Through Rose Coloured Glasses
So we've skipped ahead 10 years. We've all got these snazzy Mixed Reality glasses on. We never get lost any more, because the GPS in the frame links into Google maps and displays right in front of our eyes where we are, where we wanna go;- and it's booked a table at the restaurant across town where we're trying to find. The kids are all fitter, because they aren't sat behind a computer playing games and shooting aliens for hours on end- they're running around the streets playing computer games and shooting virtual aliensfor hours on end. There's less congestion because the SatNav in the glasses helps us avoid snarl ups and keeps traffic moving, and there's less accidents, because the sensors detect on-coming danger and steer you out of the way. Everything is rosy. But what then?
Death by Pixels
There's a multitude of benefits and cool advantages to this technology, and there will also be a shadier side to it. Just as scandal after scandal hit virtual worlds like Second Life- fraud, child porn rings, undercover cop avatars, extortion, viruses being realised,- there will surely be an underworld develop in the brave new world of augmented reality. Rockstar games will probably find themselves in a lot of trouble with their latest violent mixed reality game they'll probably produce, with high def images of virtual massacres- there's bound to be a class full of kids in America get senselessly slain by someone playing Grand Theft Auto 9 in A.R.
If the glasses have a built in lens and recording capability, people will be able to experience someone else's reality. The film Strange Days explored this theme, where 'dealers' would sell copies of a porn stars reality, or the experience of someone being killed. Some became hooked on the reality of others.
Jacked into Hyper-Reality
To escape all the stresses of constant connectivity to the world, and tune out of all the info and ads of A.R, many will turn on to altered states of (augmented) reality, with programmes created to simulate and induce trance like states and euphoric journeys through psychedelic lands. As the technology and applications mash up and mix together, all kinds of strange hybrids will evolve. Cyberpunk novelist Jeff Noon's creates dystopic visions of Britain's future, where party junkies inject liquid music, where people remix themselves with technology in varying degrees of 'roboness', and where the thrill seekers enter hallucinogenic virtual worlds for kicks.
It won't be long of course, before the boys in blue (#00008B) come pounding on the door with their virtual cops to pull the plug on all those subversives, avatar agents sent to restore order to the matrix.
But at the end of the day, the most important thing for most will be how cool the glasses look. Whatever changes happen to society with the advent of A.R, Apple will still be in the headlines with their latest iEye glasses.
So we've skipped ahead 10 years. We've all got these snazzy Mixed Reality glasses on. We never get lost any more, because the GPS in the frame links into Google maps and displays right in front of our eyes where we are, where we wanna go;- and it's booked a table at the restaurant across town where we're trying to find. The kids are all fitter, because they aren't sat behind a computer playing games and shooting aliens for hours on end- they're running around the streets playing computer games and shooting virtual aliensfor hours on end. There's less congestion because the SatNav in the glasses helps us avoid snarl ups and keeps traffic moving, and there's less accidents, because the sensors detect on-coming danger and steer you out of the way. Everything is rosy. But what then?
Death by Pixels
There's a multitude of benefits and cool advantages to this technology, and there will also be a shadier side to it. Just as scandal after scandal hit virtual worlds like Second Life- fraud, child porn rings, undercover cop avatars, extortion, viruses being realised,- there will surely be an underworld develop in the brave new world of augmented reality. Rockstar games will probably find themselves in a lot of trouble with their latest violent mixed reality game they'll probably produce, with high def images of virtual massacres- there's bound to be a class full of kids in America get senselessly slain by someone playing Grand Theft Auto 9 in A.R.
If the glasses have a built in lens and recording capability, people will be able to experience someone else's reality. The film Strange Days explored this theme, where 'dealers' would sell copies of a porn stars reality, or the experience of someone being killed. Some became hooked on the reality of others.
Jacked into Hyper-Reality
To escape all the stresses of constant connectivity to the world, and tune out of all the info and ads of A.R, many will turn on to altered states of (augmented) reality, with programmes created to simulate and induce trance like states and euphoric journeys through psychedelic lands. As the technology and applications mash up and mix together, all kinds of strange hybrids will evolve. Cyberpunk novelist Jeff Noon's creates dystopic visions of Britain's future, where party junkies inject liquid music, where people remix themselves with technology in varying degrees of 'roboness', and where the thrill seekers enter hallucinogenic virtual worlds for kicks.
It won't be long of course, before the boys in blue (#00008B) come pounding on the door with their virtual cops to pull the plug on all those subversives, avatar agents sent to restore order to the matrix.
But at the end of the day, the most important thing for most will be how cool the glasses look. Whatever changes happen to society with the advent of A.R, Apple will still be in the headlines with their latest iEye glasses.
No comments:
Post a Comment