humans, robots, or aliens is a completely different story. 

           It is unlikely that the digital world will go away, a hundred years from now, we will still have phones (of some kind), we will still have computers, and internet, provided humans are still alive. The same will probably be true for VR, once we become attached to the technology, it will forever be something we use diurnally and nocturnally.  It is important to realize that VR has great potential to be incredibly addicting. Even more so that social media, internet, and video games. This is because with VR we can not only control who we talk to and what we do, but we also can control and change the intensity of what we perceive. Many opponents to VR criticize, that it could become the next big drug, and cause societal destruction.  Undoubtedly, society will change with the advent of VR, but any pathological activities involving VR will have more to do with the character of individuals than the addictiveness of the medium. Addictiveness isn’t necessarily a bad trait if it encourages an individual to be more productive, there are plenty of applications of VR which would entice individuals to become more engaged in their work.  Especially for medical professionals who hate the monotony of charts and filling out paperwork, Augmented Reality could be used to make their job interesting and more efficient. For example, AR could allow them to see their patients’ health background while they ask them other questions concerning a surgery or an examination.  Augmented reality could also allow psychologists to discuss with the patient about their problems while simultaneously consulting with other experts. The purpose of this is to prevent the patient from overhearing potentially unsettling speculation (much like a one-sided glass window that is used to observe people without them knowing they are being watched).  VR can be used in the field of psychology in another way, helping people with post-trauma stress disorder or PTSD to help relieve their anxiety or face their fears in a way that they can cope with.  While putting people in a virtual simulation to re-experience past terrors seems like a bad idea at first glance, exposure therapy has been proven to work if done correctly (Wilson).  

          Virtual reality is still in its early stages, so it might not be the science fantasy dream machine that people hope it to be.  But it is still an effective yet dangerous way to escape reality.  But it is also an important tool which can be used to helping patients with their mental and physical health. It is also good for researchers to help better understand human anatomy and identify conditions before they become lethal.  Augmented reality, a hybrid of virtual and the real world can help with doctor to patient communication. It can also aid physicians with filling out health reports and viewing patient health history. Virtual reality is here to stay and it is unlikely that it can be stopped as a medium of entertainment, communication, or examination. While it is easy to fall into gray zones of the law when using VR, it is good to know that what people do in the virtual world does not always translate in the real one, since only the physical world is real. That does not mean people should not be held accountable for what they do in a virtual environment.  The virtual world is pretty much just an extension of the real one (but not exactly).  Addictiveness might be an issue for some people but like any highly stimulatory environment, people can adapt and deal with the distractions.  Most importantly, VR cannot replace the real world, but it can help us to survive in it. Ultimately, the potential that VR offers to improve our health greatly outweighs any repercussions the technology might inflict.
