Hey podcast listeners, it's Anne here. Remember virtual reality? Back in the 90s, it was going to be the technology of the future. But today it's actually here. If you have a pricey VR headset, a spare room, and a high-end gaming computer, you too can feel like you're standing on top of Mount Everest, or zooming over the surface of some far-off planet.

It's really peaceful. So when I tried VR for myself, though, what drew me in were the little

things, like a butterfly fluttering into the frame. Look, it landed on my little sensor.

Those little touches that give a sense of place, that's what put me at ease and

drew me to explore. Can I open one of the books? Sometimes where the designers probably didn't

intend me to look. Yeah, they've got an awful lot of tuna. But that said, the big stuff,

you know, the things we could never experience in real life, that's what really cracks open your imagination.

Oh, my God, we're in outer space.

You get the earth?

Oh, my God, and there's the sun. I'm in space.

So now that VR can put you in a simulated space that's so real, you want to touch the butterflies,

are so fantastic you feel like drunk on awe, what

do we do with this amazing tool?

Well, storytellers and journalists have started experimenting, and at the forefront is a guy

named Will Smith.

He recently created a virtual reality talk show.

It's called The Fu Show.

And in it, he interviews game developers inside the

environments from their favorite games. Will thinks that eventually virtual spaces will go way beyond

games into theater, science, and more. So I watched the Firewatch episode of the Fu

show yesterday, and this was my first experience using a VR headset. And it felt

so real to the point that there was a producer in the room helping me out. And I had to ask

...