If you have started using virtual reality devices, or are following virtual reality news, you might be wondering how far can virtual reality go?
Will the virtual reality of today be the virtual reality of the future?
If you are a fan of technology or even science fiction, you’ll know the fantasy worlds we read about just a few years ago can become the technologies of the future.
That’s no real coincidence, the imaginations of writers can be fed by the potential of science and technology.
The films we watch are based on the musings of these writers, either of novels or scripts. Don’t forget some of these writers may be scientists or engineers themselves or have been carefully influenced by them.
Indeed, this can work conversely, have the imaginations of writers influenced engineers and developers to invent the fantastic devices they read about in books?
Technology develops new technologies too; one invention can lead to another, or result in an alternative that sometimes works out even more exciting.
As the world’s innovators create new machines and programs, they realise the potential of the next step, and on it goes exponentially and how the entertainment industry uses virtual reality is only a fraction of VR possibilities.
We won’t honestly know how far virtual reality can go until we get there, and even then there will be new developments, spin-offs and alternatives.
We can begin to guess the future of virtual reality, however, by looking at current projects in development, potential applications for virtual reality, and some of what our imagination can create, or influence.
What we can dream, we can create…
How Far Does VR Go to Books and Films?
We take a quick look at popular virtual reality science fiction movies and the influence of prolific writers.
Total Recall
In the 1990 movie Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character Doug Quaid was brainwashed with false “virtual” memories, which replaced his real memories and altered his behaviour.
In the film, the company Rekall offer virtual vacations by hooking up customer brains to their machines and implanting memories.
The Matrix
1999 Keanu Reeves film The Matrix was hugely successful. Humanity is living a “simulated reality” or “virtual reality” created by machines to control the population, while their bodies heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source.
To fight the machines, lead character Neo has to be connected back to the Matrix using…wait for it…head-mounted technology.
Stanley G. Weinbaum’s 1935 short story Pygmalion’s Spectacles
In Weinbaum’s story the main character, Dan Burke, was given a pair of goggles which provided:
“a movie that gives one sight and sound […] taste, smell, and touch. […] You are in the story, you speak to the shadows (characters), and they reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it.”
If you are interested in more virtual reality movie titles, try this article from Taste of Cinema: The 11 Best Movies about Virtual Reality.
Virtual Reality Holidays
At the annual CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 2017, run by the Consumer Technology Association, the CEO of computer chip giant Intel claimed that VR would replace the need for us to travel the world in the future physically.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said:
“Why do we travel? We want to explore and have adventures and have experiences we’ve never had; exploring the world around us. (…) But VR makes it possible to have these experiences like you’re really there while being in the comfort of your living room. With VR, we’re offering a variety of ways to enjoy immersive travel.”
During the CES, Intel gave headsets to reporters taking them on a virtual reality journey where they experienced cliff jumping and parachuting through a desert valley. Then a trip to a waterfall in Vietnam using Intel’s volumetric video technology.
The technology was developed by Intel’s partner, computer vision software company HypeVR. In their virtual experience, you look around in 360 but also look inside and behind moving objects.
Kranich said:
“it is Intel’s goal to deliver this kind of content to many more locations around the world, making it possible to see holiday destinations while walking around your living room.”
Indeed, why would we spend thousands visiting the pyramids in Egypt, only to stand with many other tourists in designated areas only, in searing heat, when we could be sipping a refreshing drink at home touching and exploring every part of an ancient tomb?
Virtual Reality Viewing
Intel is also working on bringing live virtual reality sports viewing to home audiences. They acquired VOKE VR, a company that had produced highlights of the NFL in virtual reality.
Intel described virtual reality as:
“will be among the first technology companies to enable this live sports experience on multiple VR devices, (…) the option to view VOKE VR content on Oculus Rift will be available to all later this year.”
Virtual reality viewing, whether it’s a sports event, concert, festival or theatre performance opens up a whole raft of new opportunities for viewers.
In virtual reality, you don’t have to worry about crowds or where you are seated. You can watch right from the touchline, centre stage or a VIP booth.
Do you want to change your mind where you sit half-way through or grab popcorn without queuing? With virtual reality you are still in the comfort of your own home – do whatever you like!
Since the market of Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has drastically boomed in 2017 alone, many companies are looking into merging the virtual reality with cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
One of them is Virt-U ICO that is looking into launching a platform that will allow developers and gamers to directly trade their assets on a blockchain-based platform. And all this to enhance the virtual reality experience.
Healthcare and Virtual Reality
Though virtual reality at the moment is mostly consumer driven, healthcare and medicine were early adopters of virtual reality, and virtual treatments are already being implemented for anything from pain relief to helping to teach people to walk again, by training their brains to rediscover movement.
A Brazilian medical team worked on a program of “brain training” with eight people with paraplegia, some of them who had been paralysed for years. They used an artificial exoskeleton, sessions in virtual reality and a non-invasive system that links the brain with a computer.
In 10 months the patient’s brain began to make conscious decisions to move and then get a response from muscles they had not been using.
Of the eight, some have had fantastic success, including one who can now leave her house and drive, and another who conceived and delivered a child.
We also talk a little more about the future of virtual reality in How Virtual Living Can Change Life Around Us and Healthcare In Virtual Reality.
So How Far Can Virtual Reality Go?
The truth is the possibilities are only limited by technology and our imaginations, both influence each other, and in which, the opportunities are growing exponentially.
We’ve illustrated a little more of the potential of how far virtual reality can go when combined with other emerging technologies, like augmented reality and the Internet of Things (IoT), it’s sure we’ll be seeing some fantastic applications of all of these in the future.
We’ll also see more and more glimpses of what the next few years could hold over the coming months and years regarding the virtual reality use in the future.
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