There are nearly countless applicaitons for VR. Here's a list of some of the more exciting ones.
Military
After the second World War, the U.S. military began training it's pilots using simulators instead of having them learn through flying an acutal plane. This was found to be much less costly in both money and human lives. Knowing this, the military began training all combat soldiers in simulators and have made becoming a soldier much less dangerous.
Cosmology
Computer generated simulations could help us determine how the universe was formed, and how it is currently evolving. If we were to know the exact situation of the cosmos in the future, we may be able to predict and avoid a stellar disaster. Also, NASA uses flight simulators, similar to the military's, to train shuttle pilots. In the Apollo 13 mission, utter disaster was averted using virtual reality. A shuttle pilot on Earth was able to run several tests in the simulator to find the best way to get the pilots safely home. Without that simulation, they surely would have died.
Weather Forcasting
With VR technology, meteorologists will be able to predict severe weather before it strikes. Being able to know the path of a hurricane will save lives as well as millions of dollars in evacuation expenses. Also, there is no known method to predict a tornado before it's on the ground. Virtual Reality technology is helping scientists remedy this situation, and will also save hundreds of lives.
Job Training
As we've discussed before, Virtual Reality technology is used to train military personnel in simulators. This has proven to be significantly less costly. Using similar technology, commercial companies have begun training their employees and have gotten the same positive results. An example of this would be truck drivers. There are a few facilities around the country that shipping companies use to train drivers, using VR, before they are responsible for real cargo. When you think about it, any job that requires training can be done in a simulator implementing Virtual Reality.
Medical
Virtual Reality can be used to save lives on the operating table as well. Doctors can simulate an experimental or difficult surgery on a computer before doing it on an actual patient. This would help the medical team to predict possible complications that could come up in doing the actual operation. When this technology becomes more popular, no doctor would be doing a particular operation for the first time, hundreds of lives will be saved.
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