What happens when we die? This question is still the greatest mystery in the world, but VR is trying to figure it out in its own way!
A new virtual reality simulation has been trialled in Australia to provide death-like experiences and give people a chance to see what it might feel like to die.
Many were subjected to a near-death experience, through severe illness or entering a coma, for example, and after their recovery and return to life, some of them may reveal the details of what happened to them during that experience, which usually includes seeing a light at the end of a dark tunnel, hearing the voices of their loved ones and possibly speaking to them, Especially those who have already left, and other stories that have been covered in drama in many works of art around the world.
However, once the heart stops beating, one cannot know what awaits them.
As reported in the Daily Star, artist Sean Gladwell has created an exhibition in Melbourne called Passing Electrical Storms that “guides participants through simulated dying moments, from cardiac arrest to brain death”.
Expressive
In an experience described as “disturbing”, the artist brings participants the experience of death during a virtual reality simulation, to give participants a glimpse of what might happen in their final moments.
During the experiment, participants lie on a hospital bed, put on XR glasses, are connected to heart rate monitors, undergo cardiac arrest, see an attempt to revive them by doctors that fails, and then see themselves die, through virtual vision. They seem to go up and see their bodies (as if it were their own) lying on the bed.
Marcus Crook, a TikTok user who went through the experiment, said he lay on a vibrating bed and saw doctors fail to revive him. He also said the experience could cause people “anxiety and panic”.
Marcus continued, “What happens is you lie down, the bed shakes, you’re still. Doctors come on top of you. You can see yourself in augmented reality glasses and they try to revive you but they fail. Then you float in front of them in the air,” in a simulation of the ascension of the soul as if you were dead.
Participants can leave the simulation at any moment if they feel uncomfortable, just by raising their hands, as there are staff dedicated to “getting them out of the simulation”.
Marcus presented the experiment through a video on his TikTok account, where the video clip showed the room in which the experiment took place, which was reported by the Daily Star newspaper.
Inside, you can see people lying on hospital-style beds, their heads stuck in virtual reality simulators, while blue light fills the room. Next to the beds are large computers that look like hospital monitors.
No one can truly know what this virtual reality experience is like unless they are able to experience it in person.
It is noteworthy that this simulation is part of the “Melbourne Now” exhibition, which is a huge cultural festival in the Australian city that includes more than 200 artists, and it will continue until next August.
