Escapism: Can it be use as a tool for learning

I find it funny that the medical field has not experimental with this idea more, the idea of using technologies as a form of escapism from situations has been around for a long time. The idea or rational behind using this form of procedure is based on the idea”that the illusion of going into the virtual world draws the patient’s attention into that perceptual framework,” thus causing a patient to no longer focus on the pain and focus on the simulation they are playing (http://www.ampainsoc.org/pub/bulletin/spr05/inno1.htm). The prospect of this should not only be used in the field of medical treatment, but other field such as training and criminal reform.

When it comes to training people, whether it is training for a job were errors can be fatal, such as surgery or swat teams. Placing someone in a controlled environment where you can control the “unpredictable variables maybe more helpful than simply informing them what need to be done without them experiencing who to do it. Although there are virtual simulation that have been designed to allow the common man the experience of performing these action, there are not many out there that are adequate teaching aids for training.

With regards to criminal reform, the reading for class, “Virtual Reality Therapy” states that virtual reality is useful in allowing the user to place them in a fictional world were there brain focuses on their sensory intake from that game. This is interesting, wondering what it would take for technology to get to a place where virtual reality can be used to teach and possible reform those that are criminal, or mentally ill. Especially with criminals, in the United States the prison system is one of the most inadequate from of criminal reform. Were most people are sent to prison to serve a punishment that does not fit the crime they committed. Once in prison they find themselves fighting to survive against criminals who are far more dangerous than themselves and they are forced to become dangerous in order to survive. If there was a more productive way of dealing with minor criminal then sending them to prison to become dangerous that would be a very important break though for society? Although there or no such programs at the time, I feel that this should be something that the government as well as the medical field looks more into.