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RichardKennaway comments on Open thread, 7-14 July 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: David_Gerard 07 July 2014 07:14AM

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Comment author: RichardKennaway 08 July 2014 09:03:07AM 0 points [-]

I say "almost any" because an exception may be fully immersed, bodily ritual stuff. Maybe that can hammer things down into system 1 that you simply don't "get" the same way when you just read them.

Is VR (Oculus Rift, Sony Morpheus) a significant step in that direction?

Comment author: chaosmage 08 July 2014 11:33:40AM 1 point [-]

Sure. In fact, some occultists already use VR, so I don't see why we couldn't.

The one interesting innovation the occultists came up with is creative design of ritual - and sometimes they do manage to see them as psychological tools rather than somewhat supernatural things. Surely some of that could be "useful psychologically/motivationally" - although psychological research into that is practically nonexistent, it is plausible that a well-designed ritual could do something to participants, such as help them to actually change their mind.

For example, most of us agree Crocker's rules are a good idea. I'm confident that if adopting them was done as a ritual event, something pompous with witnesses, that'd:

  • create positive reinforcement and a more impressive memory,
  • help keep the rules and
  • advertise them, especially if the witnesses aren't familiar with them.

Maybe VR could help heighten the experience. But I assume that recording the event, and publishing it for all the world to witness, would do much more.

Comment author: gjm 08 July 2014 04:20:10PM 0 points [-]

In fact, some occultists already use VR

Occultus Rift?