I think virtual reality is horribly underutilized. We could be using it to teach important social skills. What better way to test new behaviors than to be able to try them in safe, virtual environments?

There is one bit of research that indicates the lessons in virtual reality make it to the real world. In an experiment, researchers found that subjects given the opportunity to fly to the rescue of a little boy in a virtual reality session acted with more empathy in the real world. They are sorting out if the flying or the task to help was the main driver of the exhibited empathy, but the results are pretty exciting, nonetheless.

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