Star Wars “Find the Force” treasure hunt (Billy H.C. Kwok / Getty Images for Disney)
New and exciting realities are now just a few screens away. The wildest dreams of science fiction writers are slowly seeping their way into our current day and age. Many people are familiar with virtual reality (VR). You put on some kind of headset and you’re whisked into an all-encompassing world of sound and sight. VR’s close cousin, augmented reality (AR), comes in a few different forms – overlaid blocks of text and information, sometimes cartoonish images and games that let you interact with the world around you. Both of these types of tech have earned their namesake, but what about when you combine the two of them?
The border between these digital worlds is already beginning to break down. Mixed reality (MR)is the intersection of both AR and VR. Right now the biggest player in the mixed reality space is Microsoft, which is leading the way with its Hololens headset. In order to learn more about MR, we need to look a little deeper at both augmented and virtual realities.
A Primer on Different Digital Realities
So much is happening in the world of digital realities that it can become puzzling to try and draw a distinction between VR, AR, and MR. But each one of these realities can be quickly explained:
– Virtual reality (VR) immerses a user in a digital environment like a video game.
– Augmented reality (AR) places digital objects over a real-world view.
– Mixed reality (MR) overlays and anchors virtual things in a real-world environment.
For VR, a computer generates the virtual environment that users then explore and interact with. Special hand controllers help to enhance and integrate the body into the entire virtual experience. An ideal virtual world will be completely cut off from the outside visual view, along with noise-canceling headphones.
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This type of intersection between the real and virtual gives us an entirely new space that we can interact and innovate inside of. We’ll be unearthing a whole new expanse of possibilities as the technology grows.
New Mediums of Experience
If we’re to take a page from Marshall McLuhan, mid 20th-century media theorist, our new mediums of technology will begin to radically alter our perceptions of ourselves and reality regardless of the content. A famous McLuhan quote puts it simply:
“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.”
Virtual and mixed realities will be no different and will completely change our way of doing things and viewing our world. Look no further than actually trying to explain and differentiate between these realities. It will become more difficult throughout the years as these once novel technologies will be completely integrated into our lives. No one thinks much about having a supercomputer in their pocket anymore. It’s become a normal mode of existence. AR, VR and the junction point of mixed reality is the next logical step.
Reality is almost becoming gamified. One day surgeons should be able to overlay x-ray or ultrasound images over a patient while they operate on them. Designers and artists will be able to collaborate with another from miles away and project an imagined idea into a real-life space. Drones traversing the sky will instantly relay quantifiable information about the world while they fly. Different perspectives and another person’s point of view will seamlessly become a visual activity to participate in. There’s no end in sight to what’s possible.
A Future of Possibility
Inventors and artists are the ones who tend to lead the way when it comes to future technology. Our ability to transform the world and our lives is limited only to our imagination. With mixed reality, we’re given a blank canvas over the rich and vast natural environment. It’s almost as if the internet has found a new conduit or rather a physical manifestation of itself and divorced itself from the computer screen. This very well could be the beginning of a seismic shift of our shared technological realities.
Source: Big Think