{"id":37703,"date":"2021-01-22T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hope-and-promise-of-empathy-machine\/"},"modified":"2021-01-22T14:39:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T14:39:00","slug":"hope-and-promise-of-empathy-machine","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hope-and-promise-of-empathy-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hope and Promise of the Empathy Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lacking the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, modern society is looking for new, innovative ways to help make people more empathetic. Facebook&rsquo;s Mark Zuckerberg, whose company sells the Oculus VR headset, said of virtual reality (VR): &ldquo;One of the most powerful features of VR is empathy. By cultivating empathy, VR can raise awareness and help us see what&rsquo;s happening in different parts of the world.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>The hope and promise of VR is that one day everyone will call it an &ldquo;empathy machine&rdquo;:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>By creating an immersive and interactive virtual environment, a VR headset can quite literally put you in someone else&rsquo;s shoes. Text, image, or video offers only partial views of a person&rsquo;s life. With VR, you can get inside their head. And this high-fidelity simulation, the argument goes, will make us better people by heightening our sensitivity to the suffering of others. It will make us &ldquo;more compassionate,&rdquo; &ldquo;more connected,&rdquo; and ultimately &ldquo;more human,&rdquo; in the words of the VR artist Chris Milk. &#8230; By lending you the eyes and ears of someone suffering, tech helps you to develop a greater sense of responsibility for them. You feel compelled to act. This is connectivity not merely as a technical concept, but a moral one.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>This expectation is partially explored in the movie <em>Ready Player Two<\/em>, released in November, 2020. More advanced VR&#8211;actually placed inside the brains of most of the world&rsquo;s population&#8211;has rid the world of crime, disease, addiction, and all forms of prejudice. As one of the film&rsquo;s characters says: &ldquo;For the first time in human history, we have technology that gives us the ability to live in someone else&rsquo;s skin for a little while.&rdquo;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[405,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3544,3548,3648,3658,3857,3981,4255,4502,4584,4891,4941,5006,5103,5119,5129,5137,5235],"tax_ctp_topics":[400],"class_list":["post-37703","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-care","tax_ctp_tags-caring","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-concern","tax_ctp_tags-empathy","tax_ctp_tags-feelings","tax_ctp_tags-insensitivity","tax_ctp_tags-movies","tax_ctp_tags-pain","tax_ctp_tags-science","tax_ctp_tags-sensitivity","tax_ctp_tags-social-concern","tax_ctp_tags-suffering","tax_ctp_tags-sympathy","tax_ctp_tags-technology","tax_ctp_tags-tenderness","tax_ctp_tags-video-games"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Hope and Promise of the Empathy Machine - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/hope-and-promise-of-empathy-machine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hope and Promise of the Empathy Machine - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lacking the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, modern society is looking for new, innovative ways to help make people more empathetic. Facebook&rsquo;s Mark Zuckerberg, whose company sells the Oculus VR headset, said of virtual reality (VR): &ldquo;One of the most powerful features of VR is empathy. 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