The World is going virtual
Researchers at MIT and Stanford have designed a virtual reality headset that will change reality as we know it.
The implications are huge: doctors performing operations without the need for an operating theatre or anaesthetics, lonely people in old age homes feeling less isolated, architects designing buildings by walking through them.
The virtual reality headset is still in early stage development but when it is completed, you can expect to see many changes to every area of our lives.
But there are ethical and social issues too. Will we be able to tell the difference between reality and virtual reality? And if we do, will that make any difference?
Virtual reality: A reality of its own
The cutting edge headset allows the user to feel that they are in a computer-generated world so real they can touch it.
There is no need for external cameras to track movement and depth sensors to judge the distance of an object from the user, because all this is built into the headset. You wear it like a helmet with a visor, holding two screens close to your eyes. One displays images for each eye – which combine to trick your brain into believing that you're in a different world.
It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here. For years, we've dreamed of being able to visit any place on earth from the comfort of our own home. The internet has made this possible to some extent, but not in a way that feels real.
With the new headset you will be able to visit places you've never seen in person or even in photographs. You can walk around ancient ruins and swim with sharks. While this all sounds exciting and amazing, it raises a lot of ethical issues.
It will allow us to see things that we shouldn't or shouldn't want to see. We won't be any closer to mastering the art of manipulating our perception in such a way that we will be able to find out the secrets of the universe, but we will have access to a lot more information and that's already having an effect.
The virtual reality headset will be used more by children than adults, as it is great in games such as shooting down enemy aircraft and exploring fantasy worlds. But there are many serious uses for it too – including medical simulations, tours of the great monuments of the world, and new construction techniques.
Every time we solve a problem we can't solve in the real world, it means we can do something today which would have been impossible just a few years ago. It's not the case that virtual reality will change the world and make us live in a machine-dominated future, but it is a good reason to think about the way our society develops.
We'll be debating this for many years to come, but for now let's enjoy what has been achieved so far. Every day our world is transformed by technology – computers and smartphones, 3D printing and artificial intelligence – from which we benefit and from which we are consulted as much as anyone else.
Translating the virtual world into reality
The new virtual reality headset is able to translate information – such as sound, images, and touch – directly into your brain in a way that makes you think you are in another place. This is far more accurate and sophisticated than current headsets such as the Oculus Rift or Microsoft HoloLens.
MIT's device doesn't need external sensors because it can track everything using two cameras and sensors built into the headset itself. It isn't just cheap; it's small enough to be portable and light enough to wear for hours at a time. It will also be much cheaper than existing devices which need powerful computers, large screens, thermal regulation systems, and lots of cables.
Future developments will include a more accurate tracking system with haptic technology that responds to movement. This would allow you to literally touch your surroundings, feeling them as if they were real.
Another big advantage is that it can run from almost any computer which means the headset could be used by low-income and developing countries which don't have access to high-powered computers. So far, virtual reality has been extremely expensive and therefore limited to the technology industry and a few specialist sectors – but this kind of VR will be accessible to everyone. And this is only the beginning.
Who is trying to make this technology available for use in the real world? The headsets are being designed by academics at MIT and Stanford, funded by US military defence spend.
The headset is still in development and there is much more research to be done before it's ready for commercial use. But when it does go on sale, you can expect to see new developments that will make virtual reality much more realistic and useful.
Until then, let's enjoy what we have today: the amazing technology that allows us to communicate with anyone in the world via email, instant messaging and social media. We will have to live with the consequences of having different views and opinions, but we now have the ability to share our thoughts and feelings with everyone.
But our attention is radically changing. We are becoming more distracted by notifications on our mobile phones than by everything else that used to occupy us. It's all about speed: quick connections and responses that leave us feeling empty, unsatisfied, and rushed in our lives. And virtual reality could be just as fast as it is immersive.
Time to explore the mind
The more immersive and powerful a story, the faster it is processed by the brain. When we are in virtual reality, we have to wait for the world to be fully created before we can move around it. But when you walk into a museum full of art, you can look at any piece of art at any time. The museum is your mental playground and this gives you a chance to process what you see and understand it better.
We will also be able to experience different kinds of media in an immersive manner.
Conclusion
The development of virtual reality technology has been a long time coming but we are now close to a tipping point where the virtual and real worlds could become interchangeable. The reason is that we have become used to processing information quickly and more instinctively, and this will catch up with our response time.
Our imagination can be just as powerful as real experience and we can only imagine what it would be like if virtual life was indistinguishable from real life. As soon as you close your eyes and fall asleep, dreams will become fully immersive. You might even wake up in another world. Or you might never wake up at all.