While AR and VR have been received with great enthusiasm regarding new possibilities in storytelling and empathy building, research has been conspicuously quiet about possible downsides. Where others praise the ‘empathy machine‘ we took a closer more critical look. In this paper we want to explore the neurological connection and inquire as to whether or not a simulation, if made sufficiently immersive and apparently genuine to a user, could suspend disbelief to such a degree that someone could actually experience trauma or suffer shock and die as a result of a particularly violent video game or other VR-experience.
