New VR simulation lets you experience death

There are times in our lives when we get some weird thoughts wandering into our heads, usually while we're in the shower, brushing out teeth or trying to get to sleep at 2am in the morning.

Sometimes it's trying to remember the name of a vague historical figure, or whether lemonade is actually made with lemons. But at other times, our brain takes the worst possible moments to try and tackle the big questions about life and the universe.

Of course, one of those big questions we grapple with throughout our lives is what happens when it's over, the moment of death and what it actually would feel like.

It can be a pretty scary thought, especially if you're trying to get your brain to shut up and let you go to sleep, but it's one we keep seeking the answer to.

And there are people who have medically died and been brought back, while others have had near-death experiences, and many of them have tried to describe what happened.

TikTok/@croom12

Some say they have an out-of-body experience where they can see themselves in what may be their final moments, while others believe they get a glimpse of some sort of afterlife.

In Melbourne, Australia, there is a new VR simulation which is aiming to provide people with an experience similar to this, letting people experience what it may be like to die.

It's part of the Passing Electrical Storms exhibit from Shaun Gladwell, which is part of the Melbourne Now event being put on at the National Gallery of Victoria.

Gladwell has created an 'extended reality' (XR) experience, which is described as 'at once meditative and unsettling'.

The simulation 'guides participants through a simulated de-escalation of life, from cardiac arrest to brain death' which sounds rather scary.

TikTok/@croon12

And one TikToker, known as croom12, who's been to the experience themselves explained that people are 'laid down, the bed vibrates, you flatline' before doctors surround you and simulate failing to revive you.

He then said 'you float up past them into space' and as part of the VR experience, 'you can see yourself in the goggles' for the out-of-body experience.

People going through the experience are hooked up to a heart rate monitor and can quit at any time by raising their hand if it gets to be too much.

Plenty said the exhibit 'sounds intriguing' and suggested it was something they'd like to give a go, but others were worried that experiencing what it was like to die sounded 'really bad for your psyche'.

Other weird experiences like it include a VR experience of the 'suicide machine' which would let people experience a virtual recreation of how the machine would kill them.

At least it's just an experience and not like that VR headset of made by the person who adapted an Oculus Rift so it'd kill you if you died in your game.

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