Exploring two recent examples of virtual reality (VR) short films designed to produce visceral experiences (on solitary confinement and on seeking asylum), we call into question claims that assign normative value and even transformative power to the VR medium – imagined as so-called ‘empathy machines’. Drawing on a growing body of literature that seeks to contest such claims, we point to and problematise both the manipulative intent of such projects and the liberal-humanitarian logic, which underpins them. Based on such a logic, advocacy through immersive technologies supposes that if only individuals can be made to ‘feel’ something they will be changed by it and so will their behaviour. Whatever progressive motivations of the content producers, the emphasis on empathetic identification threatens to by-pass critical engagement and raises wider questions about the potentially de-politicising effects of seeking technological solutions to effect social change.

探索两个最近的旨在产生内心体验的虚拟现实（VR）短片示例（关于单独监禁和寻求庇护），我们质疑为VR媒介赋予规范性价值甚至是变革力量的主张，这些被称为“虚假的” “移情机器”。借助不断增长的试图争辩此类主张的文学，我们指出并质疑了这类项目的操纵意图和支撑它们的自由人道逻辑。基于这种逻辑，通过沉浸式技术的倡导假设，如果只有个人能够“感觉”到某些东西，他们就会被它改变，并且他们的行为也会改变。不论内容制作者的进步动机是什么，