Common Sense : A Virtual Reality Projection of a Māori Elder Provides an Opportunity to Learn How Authentic Human Encounters Can Help Us Face the Metacrisis - Together

Only through strengthening social networks might we face the myriad challenges of the metacrisis. Our research supports social engagement across perceived difference and prioritises relational intent to counter modern tendencies that atomise and isolate. We use Extended Realities (XR), which encompasses Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality formats, enabling us to work across time and space in ways that feel immediate yet distanced, where digital subjects appear to interact with viewers, despite being spatially and temporally absent. We invite visitors to safe and even playful encounters while seated at either real, virtual, or devised domestic dining tables with virtual women from different cultural backgrounds who speak in their own voices, in accordance with their own values. First encounters between indigenous (Māori) and more recent settlers, such as Pākehā (European immigrants) like the first author, are freighted with trauma and difficult histories that continue to play out and trouble our contemporary society. Common Sense , the subject of this article, features revered Māori elder, Irene Hancy, seated at her own dining table in rural Aotearoa. She speaks directly to this issue with grace and insight as she educates us about what constitutes authentic and meaningful interpersonal encounters scaffolded by traditional practice and rituals.