Hey who wants to get drunk, strap on one of these jackets and throw in Evil Dead 2, eh?
FTA: Sometimes you may feel a shiver go up your spine as you're watching a chilling movie scene, but a new jacket can actually give you a real shiver. The haptics jacket, designed by scientists at Philips Electronics, can enable movie viewers to feel movies through a sense of touch, in an attempt to provide full emotional immersion in a film.
Look for that family down the street that everyone only kind of likes to be the first to adopt this tech...
Showing posts with label vr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vr. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Holodeck
I've been re-watching Star Trek: TNG. I love the show. Watching it now, as an adult, I marvel out how certain episodes have shaped how I feel about various topics. Capt. Picard was unquestionably a role model for me, or, at the least, impacted how I feel an adult should behave.
Changing gears, TNG introduced us, for better of for worse, to the holodeck. The holodeck gave us some of the series best episodes (ok, maybe just hollow pursuits) and some of its worst episodes (most of the other holo-heavy episodes), but however you feel about what its effects on the show's story telling, its difficult to deny the impact that the holodeck, or fully immersive virtually reality, had on the popular consciousness.
Going through some of my Pre-Otaku notes from Facebook, I found this link. No conversation about VR should be without it. The Germans who built it can call it the cyberwalk, if they insist, but we all know what it really is... just a grid of yellow lines away from being the floor of the holodeck.
Changing gears, TNG introduced us, for better of for worse, to the holodeck. The holodeck gave us some of the series best episodes (ok, maybe just hollow pursuits) and some of its worst episodes (most of the other holo-heavy episodes), but however you feel about what its effects on the show's story telling, its difficult to deny the impact that the holodeck, or fully immersive virtually reality, had on the popular consciousness.
Going through some of my Pre-Otaku notes from Facebook, I found this link. No conversation about VR should be without it. The Germans who built it can call it the cyberwalk, if they insist, but we all know what it really is... just a grid of yellow lines away from being the floor of the holodeck.
Bionic Eye
Well, technically, its not bionic exactly, but none-the-less making the blind see is pretty impressive. Hey, didn't we do something special for the last guy that could do that?
Still this is tech's far from perfect, FTA: The system works with the aid of eyeglasses, which hold a camera mounted on one of the lenses that captures images and sends the information to a video processor, also located on the glasses, according to the description of the technology on Second Sight's Web site. After the video processor converts the images to an electronic signal, a transmitter on the glasses sends that information wirelessly to a receiver attached to the surface of the eye. From there, the information is sent through a tiny cable to an electrode array implanted in the retina, stimulating it to emit electrical pulses. These pulses trigger signals in the retina that travel through the optic nerve to the brain, which perceives patterns of light and dark spots that correspond to the electrodes stimulated.
It's easy to imagine a day when it won't just be spots of light and dark. As we get better at restoring site, this tech will have other applications as well in AR and VR for example. Very exciting stuff.
Still this is tech's far from perfect, FTA: The system works with the aid of eyeglasses, which hold a camera mounted on one of the lenses that captures images and sends the information to a video processor, also located on the glasses, according to the description of the technology on Second Sight's Web site. After the video processor converts the images to an electronic signal, a transmitter on the glasses sends that information wirelessly to a receiver attached to the surface of the eye. From there, the information is sent through a tiny cable to an electrode array implanted in the retina, stimulating it to emit electrical pulses. These pulses trigger signals in the retina that travel through the optic nerve to the brain, which perceives patterns of light and dark spots that correspond to the electrodes stimulated.
It's easy to imagine a day when it won't just be spots of light and dark. As we get better at restoring site, this tech will have other applications as well in AR and VR for example. Very exciting stuff.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Damn, wrong already!
Headline: First Virtual Reality Technology To Let You See, Hear, Smell, Taste And Touch
FTA: ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2009) — The first virtual reality headset that can stimulate all five senses has been developed. What was it really like to live in Ancient Egypt? What did the streets there actually look, sound and smell like? For decades, Virtual Reality has held out the hope that, one day, we might be able visit all kinds of places and periods as 'virtual' tourists.
The article's headline and lead paragraph over sell it a little. Really research teams from the Universities of York and Warwick have pinpointed what *needs* to be done. Still there are some very interesting bits such as:
"Smell will be generated electronically via a new technique being pioneered by Alan Chalmers and his team at Warwick which will deliver a pre-determined smell recipe on-demand. Taste and smell are closely linked but we intend to provide a texture sensation relating to something being in the mouth. Tactile devices will provide touch."
and then there was this line: There has been considerable public debate on health & safety as well as on ethical issues surrounding Real Virtuality, since this kind of technology fundamentally involves immersing users in virtual environments that separate them from the real world.
Really? Considerable you say? And where has this debate taken place? Oh... right... Europe. Yeah we prefer not to think of you socialist pinkos here in the Amurica! This is a perfect example of why I hate so many of my countrymen. They're slowing us down.
And a second link about the same break through.
FTA: ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2009) — The first virtual reality headset that can stimulate all five senses has been developed. What was it really like to live in Ancient Egypt? What did the streets there actually look, sound and smell like? For decades, Virtual Reality has held out the hope that, one day, we might be able visit all kinds of places and periods as 'virtual' tourists.
The article's headline and lead paragraph over sell it a little. Really research teams from the Universities of York and Warwick have pinpointed what *needs* to be done. Still there are some very interesting bits such as:
"Smell will be generated electronically via a new technique being pioneered by Alan Chalmers and his team at Warwick which will deliver a pre-determined smell recipe on-demand. Taste and smell are closely linked but we intend to provide a texture sensation relating to something being in the mouth. Tactile devices will provide touch."
and then there was this line: There has been considerable public debate on health & safety as well as on ethical issues surrounding Real Virtuality, since this kind of technology fundamentally involves immersing users in virtual environments that separate them from the real world.
Really? Considerable you say? And where has this debate taken place? Oh... right... Europe. Yeah we prefer not to think of you socialist pinkos here in the Amurica! This is a perfect example of why I hate so many of my countrymen. They're slowing us down.
And a second link about the same break through.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Elements of Utopia: Society Scaling
I’m going purpose various elements that I believe will be essential for creation of a utopia. I should also note that my idea of utopia, or what is utopian, is a little looser than the ideas that some may hold.
Elements of Utopia: Society Scaling
Dependent on: Immersive VR; complex, flexible, modeling software
Others may have already expressed this idea but I haven’t read of it anywhere. In essence, society scaling is all about finding a balance in the size of a society tailored to the tastes of each individual within that society. It may function similarly to facebook, where you may have hundreds of friends, one of whom only has a dozen friends. Some of these friends both you and your first friend share, others you do not. To you, the society would be comprised of hundreds of people, to your friend just a few dozen. You’d be able to interact, visit the same land marks but you wouldn’t be seeing exactly the same things.
Why is this desirable? For hundreds of thousands of years, humans and their early ancestors lived in family groups or small tribes. These developed into small villages, small towns, small cities, and then into more complex forms like small communities within large cities, etc. Some of us are better suited are better suited to larger social networks and increased competition, indeed, some of us need it. Others are content in smaller, more knowable networks, but in either case we wouldn’t want to exclude ourselves from being able to easily interact with friends and family whose tastes run contrary to our own.
I also believe that the flexibility of such a model would help prevent individuals from feeling too overwhelmed by competition for a desired position or status, while allowing for the level of competition to be steadily increased thus keeping individuals challenged. In this way, society scaling would avoid the hollowness of every individual simply being given their desires in virtual worlds independent of one another or the shallowness of a virtual worlds populated by nothing but rockstars and professional athletes.
This would also help people navigate the sticky social situations which develop from a desire to stay friend with your eX’s friends or even allow you to live with someone whose partner or best friend you can’t stand.
Now this isn’t to say there wouldn’t be kinks to work. For instance if you’re in a room with all of your friends, one of whom, in that same room, only recognizes the presences of some of your friends there could be certain difficulties in communication. For instance, it could appear to your friend that you are frequently talking to yourself or laughing for no good reason.
This is where, much like in social networking, adjustable privacy options would come into play. An individual could allow for some people outside their network to bleed through into their awareness, they could allow, for instance, full interaction with everyone in the room until such a time as they step outside the room.
Aspects of interacting in this way may seem needlessly complex, and, to an extent, they are. The advantages, however, would be numerous.
Elements of Utopia: Society Scaling
Dependent on: Immersive VR; complex, flexible, modeling software
Others may have already expressed this idea but I haven’t read of it anywhere. In essence, society scaling is all about finding a balance in the size of a society tailored to the tastes of each individual within that society. It may function similarly to facebook, where you may have hundreds of friends, one of whom only has a dozen friends. Some of these friends both you and your first friend share, others you do not. To you, the society would be comprised of hundreds of people, to your friend just a few dozen. You’d be able to interact, visit the same land marks but you wouldn’t be seeing exactly the same things.
Why is this desirable? For hundreds of thousands of years, humans and their early ancestors lived in family groups or small tribes. These developed into small villages, small towns, small cities, and then into more complex forms like small communities within large cities, etc. Some of us are better suited are better suited to larger social networks and increased competition, indeed, some of us need it. Others are content in smaller, more knowable networks, but in either case we wouldn’t want to exclude ourselves from being able to easily interact with friends and family whose tastes run contrary to our own.
I also believe that the flexibility of such a model would help prevent individuals from feeling too overwhelmed by competition for a desired position or status, while allowing for the level of competition to be steadily increased thus keeping individuals challenged. In this way, society scaling would avoid the hollowness of every individual simply being given their desires in virtual worlds independent of one another or the shallowness of a virtual worlds populated by nothing but rockstars and professional athletes.
This would also help people navigate the sticky social situations which develop from a desire to stay friend with your eX’s friends or even allow you to live with someone whose partner or best friend you can’t stand.
Now this isn’t to say there wouldn’t be kinks to work. For instance if you’re in a room with all of your friends, one of whom, in that same room, only recognizes the presences of some of your friends there could be certain difficulties in communication. For instance, it could appear to your friend that you are frequently talking to yourself or laughing for no good reason.
This is where, much like in social networking, adjustable privacy options would come into play. An individual could allow for some people outside their network to bleed through into their awareness, they could allow, for instance, full interaction with everyone in the room until such a time as they step outside the room.
Aspects of interacting in this way may seem needlessly complex, and, to an extent, they are. The advantages, however, would be numerous.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
What would it take for you to change one of your fundamental beliefs?
I previously posted about the possibility that we’re living in a hologram universe. Today, I encountered more articles about it. It seems that its picking up speed- more experiments are already being done, more theories are already being tested- and we should have a better idea as to whether or not its true in the next few years.
The idea could revolutionize physics. It could provide the key to a unified field theory. It could also mean that we live in two dimensions despite experiencing three. I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around that. It so utterly challenges one of my fundamental beliefs about the universe to the extent that there’s a chance I may just reject it on some level… because not doing so would mean I’d have to seriously consider Nick ‘Nancy Boy’ Bostrom’s simulation argument. (Bostrom, to his credit, doesn't believe the affirmative of all of his arguments.)
My beef with Bostrom:
I haven’t read him as extensively as I should considering how respected he is among futurists. I really should read him, but I have trouble getting passed what I see as weird leaps in logic that he makes. For starters he seems incapable of making any sort of prediction that doesn’t center around a base of, ‘either the universe is nothing like we think, or all intelligent species destroy themselves!’ This in turn is based off of very little. Further, he uses Beysian reasoning a lot which always sets off my bullshit detector.
More to the point, the simulation argument is one of those things people discuss that can’t can neither be proven nor disproven and also provides us with no new information. Another example of this kind of thing- ‘This rock isn’t really a rock, it’s a hyper-intelligent being that has disguised itself as a rock. So intelligent is this hyper-intelligent being that it is now in all ways indistinguishable from a rock.’ Or as Nick Bostrom would put it, ‘Given that there is virtually an infinite number of stars in the universe, and that some percentage of these stars would have planets that could support life, and that some percentage of those planets would produce intelligent life, and that some percentage of those intelligent life forms would enjoy nothing more than traveling across the universe to disguise themselves perfectly as rocks, then we are forced to conclude that either some percentage of the rocks on our planet are actually super intelligent beings disguised as rocks, or that all intelligent life destroys itself before its able to achieve its deepest desire (of traveling across the cosmos and perfecting its rock related camouflage). We must hope that some percentage of our rocks are hyper intelligent aliens or it would not bode well for our future.’ Yeah, thanks Nick.
Still, if it turns out we’re living in a holographic universe than that seems, at least to me, that I need to take the simulation argument slightly more seriously. And this in turn raises the question, what would it take to convince you to change your position on one of your fundamental beliefs? From Atheist to Theist (or Deist)? From Christian to Atheist? From Democrat to Republican? From Libertarian to Socialist? What would it take?
The idea could revolutionize physics. It could provide the key to a unified field theory. It could also mean that we live in two dimensions despite experiencing three. I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around that. It so utterly challenges one of my fundamental beliefs about the universe to the extent that there’s a chance I may just reject it on some level… because not doing so would mean I’d have to seriously consider Nick ‘Nancy Boy’ Bostrom’s simulation argument. (Bostrom, to his credit, doesn't believe the affirmative of all of his arguments.)
My beef with Bostrom:
I haven’t read him as extensively as I should considering how respected he is among futurists. I really should read him, but I have trouble getting passed what I see as weird leaps in logic that he makes. For starters he seems incapable of making any sort of prediction that doesn’t center around a base of, ‘either the universe is nothing like we think, or all intelligent species destroy themselves!’ This in turn is based off of very little. Further, he uses Beysian reasoning a lot which always sets off my bullshit detector.
More to the point, the simulation argument is one of those things people discuss that can’t can neither be proven nor disproven and also provides us with no new information. Another example of this kind of thing- ‘This rock isn’t really a rock, it’s a hyper-intelligent being that has disguised itself as a rock. So intelligent is this hyper-intelligent being that it is now in all ways indistinguishable from a rock.’ Or as Nick Bostrom would put it, ‘Given that there is virtually an infinite number of stars in the universe, and that some percentage of these stars would have planets that could support life, and that some percentage of those planets would produce intelligent life, and that some percentage of those intelligent life forms would enjoy nothing more than traveling across the universe to disguise themselves perfectly as rocks, then we are forced to conclude that either some percentage of the rocks on our planet are actually super intelligent beings disguised as rocks, or that all intelligent life destroys itself before its able to achieve its deepest desire (of traveling across the cosmos and perfecting its rock related camouflage). We must hope that some percentage of our rocks are hyper intelligent aliens or it would not bode well for our future.’ Yeah, thanks Nick.
Still, if it turns out we’re living in a holographic universe than that seems, at least to me, that I need to take the simulation argument slightly more seriously. And this in turn raises the question, what would it take to convince you to change your position on one of your fundamental beliefs? From Atheist to Theist (or Deist)? From Christian to Atheist? From Democrat to Republican? From Libertarian to Socialist? What would it take?
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Who Could Possibly Object?
FTA: The Department of Defense is soliciting proposals for a computer program that would enable young children to interact with a virtual version of their parent. Officials hope it could provide reassurance and general chat when phone or internet contact is not possible.
I really can't quite figure out who's pitching this project. Pro-Family Hawks aren't usually too big on science, Pro-Science forward thinkers aren't usually too big on war. Also, the tech's not remotely close yet. This would be like a glorified AIM bot.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for funding personality mapping software and fully believe that one day we'll be able to get something pretty close to what they're proposing... just not today. Its much more likely we'll get general AI before we get specific AI.
I really can't quite figure out who's pitching this project. Pro-Family Hawks aren't usually too big on science, Pro-Science forward thinkers aren't usually too big on war. Also, the tech's not remotely close yet. This would be like a glorified AIM bot.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for funding personality mapping software and fully believe that one day we'll be able to get something pretty close to what they're proposing... just not today. Its much more likely we'll get general AI before we get specific AI.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Future: There Will be Perverts!
The porn industry (pr0n industry to my leet friends) has always driven technology. To Wit... (SFW... though you might get some looks.)
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/01/real_touch_devi.php
Setting you back $150 dollars (and your sense of self worth) the 'Real Touch' well... it uh... look you stick your pen15 in it. It syncs up to your porn, matches speed... provides warmth... and lubricant... OK I don't really want to talk about the device itself, but the implications are interesting.
I've often speculated about how different sexual development will be for kids being born today. When I was a boy, acquiring a playboy was a right of passage and it was no mean feat. Essentially you either had to steal one, buy one at an outrageous markup from someone older or hope that an older family member was inattentive with their collection. Now you just type 'boobs' into google. It lacks a certain romance...
Consider though what devices like the Real Touch might do to further erode these coming of age moments (no pun intended). Couple this device with any virtual reality technology and how would this effect dating among the youth? A little? A lot? Not at all?
If you could, as a teenager, have had a sexual encounter with any celebrity that was (and I'm not suggesting the Real Touch is at this level) indistinguishable from the real thing, would you have tried to date the same way you did? Would you still go for the prettiest girl or would your tastes slide back towards personality? Would you have minded taking it slow if you could go home and simulate an encounter with a virtual version of your date? Would there be a new intermediary relationship phase? (We've done everything in VR, but only third base in real life.) And will this further the social isolation of the chronically shy (especially if coupled with any AI that can approximate human interaction)?
Consider this (sfw):http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mm8l_futurama-antirobot-propaganda_shortfilms
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/01/real_touch_devi.php
Setting you back $150 dollars (and your sense of self worth) the 'Real Touch' well... it uh... look you stick your pen15 in it. It syncs up to your porn, matches speed... provides warmth... and lubricant... OK I don't really want to talk about the device itself, but the implications are interesting.
I've often speculated about how different sexual development will be for kids being born today. When I was a boy, acquiring a playboy was a right of passage and it was no mean feat. Essentially you either had to steal one, buy one at an outrageous markup from someone older or hope that an older family member was inattentive with their collection. Now you just type 'boobs' into google. It lacks a certain romance...
Consider though what devices like the Real Touch might do to further erode these coming of age moments (no pun intended). Couple this device with any virtual reality technology and how would this effect dating among the youth? A little? A lot? Not at all?
If you could, as a teenager, have had a sexual encounter with any celebrity that was (and I'm not suggesting the Real Touch is at this level) indistinguishable from the real thing, would you have tried to date the same way you did? Would you still go for the prettiest girl or would your tastes slide back towards personality? Would you have minded taking it slow if you could go home and simulate an encounter with a virtual version of your date? Would there be a new intermediary relationship phase? (We've done everything in VR, but only third base in real life.) And will this further the social isolation of the chronically shy (especially if coupled with any AI that can approximate human interaction)?
Consider this (sfw):http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mm8l_futurama-antirobot-propaganda_shortfilms
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