Chris Milk: How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine

Translator: Aviaja Josenius Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

Virtual reality started for me in sort of an unusual place.

Virtuel realitet startede for mig et usædvanligt sted.

It was the 1970s.

Det var i 1970´erne.

I got into the field very young: I was seven years old.

Jeg blev interesseret i området da jeg var meget ung: syv år gammel.

And the tool that I used to access virtual reality

Og værktøjet jeg brugte til at få adgang til virtuel realitet

was the Evel Knievel stunt cycle.

var Evel Knievel stunt-cyklen.

This is a commercial for that particular item:

Dette er en reklame for den cykel:

(Video) Voice-over: What a jump!

(Video) Voice-over: Hvilket hop!

Evel's riding the amazing stunt cycle.

Evel cykler med stuntcyklen.

That gyro-power sends him over 100 feet at top speed.

Gyro effekten sender ham over 30 meter i højeste fart.

Chris Milk: So this was my joy back then.

Chris Milk: Så dette var min glæde dengang.

I rode this motorcycle everywhere.

Jeg tog allevegne med den motorcykel.

And I was there with Evel Knievel; we jumped the Snake River Canyon together.

Og jeg var der med Evel Knievel; vi hoppede over Snake River Canyon sammen.

I wanted the rocket.

Jeg ville have raketten.

I never got the rocket, I only got the motorcycle.

Jeg fik aldrig raketten, jeg fik kun motorcyklen.

I felt so connected to this world.

Jeg følte mig så tilsluttet denne verden.

I didn't want to be a storyteller when I grew up, I wanted to be stuntman.

Jeg ville ikke være historiefortæller som voksen, jeg ville være stuntman.

I was there. Evel Knievel was my friend.

Jeg var der. Evel Knievel var min ven.

I had so much empathy for him.

Jeg havde så megen empati for ham.

But it didn't work out. (Laughter)

Men det lykkedes ikke. (Latter)

I went to art school.

Jeg tog på kunstskole.

I started making music videos.

Jeg begyndte at lave musikvideoer.

And this is one of the early music videos that I made:

Og dette er en af de første musikvideoer som jeg lavede:

(Music: "Touch the Sky" by Kanye West)

(Musik: "Rør himlen" af Kanye West)

CM: You may notice some slight similarities here.

CM: I lægger måske mærke til nogle ligheder her.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And I got that rocket.

Og jeg fik raketten.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So, now I'm a filmmaker, or, the beginning of a filmmaker,

Så nu laver jeg film, eller, begynder at lave film,

and I started using the tools that are available to me as a filmmaker

og jeg begynder at bruge værktøjet som er tilgængeligt for mig som instruktør

to try to tell the most compelling stories that I can to an audience.

for at fortælle de mest overbevisende historier jeg kan til et publikum.

And film is this incredible medium that allows us to feel empathy

Og film er et utroligt medie der får os til at føle empati

for people that are very different than us

for folk der er meget anderledes end os

and worlds completely foreign from our own.

og for verdener der er helt ulig vores egen.

Unfortunately,

Desværre,

Evel Knievel did not feel the same empathy for us that we felt for him,

Evel Knievel følte ikke samme empati for os som vi havde for ham,

and he sued us for this video --

og han sagsøgte os for denne video --

(Laughter) --

(Latter) --

shortly thereafter.

kort derefter.

On the upside, the man that I worshipped as a child,

På den anden side, den mand jeg beundrede som dreng,

the man that I wanted to become as an adult,

manden jeg stræbte efter at blive som voksen,

I was finally able to get his autograph.

lykkedes det endelig at få en autograf fra.

(Applause)

(Bifald)

Let's talk about film now.

Lad os tale om film nu.

Film, it's an incredible medium,

Film er et fantastisk medie,

but essentially, it's the same now as it was then.

men egentlig er den det samme som før.

It's a group of rectangles that are played in a sequence.

Det er en gruppe rektangler der spilles i en sekvens.

And we've done incredible things with those rectangles.

Og vi har lavet utrolige ting med de rektangler.

But I started thinking about,

Men jeg startede at tænke over,

is there a way that I can use modern and developing technologies

er der en måde jeg kan bruge moderne og nyudviklede teknologier

to tell stories in different ways

at fortælle historier på forskellige måder

and tell different kinds of stories

og fortælle forskellige historier

that maybe I couldn't tell using the traditional tools of filmmaking

som jeg måske ikke kunne ved brug af traditionelle filmværktøjer

that we've been using for 100 years?

som er blevet brugt i 100 år?

So I started experimenting,

Så jeg begyndte at eksperimentere,

and what I was trying to do was to build the ultimate empathy machine.

og forsøgte at lave den ultimative empati-maskine.

And here's one of the early experiments:

Og her er et af de første eksperimenter:

(Music)

(Musik)

So this is called "The Wilderness Downtown."

Dette er kaldet "Junglen midt i byen."

It was a collaboration with Arcade Fire.

Det var et samarbejde med Arcade Fire.

It asked you to put in the address where you grew up at the beginning of it.

Du blev bedt at indsætte adressen hvor du voksede op i starten af filmen.

It's a website.

Det er en webside.

And out of it starts growing these little boxes with different browser windows.

Og ud af dét kommer der små bokse med forskellige browser vinduer.

And you see this teenager running down a street,

Og du ser en teenager der løber ned ad gaden,

and then you see Google Street View and Google Maps imagery

og så ser du Google Street View og billeder fra Google Maps

and you realize the street he's running down is yours.

og du indser at gaden han løber ned ad er din gade.

And when he stops in front of a house, he stops in front of your house.

Og når han standser foran et hus, standser han foran dit hus.

And this was great, and I saw people having an even deeper emotional reaction

Og det var stort, og jeg så folk få en endnu dybere følelsesmæssig reaktion

to this than the things that I had made in rectangles.

over dette end de ting jeg havde lavet i rektanglerne.

And I'm essentially taking a piece of your history

Og jeg tager egentlig et stykke af din historie

and putting it inside the framing of the story.

og putter det ind i historierammen.

But then I started thinking,

Men så tænkte jeg,

okay, well that's a part of you,

okay, det er en del af dig,

but how do I put all of you inside of the frame?

men hvordan får jeg hele dit jeg ind i historierammen?

So to do that, I started making art installations.

For at få det at lykkes begyndte jeg at lave kunst-installationer.

And this is one called "The Treachery of Sanctuary."

Og denne er kaldet "Fristedets forræderi."

It's a triptych. I'm going to show you the third panel.

Det er en treenighed. Jeg vil vise jer det tredje panel.

(Music)

(Musik)

So now I've got you inside of the frame,

Så nu har jeg jer inden i rammen,

and I saw people having even more visceral emotional reactions

og jeg så folk have endnu mere dybe følelsesmæssige reaktioner

to this work than the previous one.

til dette værk end det foregående.

But then I started thinking about frames, and what do they represent?

Så tænkte jeg på rammer, og hvad de repræsenterer.

And a frame is just a window.

Og en ramme er kun et vindue.

I mean, all the media that we watch -- television, cinema --

Jeg mener, at alle medier vi ser på -- fjernsyn, biograffilm --

they're these windows into these other worlds.

de er vinduer ind i andre verdener.

And I thought, well, great. I got you in a frame.

Og jeg tænkte, ok fint. Jeg har jer i en ramme.

But I don't want you in the frame, I don't want you in the window,

Men jeg vil ikke have jer i rammen, jeg vil ikke have jer i vinduet,

I want you through the window, I want you on the other side,

men gennem vinduet, på den anden side,

in the world, inhabiting the world.

i verdenen, iboende verdenen.

So that leads me back to virtual reality.

Dette leder mig tilbage til virtuel realitet.

Let's talk about virtual reality.

Lad os tale om virtuel realitet.

Unfortunately,

Desværre,

talking about virtual reality is like dancing about architecture.

at tale om virtuel realitet er som at danse om arkitektur.

And this is actually someone dancing about architecture in virtual reality.

Og her en der faktisk danser om arkitektur i virtuel realitet.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So, it's difficult to explain. Why is it difficult to explain?

Det er svært at forklare. Hvorfor er det svært at forklare?

It's difficult because it's a very experiential medium.

Det er svært fordi mediet er eksperimenterende.

You feel your way inside of it.

Du føler din vej i det.

It's a machine, but inside of it,

Det er en maskine, men inden i

it feels like real life, it feels like truth.

føles det som det rigtige liv, det føles som sandhed.

And you feel present in the world that you're inside

Du føler nutiden i verdenen du er inden i

and you feel present with the people that you're inside of it with.

og du føler nutiden med folkene der er inden i den sammen med dig.

So, I'm going to show you a demo of a virtual reality film:

Jeg vil vise jer en demo af en virtuel realitet film:

a full-screen version of all the information

en fuld skærm version af al information

that we capture when we shoot virtual reality.

vi optager når vi optager virtuel realitet.

So we're shooting in every direction.

Vi optager i alle retninger.

This is a camera system that we built

Dette er et kamerasystem vi har bygget

that has 3D cameras that look in every direction

som har 3D kameraer der kigger i alle retninger

and binaural microphones that face in every direction.

og dobbeltmikrofoner der optager i alle retninger.

We take this and we build, basically, a sphere of a world that you inhabit.

Vi tager dette og bygger en sfærisk verden som du kan besøge.

So what I'm going to show you is not a view into the world,

Hvad jeg vil vise jer er ikke et kig ind i denne verden,

it's basically the whole world stretched into a rectangle.

men hele verdenen strakt ud i en rektangel.

So this film is called "Clouds Over Sidra,"

Denne film er kaldet "Skyer over Sidra,"

and it was made in conjunction with our virtual reality company called VRSE

og den blev lavet i samarbejde med vort virtuel realitet firma kaldet VRSE

and the United Nations,

og De Forenede Nationer,

and a co-collaborator named Gabo Arora.

og en samarbejdspartner ved navn Gabo Arora.

And we went to a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan in December

Vi tog til en syrisk flygtningelejr i Jordan i december

and shot the story of a 12-year-old girl there named Sidra.

og optog historien om en 12-årig pige dér ved navn Sidra.

And she and her family fled Syria through the desert into Jordan

Hun og hendes familie flygtede fra Syrien gennem ørkenen til Jordan

and she's been living in this camp for the last year and a half.

og hun har boet der i lejren det sidste halvandet år.

(Video) Sidra: My name is Sidra.

(Video) Sidra: Jeg hedder Sidra.

I am 12 years old.

Jeg er 12 år.

I am in the fifth grade.

Jeg går i femte klasse.

I am from Syria, in the Daraa Province, Inkhil City.

Jeg er fra Syrien, fra provinsen til Daraa i byen Inkhil.

I have lived here in the Zaatari camp in Jordan for the last year and a half.

Jeg har boet her i Zataari-lejren i Jordan gennem det sidste halvandet år.

I have a big family:

Jeg har en stor familie:

three brothers, one is a baby.

tre brødre, en er en baby.

He cries a lot.

Han græder meget.

I asked my father if I cried when I was a baby and he says I did not.

Jeg spurgte min far om jeg græd da jeg var spæd og han siger det gjorde jeg ikke.

I think I was a stronger baby than my brother.

Jeg tror jeg var en stærkere baby end min bror.

CM: So, when you're inside of the headset.

CM: Når du har headsettet på,

you're not seeing it like this.

ser du det ikke sådan her.

You're looking around through this world.

Du ser rundt på en verden.

You'll notice you see full 360 degrees, in all directions.

Du vil bemærke du ser 360 grader, hele vejen rundt.

And when you're sitting there in her room, watching her,

Og når du sidder der i hendes værelse, og kigger på hende,

you're not watching it through a television screen,

ser du det ikke gennem en tv-skærm,

you're not watching it through a window, you're sitting there with her.

du ser det ikke gennem et vindue, du sidder der med hende.

When you look down, you're sitting on the same ground that she's sitting on.

Når du kigger ned, sidder du på det samme gulv hun sidder på.

And because of that,

Og derfor,

you feel her humanity in a deeper way.

mærker du hendes menneskelighed dybere.

You empathize with her in a deeper way.

Du empatiserer med hende dybere.

And I think that we can change minds with this machine.

Og jeg tror at vi kan forandre bevidst- heder med denne maskine.

And we've already started to try to change a few.

Og vi er allerede startet med at ændre nogle.

So we took this film to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.

Vi tog denne film til Verdens Økonomi Forum i Davos sidste januar.

And we showed it to a group of people

Vi viste den til en gruppe mennesker

whose decisions affect the lives of millions of people.

hvis beslutninger påvirker livet hos millioner af mennesker.

And these are people who might not otherwise

De er mennesker, der ellers ikke

be sitting in a tent in a refugee camp in Jordan.

ville sidde i et telt i en flygtningelejr i Jordan.

But in January, one afternoon in Switzerland,

Men i januar, en eftermiddag i Schweiz,

they suddenly all found themselves there.

befandt de sig allesammen der.

(Applause)

(Bifald)

And they were affected by it.

Og de blev påvirket af det.

So we're going to make more of them.

Så vi vil lave flere af dem.

We're working with the United Nations right now

Vi arbejder med Forenede Nationer lige nu

to shoot a whole series of these films.

med at lave en hel serie af disse film.

We just finished shooting a story in Liberia.

Vi har netop afsluttet en historie i Liberia.

And now, we're going to shoot a story in India.

Og nu vil vi optage en historie i Indien.

And we're taking these films,

Og vi tager disse film,

and we're showing them at the United Nations

og viser dem i FN

to people that work there and people that are visiting there.

for medarbejdere og besøgende.

And we're showing them to the people

Og vi viser dem for de mennesker

that can actually change the lives of the people inside of the films.

der faktisk kan forandre livet for menneskene i filmene.

And that's where I think we just start to scratch the surface

Og dér, tror jeg, at vi kun lige er startet med at opdage

of the true power of virtual reality.

den virkelige kraft hos virtuel realitet.

It's not a video game peripheral.

Det er ikke en gren af videospil.

It connects humans to other humans in a profound way

Det forbinder mennesker med andre folk på en dybtgående måde

that I've never seen before in any other form of media.

som jeg ikke har set i andre former for medie.

And it can change people's perception of each other.

Og det kan forandre menneskers opfattelse af hinanden.

And that's how I think

Og derfor tror jeg

virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world.

at virtuel realitet er i stand til egentlig at forandre verden.

So, it's a machine,

Det er en maskine,

but through this machine we become more compassionate,

men gennem denne maskine bliver vi mere medfølende,

we become more empathetic, and we become more connected.

vi bliver mere empatiske, og vi bliver mere forbundne.

And ultimately, we become more human.

Og til syvende og sidst bliver vi mere menneskelige.

Thank you.

Tak skal I have.

(Applause)

(Bifald)