The Future of Human Experience
Imagine spending your entire life inside of a digital world, being able to go anywhere a camera has been, meet anyone who is on the internet, and experience anything anybody has ever created. Today, that’s possible with virtual reality, and many people believe it to be the future of humanity, creator Jak Wilmot is one of these people. On February 20th, 2019, Wilmot decided to experience what this future would be like by spending an entire week with a VR headset strapped to his head. He worked, showered, slept, ate, and every other minute inside of virtual reality. Now on the other end of this experiment, Wilmot was able to share his experience with the rest of the world, and how he believes that virtual reality is the future. In a TEDxVienna presentation on December 19th, 2019, Wilmot did just that.
Jak Wilmot begins the first part of his presentation with this statement: “Currently, we each create our own virtual environments. Changing the wallpaper on our phone, turning on an album, or streaming a podcast, this is digital information that we choose and consume through AirPods and digital windows. But at its perfect form, virtual reality does this tenfold (TEDx 2019).” Wilmot goes on to showcase his experience, claiming that it was difficult at first, but easy to quickly get used to because of the way it takes over your whole body. “The entire five senses are now able to be, in a sense, tricked into thinking what is code is reality (TEDx 2019).” He closes out his experiences with making a point of how revolutionary virtual reality can be. During that week, Wilmot spent some time in a 360° art studio called Tilt Brush, where he expressed he felt like he was there with the drawings he was creating, and that not only is that a huge opportunity for artists, but for educators. “This is a medium that presents information in a way that we’ve never been able to. We can now experience the information, not only read or watch it (TEDx 2019).” Wilmot ended his week on a “monotonous” truck driving simulator to show how everyday boring tasks can also be done in VR. He and many others believe that the future of human experience is within these virtual reality systems. Watch his video documenting his experience below.
