Men were created and were distinguished according to gender. Physically, there are differences between the two forms. And when it comes to perspective, there are also things which are not the same on how others see it. However recently, a new technology was invented and developed to allow people experience the world through the eyes of the opposite gender.
BeAnotherLab in Barcelona set up an experiment involving people for the ‘Gender Swap.’ Its system was basically designed to let the individual who is wearing a VR set see the world through another person’s eyes. The system also provides an experience where synchronizing movements are experienced by their partner’s body.
In the experiment, the partners wear the head-mounted displays and through the synchronized movements, each partner feel and see the other person’s body through their own eyes.
Arthur Pointeau, one of the research team who helped create the piece of kit, said that the Machine To Be Another (MTBA) is aimed at creating shared experiences to foster empathy for others. He added that the machine is a research project that the lab has been working on the past three years.
The Empathy Machine
Virtual reality could allow individual to see through the eyes of a child, a woman, a stranger, a friend and even a disabled man. Now, The MTBA has been traveling around the world to test what it can do and what it can show.
The machine also uses a microphone aside from the wearable wide-angle web camera. A participant could see another person’s face in the mirror. Checking on his body, a man could see a different physique—most likely of his partner-participant.
The machine is also now used by behavioral experts to explore issues like of the mutual respect, gender identity, physical limitations and immigration. According to Philippe Bertrand, one of the eight artists in the international art collective Be Another Lab, it is an experience you have never had in life. He added that the experience will let you know someone in an intimate way that helps you connect.
While according to Jeremy Bailenson, director of Standford University, the research shows the system can have a deep effect on behavior.
“We are entering an era that is unprecedented in human history, where you can transform the self and [you can] experience anything the animator can fathom,” he said.
While the virtual experience is used to influence people’s perceptions in other ways, there are also developing projects that aim to make watchers feel they are in actual scenarios.
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Video from Caters TV; Source: http://www.wired.com/