Experience on Demand

By: Jeremy Bailenson

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Virtual reality is able to effectively blur the line between reality and illusion, pushing the limits of our imagination and granting us access to any experience imaginable. With well-crafted simulations, these experiences, which are so immersive that the brain believes they're real, are already widely available with a VR headset and will only become more accessible and commonplace. But how does this new medium affect its users, and does it have a future beyond fantasy and escapism?

In Experience on Demand, Jeremy Bailenson draws on two decades spent researching the psychological effects of VR and other mass media to help listeners understand this powerful new tool. He offers expert guidelines for interacting with VR and describes the profound ways this technology can be put to use - not to distance ourselves from reality, but to enrich our lives and influence us to treat others, the environment, and even ourselves better.

In the world of VR, a football quarterback plays a game against a competing team hundreds of times before even stepping onto the field; members of the United Nations embody a young girl in a refugee camp going through her day-to-day life; and veterans once again walk through the streets where they had experienced trauma.

There are dangers and many unknowns in using VR, but it can also help us hone our performance, recover from trauma, improve our learning and communication abilities, and enhance our empathic and imaginative capacities. Like any new technology, its most incredible uses might be waiting just around the corner. Experience on Demand is the definitive look at the risks and potential of VR - a must-listen for navigating both the virtual and the physical worlds ahead.

©2018 Jeremy Bailenson (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Highly Educational

Before this book I had a bad test for VR technology because of its adictivness & for all its inappropriate usage by people. Now VR is being used to treat patients, to educate about climate change and many more.The book gives you an indepth knowledge about its history, current usage & the future possibilities it has. I highly recommend this book.

Very informative

This book is an excellent primer on the power of VR. While there are times the author’s political biases shine through, they are dwarfed in comparison to the large amount of information on VR’s development and potential uses.

Excellent performance & absorbing story

Detailed book about VR and its problems from all perspectives, but not allways keeping the topic.

Very Informative and Mostly Easy To Listen To

This book was extremely informative and simultaneously easy to follow. Each case study in VR is explicated with precision and unbiased enthusiasm for the medium. The second half tends to get a bit dry at moments, not helped by the audiobook narrator's often monotonous reading, but the contents of this rich and varied history of academic research in VR is too important to neglect, for VR enthusiasts, developers and persons with an interest in human psychology especially as it relates to and evolves alongside ever advancing tech.

Virtual Reality for Improvements

This book is amazing. I recommend if you're looking to become some kind of virtual reality advocate. I couldn't put it into words but I always felt like VR was something more important than just gaming and entertainment. This book will go over all that.

Must Listen for Tech People

Jeremy has put together a very thoughtful and well researched book on VR. More importantly, he does a great job simply and elegantly explaining the human aspects and implications. His examples of VR use in training for athletes, treating PTSD and as a learning tool are enlightening because he offers the potential risks and unknowns alongside the positives. This sober and rational approach is welcomed by those of us who strive to be objective and fully understand technology and humans. Thank you for an excellent book.

the best book on VR hands down

there's no other book that comes close if you want to know more about VR either as a consumer or professional who may use VR

A Somewhat Scary But Exciting Look at VR

I really enjoyed this book because it covers so many of the technical and societal issues around Virtual Reality. The author explains very clearly why VR is so powerful, and how it can help the world in different ways.

I also like how Mr. Bailenson draws from the past to explain how similar and different VR is to past media like Nickelodeons and present media like TV and full-length movies.

A wide range of issues are covered, from flight simulators to VR in news to video games and more. I highly recommend it, even in 2022, which is about 3 years after it was first published.

Accurate title for a book outlining VR use cases

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes. If you seen Dr Morris Massey’s compelling video series (What You Are Is Where You Were When) you’ll recall he explains how our values & behaviors are formed early yet can be influenced by significant emotional events throughout our lives.

Achieving a sense of presence with cinematic a/v in VR can create such events and experiences. Simulations or Stories in VR can be made to evoke empathy, promote tolerance, encourage saving the planet (conserve energy, go veggie, civil/animal rights, etc), manage physical or emotional pain (911, ptsd), improve performance (in sports, business or social settings) or offer telepresence.

But we should also consider the negative impact when prior media (including social) have been abused for provocation, propaganda, and pure profit. Film, Broadcast radio, tv, video games, social media all have their dark sides. Though VR porn and graphic violence will sell well, the impact of such choices on our brains and our social interaction should be cause for concern. The Milgram Experiment showed a percentage of the population too willing to obey may have latent sadism. VR has the potential to summon our demons more readily then prior media.

So the author advocates focusing this new medium to empower our better angels to solve our existential problems faced by earthlings. To use it to better connect with one another rather than isolate ourselves. Who can argue with trying to make VR a force for good. A goal shared by the grandfather of VR, Tom Furness, and the Virtual World Society.

What could Jeremy Bailenson have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Jeremy should have narrated the book himself. And, think beyond a book ... consider porting the content to interview format with Kent Bye of Voices of VR Podcast and on YouTube so we can watch the interview. Why not show us the Lab? And clips of past experiments and subjects?

Would you be willing to try another one of Jeffrey Kafer’s performances?

Nahhh. Maybe he is better at fiction? I found it a bit monotone, but maybe that’s just me. Sorry Jeffrey.

Could you see Experience on Demand being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Maybe Google/MS/FB/Amazon could commission Jeremy Bailenson, Jaron Lanier, Robert Scoble and others, to make a VR documentary on the potential of extended reality use cases in the Enterprise, Healthcare, Entertainment, etc. especially with WebXR combined with AI, IoT, and other emerging tech in the post phone era with 5G and ambient computing. I’m thinking of something far better and more important and insightful than stilted panel discussions from various annual VR events.

Any additional comments?

Thank you to Jeremy Bailenson for a generation excellent work into VR possibilities.
Proving a hypothesis with statistical validity often requires long, hard, expensive work.
Though creativity is required in designing the experiment, executing sometimes involves drudgery. Let’s have more Books, Podcasts, Documentaries, Films, YouTube’s about experiments and use cases exploring Extended Reality and it’s potential impact on society.
Let’s commit to high-end experiences rather than making a quick buck on crummy devices with deleterious long-term effects on our neurological system which has evolved over millions of years. We can’t afford blurring fantasy with reality in cases where our physical or mental safety or well being may be compromised as individuals or communities.

it's an political book with a tech title

Was interesting until he started getting political. if your into Republican bashing and man made global warming propaganda then you might like this book.