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CC Thinking, 2017: Lifelong Meaning, Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision & Form, April 18, 2017
Dreamscope Sanchit Soni Leslie Huang Pavithra Ramamurthy Ryan Griggs School of Informatics and Computing Indiana University 901 S. 10th St. Bloomington, IN, 47408, USA Abstract The design fiction explores a world of alternate reality to help people reflect on their true self. The basis of our design explores human choices. Given an opportunity with no physical consequences, what would you choose to be? What impact would that have on your psychology? Would you dare dig deeper and find your true self? We imagine an alternate reality that helps people discern situations and reflect on their inner most feelings. An opportunity given to introduce the people to their alter egos, and a platform that they can use to help come to terms with their true self.
Statement All photos were taken by the authors unless otherwise specified. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for promotion or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Introduction The human mind is a vast ocean of unknown depths. The vastness and the depth are undefined even by one’s own self. What we know of each other is very less and even lesser is what we know of ourselves. For centuries, both science and religion has tried to reach within the complexities of human mind in a quest to understanding the truth of human existence. From the moment we come into the world, our mind starts learning from our surroundings, like a fresh paper soaking in new ink, an essential quality for the art of survival. Due to the differences in our experiences, our minds evolve differently too, thus defin-
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ing our own unique behaviors. Being surrounded by social norms and cultural implications, we condition our outward behavior to an appropriate level of social acceptance. A phenomenon that is described by Scott Kiloby, author and originator of the Living Inquiries is the Velcro Effect which suggests that the “thoughts and images are stuck to or welded onto the bodily feelings and vice versa” [1]. A feeling that makes us want to constantly adjust our outer behavior in a response to social conditioning. In the end, who are we really? Are we the person hiding under all the social conditioning, or are we the person we like to project to the world around? In these terms, how would one define their true identity? And, what effect does the multifaceted affect one’s decision making capabilities? Our research in this direction led us to uncover different means in which humans have leveraged the space around to ‘find’ oneself, such as through the art of meditation [2], the means of picking up a new activity while adding meaning to it and exploring one’s creative abilities [3], by the means of marriage and family; thereby defining their own lifestyle. Adding a meaning to the activity that is involved in, brings peace to one’s mind. We uncovered that defining the space around people helped them
CC 2017: Lifelong Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision Thinking, Meaning, & Form, April 18, 2017
define their own identity. In recent times, technology became a viable tool to simulate such spaces and became grounds for such activities. Gaming became a space of possibilities for character development and entertainment. Furthermore, it also became a platform for people to not only understand one’s own, but also one another’s state of mind. [4] Background Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. [5] Embodied spirituality, views all human dimensions—body, vital, heart, mind, and consciousness—as equal partners in bringing self, community, and world into a fuller alignment with the Mystery out of which everything arises. [6] Embodied spirituality is based on engagement of all human dimensions, something that we see game developers actively try to achieve in developing video games. Embodied spirituality is somehow related to immersion. Discussions of immersion in video game play often involve a rigid separation of the real from the virtual: a good game allows players can lose themselves within the game and its narrative. Within such an understanding, immersion becomes an opportunity for escapism
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where the ‘real’ physical world can be momentarily left behind (Bigras). An efficient and positive way to tap into this escapism would be to design an artifact or a platform which could let human beings actively interact with their alter ego or inner help, by immersing into a virtual reality dimension. Recent social scientific efforts have attempted to deconstruct this real/virtual dichotomy by arguing that virtual worlds and video games are rich site of meaning-making and allow new configurations of life. (Bigras) This kind of design could help human beings play out themselves in important life decisions. An analogy could be how professional chess players are able to calculate possible moves by thinking about all the positive outcomes in their head. Each move is shall be considered as the best possible move, since they have already thought out the possible moves. Rather than understanding both worlds as separate and distinct, Tom Boellstorff’s approach proposes that virtual worlds are very much part of the ‘real’ world inhabited by agential actors. Rather than opposing real to virtual, both are understood as spaces where the lived experiences of actors matter (Bigras). If there could be an interface, which would not require wearables and peripherals, but rather operate directly through Brain Computer Interface (BCI), these ‘lived experiences’ could be seamlessly integrated into both real and virtual
CC 2017: Lifelong Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision Thinking, Meaning, & Form, April 18, 2017
world, enabling people to position themselves in the experience, just like a chess player assumes chess pieces in a particular position to see through the possible move.
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CCThinking, 2017: LifelongMeaning, Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision & Form, April 18, 2017
Self Embodiment and Your Inner Self
Figure 1: Sly
Figure 2: Introspective
Figure 3: Horrified
Figure 4: Goofy
Figure 5: Embarrassed
Figure 6: Exhaustion
Figure 7: Inquisitive
Figure 8: Arrogant
Figure 9: Fear
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CC 2017: Lifelong Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision Thinking, Meaning, & Form, April 18, 2017
Building on Existing Concepts From our research, we found exemplars of video games and applications that involve immersion and self imbodiment.
Figure 10: Examples of self imbodiment and immersion [7]
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CC 2017: Lifelong Meaning, Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision Thinking, & Form, April 18, 2017
Dreamscope Concept
Figure 11: Dreamscope concept
Figure 12: Dreamscope is starting
Dreamscope is an immersive virtual reality simulator that gives people the ability to visit an old experience as well as simulate new ones. The certain experiences could be when they felt ashamed or angry and Dreamscope replays those experiences. Dreamscope gives them the capability to see what went wrong to try and improve upon for future situations that could occur. By simulating potential new experiences, it will help them make better decisions in the future. for future meetings with his team. He now understands how to best tackle meetings based off of how he acts.
This is about finding oneself. The tool is meant to help someone come to terms with their inner self. One can use it for different means - making big and small life decisions, discerning situations, applying themselves better or to improve the ‘self’. We highlight the fact that there are times people feel helpless, regret, or the feeling of wanting to be able to take initiative and step up in situations but feel like they cannot. This is to help them live that experience and learn from it in order to reach their full potential.
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Figure 13: Realizes it’s not a good way to handle Dreamscope and calms down
CC 2017: Lifelong Meaning, Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision Thinking, & Form, April 18, 2017
Figure 14: By calming down, there are different outcomes that can occur
In figures 12-14, Andrew realizes in his Dreamscope that before entering, he was frustrated and needed to calm himself in order for the scenarios to be effective and positive. By calming down, the meter lowers and when he re-enters Dreamscope, the scenarios will be more effective and positive. In this way, people experiencing Dreamscope will be able to control and alter the intensity of their scenarios.
Figure 15: When he calms down, the meter lowers and he can re-enter Dreamscope
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CC 2017: Lifelong Meaning, Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision Thinking, & Form, April 18, 2017
Actors In Our Scenario
Figure 16: Facilitator of the team. Arrogant and self-righteous.
Figure 17: Indifferent and happy withany idea.
Figure 18: The most active member in the team. Impolite and not respectful to others.
Figure 19:Lost true inner self, hesitant to express ideas in meeting.
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CC Thinking, 2017: Lifelong Meaning, Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision & Form, April 18, 2017
Dreamscope Scenario The scenario is based around Andrew and his teammates. Andrew leaves a meeting feeling defeated because he was constantly being ignored and interrupted by his teammates. He then uses Dreamscope to revisit the meeting to help cope with how he is feeling. The alternate reality shows other possibilities based off of how Andrew acts in the meeting. He exits Dreamscope feeling much better and more confident for future meetings with his team. He now understands how to best tackle meetings based off of how he acts. Figure 20: Dipt is facilitaing a meeting.
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Conclusion The virtual reality simulation design is merely a tool meant to make people think critically upon the choices they make and how expectations placed upon their shoulders might instigate them to act in ways that is not true to their inner self. It is a provocation to make people reflect on their alter egos and how they might be able to come to terms with their own true identities by embracing their inner being. It is a self-motivator that stimulates the mind and helps reflect deeply on one’s true feelings, thoughts and behavior. We have seen virtual spaces created for people to experience a multitude of character roles through simulations. Our goal is to help people simulate their own experiences and use these experiences to learn from and embrace their true identities.
CC Thinking, 2017: Lifelong Meaning, Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision & Form, April 18, 2017
Figure 21: Andrew leaving Dreamscope
Figure 22: Andrew now feels happy and confident
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CC 2017: Lifelong Creativity, Learning, and Innovation, Singapore Vision Thinking, Meaning, & Form, April 18, 2017
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