Every day, we inch closer and closer to the world of RoboCop. We’re juuuust about at the time where we can point at Blade Runner and say, “Ah, imagine if the world we lived in was that cheery and hopeful.”

You’re probably familiar with the CEOSleepout – it’s a yearly event organised by the St. Vincent de Paul Society in which CEOs camp out in capital cities across Australia with a cardboard box bed and sleep through a single winter night for charity. It doesn’t do a whole lot to address the worsening structural causes of poverty and homelessness, but charity is charity, so there you go.

But this year’s entry included a new element that immediately raised eyebrows: virtual reality. The official CEOSleepout Twitter posted a video of their participating CEOs wearing VR goggles to “get a glimpse of the realities faced by the people who experience this every day.”

Uh, okay.

Our Sydney CEOs using virtual reality to get a glimpse of the realities faced by the people who experience this everyday. #CEOSleepoutAu pic.twitter.com/b53wqESdLA — CEOSleepout (@CEOSleepout) June 22, 2017

Getting out there and sleeping is one thing, but one wonders what you’d learn about the crippling experience of poverty and homelessness through a simulation. Twitter seemed to agree.

When you want to be woke but don’t actually want to mingle with the dirty poors — Uncanny Valley Forge (@faust_arp1990) June 22, 2017

Why don’t they go outside and talk to some homeless people? — Jake Holman (@JacobLeigh) June 22, 2017

Yes! Dealing with the virtual cold, the virtual violence, the virtual hunger, the virtual untreated illnesses, the virtual despair … — David Scott Aubrey (@davidakaclean) June 22, 2017

It’s gonna be weird when they don’t give a shit because all you did was make them watch a video, huh? — Hank Single (@Hanksingle) June 22, 2017

This is vile poverty porn. Who thought of this? ?? — NoFucksGiven (@FionaGillen2013) June 23, 2017

Press ‘F’ to pay respects. — ??????? (@Lireoec) June 22, 2017

Just bullshit! How about we increase taxes on corporations and use that to fund housing, mental health services and welfare with dignity — Travis Bickle (@travisbynight) June 22, 2017

Perhaps this is exacerbated by the fact that 99% of all VR experiences are absolutely terrible right now. Nothing like a bit of headset gaming to really get you into the world of the homeless.

Source & photo: Twitter.