Technology in Support of Returning: From Conscious Doing to Consciously Being

Virtual reality (VR) represents a turning point in technological development and human-computer interaction, since it allows abstract information to be experienced and acted upon as concrete objects and events. The interplay between consciousness, reasoning and action is reconsidered in the light of what is now possible with VR technology. Such technology provides tools for investigating the nature of consciousness, not merely for duplicating the products of conscious doing. From this perspective, it no longer seems plausible to view mind as an abstract, computational machine, the operation of parts of which just happens to be conscious. Rather, with technological support, we are returning to a non-mechanistic conception of mind that emphasises the primacy of consciousness.