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• 1 2018-10-17T11:16:33-07:00 Virtual reality and nature 4 plain 2018-10-18T01:48:39-07:00  
  One of the ways that we observed this was in the fact that nature is more often appreciated through our screens than by experiencing it directly
  
  In 1999 Daniel Levi and Sara Kocher (1999, p.206) wrote that about the belief “that repeated commercial media exposure to very beautiful natural environments causes people to devalue no spectacular natural environments.” In correlation to the future effects of technology.  Levi and Kocher (1999, p.207) argue that the “The problem with virtual nature is not that it simulates a person’s experience, it is that the context is missing.” In which devalues our experiences with nature.
  
  Almost a decade later, the effects of technology on our relationship with nature has both transformed and inhibited ecological growth. This hypothesis put forth in 1999 does hold weight as we explored within this eBook through the dissection of the human- nature dichotomy. The ideas put forth by the worlds is that humans apply arbitrary conceptions of hierarchy towards the natural world to understand and control it. In a far more technological advanced world, virtual reality through the rise of robotics, VR headsets and genetic modification pushes human kind further into the dark hole of human superiority. While humans struggle to dismantle the notion of hierarchy superiority, our appreciation of nature has grown through the increasing awareness of our presence.
  
  So where does technology play into this?
  
  
  
  Through the immersive experience offered by virtual reality.
  
  Over the years, we have seen an exponential growth in virtual reality pushes us to question our dynamic with nature. Much like literature where writers can impart an imaginative and fantastical perspective into the natural world, virtual reality allows us to envision nature through a fantasy. In one-way virtual reality inhibits us from exploring the real breath and dirt of nature but in one dimension, it reflects upon human appreciation for nature.
  
  Within many video games, pixel by pixel humans spend absurd amounts of resources and capital to recreate each leaf on a tree just to satisfy our sense of immersion. These virtual realties are not just simple backgrounds, many players relinquish in exploring the intricacies of the natural world offered behind the screen.  Yet virtual worlds while conveniently offering us the beauty of nature is arguably only an interpretation of nature. As such the relationship with the virtual and the natural is one that is not clear. While there is certainly a desire to appreciate and replicate nature's beauty in the virutal reimagining, these worlds often inhibit the progress of ecological thought and connection.
  
  
   
  Levi, D., & Kocher, S. (1999). VIRTUAL NATURE The Future Effects of Information Technology on Our Relationship to Nature. Environment And Behaviour, 21(2).
  
  
  Natalie Cheung