Whether or not you're a techie at heart, you must have heard of Virtual Reality by now. The next big thing after 3D (which wasn't such a bug thing, in hindsight) promises to have a far greater impact, not only in how you think about your entertainment, but in how you interact with the world.
Despite that, how much do you actually know about VR? Is it as simple as putting on a pair of goggles before playing a videogame?
In this article, I'm gonna show you the basics of this new technology, and show you ways it can be used that you probably aren't even imagining right now. Shall we begin?
What is VR?
Lets break down the two words. “Virtual” basically means “an illusion created by a computer”. “Reality”, is what surrounds you, what exists. Put those two together, and what do you get? An environment created by a computer.
This environment could be anything you wanted. Want to fight aliens in space? That can happen. Want to visit the Louvre from your house? That can also happen. Want to search for treasure in the bottom of the ocean. Done. In an illusion, that is… but how does that work?
The best way to make an illusion is through your eyes
There are many different ways of simulating an environment around you, but your eyes are your most used senses daily, so, it’s best to target them. That is the main logic used by the current major companies making VR technology and content.
Current VR systems work like this: you put a headset on your head, covering your eyes completely. Then, your eyes are given images that would match this created world around them. As you turn your head in many ways, the images you get are as if you were in a whole different environment, matching your head movements as if you were there.
Magical right? It’s how I felt when I first tried a system like this. But what practical uses could this have?
Uses for VR go far beyond entertainment
If you’re a gamer at heart, you probably drooled considering the immersion these systems could bring to your games, and that is indeed one of the main purposes of this technology. A game could only become more immersive, exciting, beautiful or pulse pounding if you could dive right into the action. This would be even better than a night at the movies…
However, even the movies could benefit from using this technology. Imagine following the action alongside the movie's main character, being one step away from them at all times as the action goes on around you everywhere you look. And not just in the movies.
Concerts, plays, any sort of entertainment media would be given a new life, and a whole new way of looking at them once these systems come into play. This technology could revolutionize entertainment… and more.
Put yourself in the shoes of an architect. Instead of bending over a huge sheet of paper in an office, they can look around an imaginary landscape and build their houses from the ground-up, using software designed to work with VR.
Being able to visualize where to put the support beams, the plumbing, the layout of the rooms within a house, the space the house would take, all of this would make an architect’s job much easier.
Or become the customer that would buy the house, and see every nook and cranny of your future house from a distance, while you can still make suggestions for things you’d like to see different!
Put yourself in the shoes of a teacher. Say, a medical teacher. Instead of having your students pour hours over endless hours over dusty old books, they could simply put on a headset and see a perfect specimen of a human body right in front of them.
They would be able to dissect every single one of the arteries within the body, and what better way to commit it to memory could they ask for? This would improve the quality of our doctors right from training!
Put yourself in the shoes of a tourist, who wants to be at the top of the Eiffel Tower, who wants to see penguins march together, or the aurora borealis without needing to bring 5 winter coats along for the ride, and could now do all these things from the confort of his house!
…lastly,* put on your own shoes*. When you arrive home tired after a long day of work, what better way to relax than to spend some time in a world of your making?
What problems does it pose?
There is no rose without a thorn. In this case, we may not even be able to see some thorns that may come up.
As is the case for any new technology, the ones that try to tap this market first, often make mistakes, and lose more money working out the kinks.
We don’t yet know how users would react to these illusions on a biological level. These experiences could have drawbacks ranging from simple balance losses to pure epileptic seizures, for those most vulnerable.
Addiction problems already exist around the tech we use nowadays. Such a stimulating experience as the ones given by VR could prove to be even more addicting. Slowly and slowly, individuals might choose to retreat into their own virtual worlds, leaving this harsh one more and more. If this happens on a large scale, what would be the impact on the economy, and our own culture?
How will it impact your future?
I cannot say. And neither can most experts.
I have given you the basis. You tell me, in the comments, what future you see for this tech.
If I may give my own personal opinion, there is no such thing as a harmful new technology. There will be problems, as any new technology brings problems. But I see the potential this could have and I’m blown away!
Since Man was born, we have tried to mold the world, to make it better, in our own image. This technology would allow us to create other worlds, if only in our minds, and change many sides of our current one. There is no putting a genie back in its bottle when discovered.
“Traveler”, says a Spanish proverb, “there are no roads. Roads are made by walking” .
