Can We Integrate The Real World and The Virtual World?
A few years ago, one of the hottest topics in terms of technology was VR/AR. These days, we are apt to focus on not VR/AR but AI like Chat GPT.
In my opinion, VR/AR field is also as important as AI field. The reason is simple. This technology is deeply connected to our real world.
We have no doubt that we are living in the real world. In the real world, we sometimes ride a car or train, walk, go shopping, talk with someone, or eat something at a famous restaurant. Yeah, it’s the normal lifestyle of us.
But if VR/AR technology was improved, our social life might change drastically.
Can you imagine that the world there is no difference between real and virtual, inside and outside? As you know, these difference was divided by the cognitive of vision. But these days, the differences between real and virtual are decreasing. If we can deeply integrate the real and virtual, we can easily control the size, appearance, color, and experience.
Turning to the market, Apple is planning to release “Apple Vision Pro,” their first VR/AR device, in 2024. In my opinion, they are really focusing on integrating reality and virtual space. By using the function called “EyeSight”, even when you’re using the device, people around you can recognize what you are seeing or doing.
For a long time, the biggest problem of VR/AR was isolation from the others. But “EyeSight” might solve this kind of problem.
In general, when we work or enjoy something with others, what is the most important is a reaction to them(from the outside world) or accessibility to them(to the outside world). In this sentence, “accessibility” means almost the same as the availability of the situation cognition of others. For example, when you want to ask someone, you must be aware of what someone doing, if someone is not busy, etc.
From this point of view, previous VR/AR devices were insufficient. We had no way to recognize what someone was doing in the VR/AR world. But “EyeSight” or similar technology would solve this problem. I expect that this technology will help to integrate real and virtual smoothly.
VR/AR technology would change our cognition and separation of real and virtual.
tofubeats, my favorite musician sang “What is real?, what is not real?” (何がリアル, 何がリアルじゃないか) in the song “SHOPPINGMALL”. This word is so meaningful.
About 90 years ago, Walter Benjamin, a prestigious philosopher in Germany, claimed that “loss of the aura”. He claimed that a one-time-only nature would vanish because of technological improvements. In this context, the keyword is “reality”. In the 20th century, the main issue in this claim was reality(in other words, authenticity) in the arts. In our time, this awareness of the problem can be directly applied to VR/AR technology.
VR/AR technology changes easily the context and materiality of the real world. For example, we can add characters/materials to the spaces by using AR. Of course, once you remove the VR/AR device from your head, you would acknowledge that these characters/materials have vanished suddenly.
But does it mean it truly occurred in virtual, not real?
VR/AR has a kind of flatness/equality. By switching a lot of applications, we can easily change the spaces with one tap. All apps are equal and equally spaced. All houses you live in VR are open to everyone to get. (Of course, you don’t have to live in a flat even though.)
In addition to that, our ability at hand can be expanded by VR/AR as Marshall McLuhan claimed before. The world seen from expanded magical hands and eyes without segmentation in spatial perception must be completely different from before there was no such.
The claim I really want to make is the possibility of VR/AR changing cognition of real and virtual. As VR/AR progresses and sensory responsiveness becomes more sophisticated, the line between virtual and real becomes blurred. At this time, for the first time, we will witness the fusion of the virtual world and the real world. Is it a wonderful world or “Virtual Insanity”?
