Explorations of VR and ethics
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Erick Ramirez
Earlier this month, the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose hosted a presentation by Santa Clara University Assistant Professor of Philosophy Erick Ramirez—held as part of an ongoing collaboration between the Tech and the ethics center.
Professor Ramirez’ research focuses on empathy, virtual experiences, and mental health. His talk presented a brief history of VR and addressed the discoveries (including therapeutic uses) and pleasures that VR will bring, as well as the ethical dangers that come with it. Before and after the talk, Santa Clara University students guided event participants through interactive virtual reality demonstrations: the students and several SCU professors are working on developing VR versions of well-known thought experiments in ethics.
For more on VR and ethics, see “Using Virtual Reality to Teach Empathy” (an article that cites Ramirez), “It’s Dangerous to Think Virtual Reality Is an Empathy Machine,” as well “Real Moral Problems in the Use of Virtual Reality”—a paper co-authored by Ramirez and SCU Philosophy Professor Scott LaBarge.