Imagine going for a hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. You bask in the breathtaking views - the majestic mountains, the pristine streams, the powerful wildlife - and inhale the subtle aromatic air of the wilderness. After an hour of hiking, you decide to return home. You power off and gently remove your Virtual Reality headset. It feels great to have hiked and experienced another portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. It feels so real that it becomes part of your memory.
While Virtual Reality (VR) today does not have the above technological capability, there will be a time when VR experiences will closely resemble what we see or experience in the real world. In this post, I will explore the second trend I identified during SXSW 2017, creating new realities with Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). VR, AR, and MR continue to be highlights of SXSW. Part of the appeal to the SXSW tribe stems from more than its newness. VR, AR, and MR technologies allow innovative, collaborative, and flexible applications. During these early years, we have the ability to shape new terminology and experiment with traditional and non-traditional approaches. Because there are no rules, we have the capability to create multi-disciplinary, community-oriented products that challenge traditional storytelling formats, resulting in Gesamtkunstwerk-style content. For example, capture a 360-degree video of a particular location and combine that with interactive artwork using music and haptic technology to guide the user through the experience.
Using a multi-disciplinary approach, VR, AR, and MR will allow us to develop new ways to connect, grow, create, build, and inspire. As humans, when we broaden our worldview, we better understand the perspectives of our fellow human beings. Often times, this happens through experience. Once we experience a powerful new reality, we experience a shift. We see things and understand things differently. As a result, we open ourselves to connect with other human beings and grow into more compassionate humans. VR, AR, and MR enable humans to build virtual relationships with people/places in these uniquely created worlds and experiences. We then tell stories about our VR, AR, and MR experiences to our friends and family. If we have access to these technologies (more on access democratization and ethics in a future blog post), then we may create experiences to tell new stories and continue the VR creation loop. By creating new realities, we connect through shared experiences and grow into more highly evolved beings.
As VR, AR, and MR technology improves, the concept of time and space will become more nebulous. By creating new realities, we will blur the lines of what we define as "reality." Will we be able to distinguish between VR and the 'real' world? Will people will perceive VR as 'real' and as a result, will people favor VR over the real world? When given the agency, will we choose to return to the 'real' world or will we choose the virtual or created world?
AI when merged with VR, AR, and MR (the beginning can be seen in Social VR) will be another powerful tool that allow us to have fluid/flexible identities as highlighted by Ray Kurzweil during his SXSW keynote. These exponential technologies when combined will create something that's inherently powerful. Although both technologies are in their infancy, when they merge we will flow from one identity to another as we change our experiences. This combination of exponential technologies also provides a new vehicle to solve challenging problems related to diversity and inclusivity, for example. The virtual worlds will also foster new types of still undefined social interactions, currently called Social VR. The advent of Social VR creates "physical spaces" in a virtual world for people to interact in new ways.
As discussed in the previous blog post on Artificial Intelligence, ethics in VR, AR, and MR is a significant topic that needs to be explored and developed. There is a need to develop a VR code of ethics because there is no framework for a VR moral compass. What ethical considerations do we make for VR? Are these similar to those developed for AI? For example, who has access to the data from our headsets? What can these companies do with the data? How can we make these technologies accessible for all humans? How do we address virtual bullying in Social VR? What language or cultures are being created in the VR worlds and are they inclusive of all people? These ethics topics are important concepts because we will shape our new created realities. If we don't, then we forfeit the opportunity to build a positive new world.
Creating new realities with VR, AR, and MR, allows us to tell stories and bring a higher awareness to all humans. We can use these technologies to raise the group consciousness level. Through awareness we create new actions and new connections. We also re-create the real world as we expand opportunities for all humankind. However, we also have a role to play in developing ethical standards for VR, AR, and MR. What an exciting time to create!
Tell me about your experiences with creating or experiencing realities using VR, AR, and MR.
While Virtual Reality (VR) today does not have the above technological capability, there will be a time when VR experiences will closely resemble what we see or experience in the real world. In this post, I will explore the second trend I identified during SXSW 2017, creating new realities with Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). VR, AR, and MR continue to be highlights of SXSW. Part of the appeal to the SXSW tribe stems from more than its newness. VR, AR, and MR technologies allow innovative, collaborative, and flexible applications. During these early years, we have the ability to shape new terminology and experiment with traditional and non-traditional approaches. Because there are no rules, we have the capability to create multi-disciplinary, community-oriented products that challenge traditional storytelling formats, resulting in Gesamtkunstwerk-style content. For example, capture a 360-degree video of a particular location and combine that with interactive artwork using music and haptic technology to guide the user through the experience.
Using a multi-disciplinary approach, VR, AR, and MR will allow us to develop new ways to connect, grow, create, build, and inspire. As humans, when we broaden our worldview, we better understand the perspectives of our fellow human beings. Often times, this happens through experience. Once we experience a powerful new reality, we experience a shift. We see things and understand things differently. As a result, we open ourselves to connect with other human beings and grow into more compassionate humans. VR, AR, and MR enable humans to build virtual relationships with people/places in these uniquely created worlds and experiences. We then tell stories about our VR, AR, and MR experiences to our friends and family. If we have access to these technologies (more on access democratization and ethics in a future blog post), then we may create experiences to tell new stories and continue the VR creation loop. By creating new realities, we connect through shared experiences and grow into more highly evolved beings.
As VR, AR, and MR technology improves, the concept of time and space will become more nebulous. By creating new realities, we will blur the lines of what we define as "reality." Will we be able to distinguish between VR and the 'real' world? Will people will perceive VR as 'real' and as a result, will people favor VR over the real world? When given the agency, will we choose to return to the 'real' world or will we choose the virtual or created world?
AI when merged with VR, AR, and MR (the beginning can be seen in Social VR) will be another powerful tool that allow us to have fluid/flexible identities as highlighted by Ray Kurzweil during his SXSW keynote. These exponential technologies when combined will create something that's inherently powerful. Although both technologies are in their infancy, when they merge we will flow from one identity to another as we change our experiences. This combination of exponential technologies also provides a new vehicle to solve challenging problems related to diversity and inclusivity, for example. The virtual worlds will also foster new types of still undefined social interactions, currently called Social VR. The advent of Social VR creates "physical spaces" in a virtual world for people to interact in new ways.
As discussed in the previous blog post on Artificial Intelligence, ethics in VR, AR, and MR is a significant topic that needs to be explored and developed. There is a need to develop a VR code of ethics because there is no framework for a VR moral compass. What ethical considerations do we make for VR? Are these similar to those developed for AI? For example, who has access to the data from our headsets? What can these companies do with the data? How can we make these technologies accessible for all humans? How do we address virtual bullying in Social VR? What language or cultures are being created in the VR worlds and are they inclusive of all people? These ethics topics are important concepts because we will shape our new created realities. If we don't, then we forfeit the opportunity to build a positive new world.
Creating new realities with VR, AR, and MR, allows us to tell stories and bring a higher awareness to all humans. We can use these technologies to raise the group consciousness level. Through awareness we create new actions and new connections. We also re-create the real world as we expand opportunities for all humankind. However, we also have a role to play in developing ethical standards for VR, AR, and MR. What an exciting time to create!
Tell me about your experiences with creating or experiencing realities using VR, AR, and MR.