The Rendered Universe: Why Virtual Reality Unlocks the Secret of Consciousness

Abstract

Today with the advent of ever-increasing scientific advances, we are on the threshold of better understanding why consciousness evolved and how it works. This became apparent when the computational semblance of the mind faltered when neuroscientists and philosophers realized that awareness was not merely digital. However, with virtual reality (VR), augmented reality, and mixed reality (MR), our models of how consciousness functions are becoming much clearer to grasp since we now have the ability to simulate in four dimensions an all-encompassing environment artificially. Consciousness is a forging mechanism, which by its attentional posturing enables it to fully immerse in a world of its own making, even as it remains mostly unaware of how such a magical performance occurs. Using VR and MR as touchstones allows us to better appreciate how our brains construct the world around us. By exploring manufactured VR accouterments and the varied vistas they can create, we have––perhaps for the first time in our history––the necessary tools to synthetically reconstruct how the brain perceives and interacts with reality. This essay is an examination of how the advent of virtual reality changes our understanding of human consciousness and how future researches will benefit by employing its many iterations.