Negative Economic Implications

Negative

Economic Implications

Loss of Employment

The use of simulation virtual reality and augmented reality may cause some people to lose their jobs. This will be most evident in the training and education industry sector as fewer trainers will be needed to impart skills and knowledge to the students. This is because simulation virtual reality is able to act as an all-rounded trainer because of it being a “one-size-fits-all” product as it is able to store a vast amount of knowledge and the different types of simulated situations. Compared to a real-life trainer who may be specialised in a certain field of training and only have a limited amount of knowledge, the simulation virtual reality is a better choice for training students. Also, the simulation virtual reality is able to assess a students performance immediately and calibrate its teaching accordingly whereas with a real trainer, the feedback time is slower

Socio-economic divide
As there is a high cost is required to purchase the infrastructure that is needed for this technology, this technology may only be accessible to by the rich. Countries who are richer are able to invest in this state-of-the-art technology will be able to have access to better equipments and trainings for their people. The poorer nations however would be left out and cannot tap on this platform to gain knowledge and learn skills.

In the case of augmented reality being used in education, the rich would also have an advantage. In order to use augmented reality, the students need to have a smartphone or an iPad. The rich have easy access to such technologies but the poor do not. Hence, the rich are able to use this technology to facilitate their learning and improve but not the poor. Therefore, this widens the socio-economic divide between the rich and poor and the have and have nots.

High startup cost

The investment in technology like simulated virtual reality and augmented reality is no doubt expensive as it is a new technology and there would be a high cost in setting up the massive initial infrastructure that needs to be built. The building of the infrastructure for simulators would also be costly as there would be calibration needed to construct the infrastructure such that the virtual world is as close to the real world as possible. As such, the experimentation and research that would go into this area is likely to be extensive and hence costly.