Being Really Virtual
Most of what I learned by reading through sections of Frank Steinicke’s “Being Really Virtual” was that there are many rules that inhibit the growth of virtual reality. The ultimate goal of virtual reality (VR) is to create a virtual world that passes an adjusted version of the Turing Test. This test determines whether or not the world a consumer is immersed in is discernable from real life. This isn’t without its issues. A developer’s ability to create a realistic world is limited by current technology. Virtual reality as it is today is too infantile to become truly realistic. As our computer technology improves so will our ability to create continually more realistic worlds in VR.
Another important aspect that determines the usability of virtual reality in new avenues is the exponential growth of computers. Every year the size of a flash drive stays the same, however, the amount of data that can be stored increases. Why is this? This is simply due to the fact that computer technology grows exponentially rather than directly. This may lead to a sooner realization of development goals in virtual reality.
3D modeling and printing have been improving by leaps and bounds. While this may seem unrelated it is extremely vital to the improvement of VR. 3D-printing is about as new of a realized concept as virtual reality is. Put simply, 3D-printing utilizes a three-dimensional model that is then printed with a complex printer. This enables one to print pieces or parts that are almost exact to dimensions. While this doesn’t sound like anything important it is extremely useful. Human operators have an “acceptable” margin of error, whereas a computer has almost no margin of error. This leads us in the direction of creating things that were previously impossible, it allows us to make more and more compact products that will lead to improvements in many fields, not just VR.
