#BODY SWAP POSSESSION SKIN#

вЂњI would really, really recommend it to everyone, everyone should try this thing,вЂќ she says. Wahl says that sheвЂ™d jump at the chance to swap bodies with someone again. And they would like to offer the machine to doctors to help treat those with eating disorders who might have distorted ideas of their own body. TheyвЂ™ve allowed therapists to switch with their patients, to better understand being physically disabled, and had wheelchair users swap with dancers. вЂњItвЂ™s a really nice way to have this kind of experience, and to force empathy onto a personвЂ™s brain.вЂќДЄside from empathy, the Be Another lab has used the technology in other situations in which swapping places might have a positive effect. вЂњAt the end of body swapping, people feel like hugging each other,вЂќ says Arthur Pointeau, a programmer with the project. The creators of the Machine to Be Another hope to achieve a similar result. The idea is that once youвЂ™ve вЂњput yourself in anotherвЂ™s shoesвЂќ youвЂ™re less likely to think ill of them, because your brain has internalised the feeling of being that person.

#BODY SWAP POSSESSION SKIN#

When that rubber hand is a colour unlike their skin, participants scored lower on tests for implicit racism than when they watched a hand of the same skin colour. This time, the participantsвЂ™ implicit bias scores were lower.ДЄnother study showed that using the so-called вЂњrubber hand illusionвЂќ вЂ“ where a subject watches researchers manipulate a rubber hand placed such that it seems like their own вЂ“ can have the same impact. Then they asked them to control the body of a dark skinned digital avatar using virtual reality goggles, before taking the test again. Researchers at the University of Barcelona gave people a questionnaire called the Implicit Association Test, which measures the strength of peopleвЂ™s associations between, for instance, black people and adjectives such as good, bad, athletic or clumsy. Studies have shown that virtual reality can be effective in fighting implicit racism вЂ“ the inherent bias that humans have against those who donвЂ™t look or sound like them. Intriguingly, using such technology promises to alter peopleвЂ™s behaviour afterwards вЂ“ potentially for the better. вЂњWe were standing there just in underwear, and I looked down, and I saw my whole body as a man, dressed in underpants,вЂќ she says. This is the scene that Wahl remembers when she thinks back on the experience. When Wahl swapped with her partner, Philippe Bertrand, an artist who works at the Be Another lab, they wound up stripping down to just their underwear. вЂњIt was so natural,вЂќ Wahl says, laughing, вЂњand at the same time it was so unnatural.вЂќ Eventually, this kind of slow, synchronised movement becomes comfortable, and participants really start to feel as though they are living in another personвЂ™s body. To get used to seeing another personвЂ™s body without actually having control of it, participants start by moving their arms and legs very slowly, so that the other can follow along. The video from each camera is piped to the other person, so what you see is the exact view of your partner.

Both users don an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset with a camera rigged to the top of it. She acquired her new body using a machine called The Machine to be Another.

Wahl, an actress, model and artist, was one of the participants in a body swapping experiment at the Be Another lab, a project developed by a group of artists based in Barcelona. You start to feel more and more comfortable in it, and you start to really get the fantasy of how it would be if it were your body.вЂќ вЂњThe first seconds are just overwhelming,вЂќ says Rikke Frances Wahl, a woman who temporarily became a man. Yet a few people have experienced what it might be like to step into the skin of another person, thanks to an unusual virtual reality device. The idea of suddenly taking the form of your neighbour, a celebrity or even your dog is fun to think about, but seemingly impossible to execute. If you could be anybody in the world, who would it be? This is usually just a theoretical question.

Body swap possession