Reaching for The Matrix
VR will change the world forever, starting in 2014
Watching The Matrix for the first time is a special memory for many geeks who grew up during the 90s. I remember inserting that scratched up, low resolution video-cd I borrowed from a friend into my computer. I had no expectations. For all I knew, it was a bootlegged copy of some action movie. Whatever it was, my friend insisted that I watch it.
The next thing I remember was being stunned back to reality by the ending credits two hours later. I’m certain my jaw was still hanging open. I immediately touched my own body, reassuring myself that I still was there in flesh and blood. I half expected to wake up from a hyper-realistic virtual world like the movie’s protagonist Neo. Then I hit the play button again.
The virtual world of The Matrix brought together all sorts of people who dared to ask the question, “What is reality?” Is reality an absolute truth, or is it a sensory fabric woven by a convincing set of stimuli? Would people choose to indulge in a fabricated reality if it satisfied their earthly desires? Over the years I’ve had many such Matrix-inspired discussions with everyone from my nerdy high school classmates to Buddhist monks, computer science professors, tech entrepreneurs, and bohemians at Burning Man.
While popularity of the movie as a conversation topic has waned, we are closer than ever to the kind of virtual reality (VR) The Matrix inspired in our imaginations. In fact, 2014 is predicted to be the most significant year ever for VR.
This excitement is largely fueled by a prototype product created by a startup called Oculus Inc. This device, a VR headset, promises two breakthroughs. One: the ability to generate an immersive reality that is good enough to trick our senses into believing an artificially generated world. Two: doing that at a low cost, around $300 per device.
So does it deliver? “Oh my god!” writes one Gizmodo editor after trying the device, “I never want to look at real life again!” It “feels so real it hurts!” writes the Polygon. A video on YouTube with over 2 million views records the reaction of a 90-year-old grandmother trying the Rift for the first time: “Am I still sitting where I was? Holy macaroni!” The point being, so far The Rift is crushing expectations.
The Rift is marketed towards gamers. But to think it’s only a toy would be akin to assuming that the early PC was only for accountants, or that the early internet was only for academics. We are on the verge of being able to create unlimited digital real-estate that is not bound by the laws of physics. Soon anyone anywhere in the world is going to be able to transpose themselves into this magical land whenever they want!
Virtual worlds have been created before, most notably “Second Life”, built by Linden Labs in 2002. You experience Second Life similarly to how you’d experience a video game: on your limited computer screen, in low-grade cartoon-quality graphics. Despite its limitations, in 10 years Second Life has seen 36 million accounts created, $3.6 billion spent on virtual assets and collectively over 200,000 years spent in the virtual world.
There are universities, corporate branches (IBM, Dell, Cisco, etc.), embassies (Sweden, Colombia, Philippines, etc.) and religions that have been formed on Second Life. There are dating, entertainment and business events that take place every day. All this on rudimentary VR that is limited to a small, geeky audience. What will happen when we have hyper-realistic VR — the kind your grandmother can get excited about?
Consider Facebook, a utility that changed the world by connecting people across continents. A complaint often heard of Facebook relationships is that they aren’t “real”. “Real” human relationships result from interactions using our senses: seeing, hearing, and touching. But picture the process of meeting someone and having a conversation. There might be a quick touch at the beginning and the end (i.e. handshake), but what portion of the total interaction time does that count for? So barring a split second, your entire experience is dominated by audio and visual senses — exactly the two senses that the Rift excels at convincing!
A microphone can capture your voice, and the fine details of your facial expressions can be captured by a scanner (i.e. Leap, motion capture device) that could be built into your headset. This will let your virtual self communicate your subtlest emotions nearly as well as you do. Thus, no matter where in the world they physically are, a person who comes across you in VR will experience a rich and “real” interaction.
That is the single most important reason why VR will be a massive success. Following snail mail, the telephone, and Facebook, VR is the next great leap in tele communication. If the 150 billion friendships formed on Facebook are any indication of how much humans crave connection, VR will connect the world like never before. Unlike on Facebook, you’ll be the owner of not merely a profile, but a “life” in VR. Communities will be formed. Habitats will be built. Economies will follow. Just like it’s difficult to imagine a world without cellphones, soon it will be strange not to spend a significant portion of your day in a virtual world.
Imagine the impact on education. There will be no good reason a kid in a village in Kenya can’t sit in a virtualized Harvard classroom. Imagine the impact on cross-cultural appreciation. Making frequent visits to a virtual Times Square and having near-realistic interactions with Americans won’t be out of reach for a child born in Pakistan. Imagine the impact on entertainment. Why watch Game of Thrones on TV (or at a cinema) when you can just as easily be immersed in the fictional universe!
At first a tool, soon VR will change the way we live. How will social etiquette change in a world where your physical looks and abilities are a matter of choice? We live in a time of controversies over privacy: what will happen in a world where every action is digital and recordable? In a virtual economy without national boundaries, how will currency and tax regulations work? Will there be need for new laws — and will governments be able to keep up?
Of course, one can also postulate worrisome downsides of VR dependency. It will create a path to the sort of mind-altering experiences that are only possible today with illegal drugs. Will that result in VR addiction? Will VR degrade the quality of human relationships and make us less in touch with ourselves? Even the Matrix storyline tells an extreme, albeit unlikely, story of VR gone wrong.
But make no mistake: Oculus Rift completes the biggest missing piece towards connecting the world with VR. The remarkable human ability to adapt will find great uses for VR’s strengths while grappling any undesirable side effects. What will result, I believe, will be the most significant history-altering breakthrough of the next decade.
I’m looking forward to the day I re-watch The Matrix for the seventh time, this time using my VR headset. Things will have come full circle!
