The design of our brain is the most delicate and sophisticated creation in the whole universe. The brain is not a static material that doesn't change, yet the dynamics of the mind changes according to certain actions made by your senses. When you start exploring the environment around you with your senses, the brain starts to react according to what you feel through any of those five senses, hence your senses has a footprint onto your brain and, according to that footprint the mind works differently.
A famous technological application to this is Virtual Reality, which is already used in many fields. For examples, VR is now used in psychiatry to help patients who have certain psychological disorders, like someone who's afraid of heights. The patient goes to a clinic and wears the VR glasses, gloves, and sometimes a helmet depending on how far immersive is the system used. Then the patient starts to see a visual image of an environment like if he/she is on the rooftop of a building instead of risking his life. This helps psychiatrists diagnose and cure these psychological misconceptions. Doesn't it mean that our brains can adapt and change the way we perceive our environment according to the input from your senses?
The new virtual spaces and the social media websites, are becoming as interactive as ever in terms of communications with people from remote places. Second Life has also proved to be a very good tool for researchers about virtual environments and how it can affect our lives. Social media and, Second Life both have a very good input in reducing the gap between virtual worlds and real worlds. However, Second Life has made it more possible with its custom environments and approach towards simulating real life environments. All these tools, and software, are more like a catalyst for our minds to recognizing virtual worlds and pushing the limits of our brains constrains.
