XR and Shadow Wars — the Uncanny Valley of Death

Abstract

In recent years there’s been a lot of interest in eXtended Reality (XR) and its potential in military domains. The cutting-edge technology is used to influence public opinion, recruit, train the soldiers, and eventually increase combat warriors’ lethality by enhancing their ability to detect, decide, and engage the enemy. The paper addresses some technological aspects of the so-called shadow wars. Deployment of Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR), two basic components of XR, depends not only on technology maturity but also relies heavily on the human exposed to the completely different immersive stimulus. While accompanied by high profiling of user experience and Artificial Intelligence (AI), XR technologies can change human behaviour. The paper examines what are the possible effects of digital narratives, information embodiment, uncanny valleys, and “virtualisation” of war in the broad context of cultural and technological changes.

Keywords

• virtual reality
• human factors
• ontology of virtual culture
• body-spatial experience
• quality of experience