So, there I was shuffling along a rickety plank spanning two tower blocks when the well-meaning Stanford professor urged me to jump. Like a fool, I did so and felt myself plummeting to the ground. I braced for the impact, but there was none.
Virtual reality may be great at tricking the senses but it cannot rewrite the laws of physics. I was still standing in the middle of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab with a VR headset strapped to my face.
“VR is not a media experience. It is an experience,” says Jeremy Bailenson, who runs the lab. At that point, as my thumping heart rate returned to normal, I understood just what he meant.