At the end of his insightful book, Life After Google, George Gilder argues that the next technological development will be Virtual Reality learning. That is, computer generated virtual space used for a person to learn about reality. The idea of virtual training has been with us for a long time—crash test dummies, space tests, and Youtube videos—but VR technology is now here.

One example that Gilder writes about is Walmart using VR technology to train its employees how to deal with the stressful shopping event of Black Friday. The turnover rate at Wal-mart is 40% a year which means that many managers have never experienced this unusual day so Wal-mart uses Strivr, a VR company, to train managers in Virtual Reality so they are ready to navigate Black Friday.

In talking about VR technology it is helpful to explain what it is and the different versions out there. One is a Headset that covers your eyes and ears so that you see and hear a simulated world. As you move your head, the video picture changes. Another form of VR tech is Augmented or Mixed Reality. This is when you wear a piece of technology, usually glasses, that projects into the physical world a picture of an object that you can then engage with or move or add to reality.  

So how should Christians approach this new wave of technology?

In addressing this question, I will take a little bit of a detour to look at a book by R.C. Sproul, Not a Chance and his discussion on logic and appearances. Then I will look at a passage where Sproul talks about VR technology. My main point is that Classical Christian Education is the answer to the Age of Virtual Reality.

The Need for Logic                                                                                                   

R.C. Sproul begins in his book, Not a Chance, arguing that one of the key laws of logic that we must recover is the Law of Noncontradiction, which is: “A cannot be A and non-A at the same time and in the same relationship”(pg 26). He explains that he is a father (A) and a son (B) at the same time, but not in the same relationship.

Sproul illustrates the need for this law by looking at the issue of quantum physics where scientists often talk in ways that sound almost contradictory. He points to the physicist Roger Penrose who says of quantum particles: “This puzzling feature of quantum reality—namely that we must take seriously that a particle may, in various (different!) ways ‘be in two places at once’” (pg. 80).

It is this kind of language that Sproul claims is sloppy and unhelpful for scientists because it is bordering on a denial of the Law of Non-Contradiction. While Penrose seems to be describing a violation of the Law of Noncontradiction, what he is actually describing is what Sproul calls a “paradox of phenomena” (pg. 81). This means that the world can appear to be one way and that appearance can be real in some sense but it can also deceive about what lies beneath the appearance.

Sproul uses the example of a mirror to explain this point: “I looked at myself this morning” (pg. 81). The reflection in the mirror creates the appearance of me being both in the mirror and standing outside of it at the same time. But here we are dealing with appearances. The mirror is showing me a sort of illusion. This is not to say that the reflection is an illusion. What is an illusion is that I, rather than my reflection, am in the mirror (pg. 81).

The World of Appearances

Sproul then takes us on an important tour of philosophy and how we should understand the world of appearances. Building on the philosophy of Aristotle, Sproul writes: “…appearances give us the ‘real phenomena’ not necessarily the ‘real essence’” (pg. 77). Sproul uses the example of a solid bar of gold. While at the atomic level the gold is basically made of empty space, this does not mean the gold bar is made of nothing. Sproul writes, “Its atomic structure is that of a gold bar, not an elephant” (pg. 78).

Sproul further explains, “When we say that ‘things are not as they appear to be,’ in the first instance the statement is elliptical. What is tacit in the statement is the phrase, ‘to the naked eye.’ The naked eye does not perceive molecules” (pg. 96). So it is important to recognize that while the naked eye does not see the molecules, what the naked eye sees is still real. It is not like I am looking at a bar of gold and I need to be thinking “there is no gold.” What I see is a real bar of gold, but the essence of it also includes the atomic elements it is made of. So in order to more fully understand gold, I also need to understand its atomic level.

Sproul then discusses how appearances can also be illusions. He explains, “Illusions refer to the phenomena that are linked differently from essence” (pg. 117).The example that Sproul uses is a mirage in a desert. A thirsty traveler sees water but the water does not exist. It is important to note that the mirage exists but it does not reveal the true essence of water. It is merely an image of water and not real water at all. 

Now the mirage is a special case. Most of reality is not that deceptive. The problem that people slip into is thinking that all of reality is like a mirage: when I look at a bar of gold, it is not really gold, it is just a mirage of gold. No, that is wrong. It really is gold. What you see is true. There is just more to its nature than can be seen by the naked eye.

This is an important point. When we look at the bar of gold, what we see reveals truth to us. The phenomena really does communicate reality to us. Sproul says it this way: “If phenomena are representations of essential reality and if phenomena are themselves real, then phenomena may be considered as real avenues to essence” (pg 119). The word avenue here is helpful. Phenomena are a road into the real nature of the thing we see. What we see is not the full nature of the thing, like with the bar of gold, but it is moving us in the right direction. The problem then is that the road of our senses does not get us all the way there. We need powerful tools to help us see deeper into the nature of the bar of gold.

How to see VR technology

This discussion on logic and appearances leads us to the issue of Virtual Reality. The promise of VR technology, as we saw at the beginning, is that it will open the doors to a new world of training and learning. Let’s say you want to learn how to scuba dive before you go. With VR, you could do a sort of training simulation before you even get in the water. In the medical field, more and more students are learning how to perform surgeries by watching videos and demonstrations. With VR, they could perform numerous surgeries before they ever actually do one on a human. That is a powerful resource to harness.  

As we enter the age of VR technology, we need to look closely at the philosophy behind it.

Sproul writes, “If phenomena belong to a secondary level of reality, how can they be useful to us in our quest for knowledge? [Timothy] Ferris writes: ‘Virtual reality (VR), the latest development in computer-sensory interfacing, significantly deepens one’s immersion in the computer-generated simulation’” (pg 120).

It is important to see that VR is not merely a mirage. As we discussed in the example with the traveler, a mirage is saying something but the thing it is saying is not true. When we are in the VR realm, what we are seeing is true at some level. VR is not lying to us.

For example, when we go scuba diving in VR, it is not true to say that the VR is merely a trick and we are actually cooking in a kitchen. What we see in VR is real phenomena. It is an artificial environment so we are not really in water, but the VR realm is still giving us real data and we are still moving in a real way, moving our arms or legs, etc.

In this way, we can see the benefits of VR: it can help us learn about an experience before we actually live it out. VR can give us real phenomena that is grounded in reality. In this way, VR is offering a mirage which actually shows us something real.  

Now Sproul also cautions, “However, the technology is not called simply R. It is VR, or virtual reality. There is still a clear distinction between reality and ‘virtual’ reality” (pg. 121). This is an important point to make. Reality is difficult to navigate. Virtual Reality can be just as difficult. 

To compound the problem further, VR technology is always controlled by a human (you or someone else). This means that there is human error in the system. This error can be accidental or on purpose. This means that VR technology also offers the power of mirage to those who control it. That is, those in control of this technology will have the ability to lie whether they mean to or not. This means there is an inherent moral code written into the computer code of VR. This drives us to the importance of logic. 

This VR technology opens up many possibilities which will not be real at all: anything from elves and orcs to jumping in a single leap to the top of Mount Everest. The Law of Noncontradiction will become utterly necessary in the coming age of Virtual Reality. We must be careful that we see how VR is not real. It is a training ground and a practice realm that can seem to defy the rules of logic but not really. Even in VR, you are still you. Your body is still real. The VR experience might be telling you one thing but that does not mean it is real. As we move into this new age, logic will be a necessary guide to navigate the morality of Virtual Reality.

Classical Education and Virtual Reality

As Virtual Reality technology becomes more popular, Classical Christian Education will be crucial for the next generation because this education shows students how to think and learn. While VR technology can train us how to do activities, it will not train us how to think about these technologies. For example, you could take a VR class on how to build a gun. You learn all the actions and parts necessary to put the gun together and you are doing it in VR. Now you can go out and do it in reality. However, the training did not show you how to think about this tool. When do you use it, how do you use it, etc? These are moral and ethical questions that must be discussed. Classical education focuses on the how and why, which is the foundation for all education.

While VR technology does not address the questions of how and why directly, this does not mean that VR technology is amoral. There is an implicit morality built into any training and education program. This is true in all education. What you learn and how you learn is based on moral decisions. For example, VR tech companies could ban a program teaching people how to make guns. That is a moral decision about how to use VR technology and what to teach.

The key in this is to realize that we need to be educated before we come to VR technology. What is good, true, and beautiful? That is what we need to know before we can use and learn with VR technology. This critical component of education comes from Classical Christian education. This is why Classical Christian education is vital for the coming age.

The age of VR technology offers many blessings but it also reminds us of the need to know and study logic. There is a difference between reality and virtual reality. While Virtual Reality gives us real experiences and phenomena to deal with, it doesn’t reveal reality fully to us. It is one step removed from reality. As such, it is limited in what it can teach and reveal to us.

We must also realize that it will not be the ones who use VR technology who will be in charge of it; it will be the ones who understand it and create it who will be in charge of it. In order to be a person who understands VR technology we must know logic. This is why Classical Christian education is so important. The people who know logic will be the ones in control of this new tool and it will be imperative that these people show others how to use it in a moral way. 

Image by Brian Penny from Pixabay