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Group Project - Virtual Reality
Download Powerpoint: Office 97-03 Office 2007
Download Word Document: Office 97-03 Office 2007
 
Note: This report and presentation on Virtual Reality was a group project, below is my portion of the VR paper submitted as only a part of the complete document.


Click here to view the entire finished product compiled by Dan Herman.


The Future of Virtual Reality

Most of the discussion of the future of virtual reality is based on theory and questions, rather than concrete evidence. When you ask yourself what is possible, the answer is almost anything. We’ve only yet scratched the surface of what virtual reality can offer as a science and technology application. As more and more is learned each day about the way nerve impulses work, and computers become stronger and faster, the possibilities become more open ended each day.

Microsoft’s slogan in the 1990s was “Where would you like to go today?” This question applies very well to the future of virtual reality technologies. When you think about what is possible, you truly could use yet to be implemented VR to go anywhere you desired. For instance, if you wanted to take a vacation to anywhere in the world, or any other world, you could potentially pay for that trip within the confines of a VR capsule. Advancements in this technology could allow you to see, hear, taste, and smell to the fullest extent the beaches of Hawaii, or the Strip in Las Vegas.

On top of being able to go anywhere, agencies could set these trips up in advance for a booking “traveler.” If you were able to strap yourself into a high powered computer, and take a virtual trip anywhere without the hassle of parking, airports, flight times, and potentially at a mere fraction of the total cost of flying, the prospect of a virtual trip becomes more and more appealing. While this is not currently possible, there is no real reason to say it wouldn’t be within the next 50 years of technological advancements.

The possibilities truly are endless. No one expected computer gaming to be where it is in 2007 when the first Pong arcade machines were launched. The jump from Pong to games like Pac-Man and Galaga was so astounding at the time that people thought games could not get any more advanced. Technology has now made it possible to virtually run up behind an opponent playing from anywhere in the world and cut them in half with a chain saw in stunning high definition 3D graphics (a la Gears of War). On the same idea, early virtual reality machines had little user input that wasn’t directly related to a controller, a person would “walk” around in first person in a blocky, horribly textured environment. We’ve already come a long way from that point, so what the future can offer is anyone’s guess.

For instance, in school, why read in a text book about D-Day or the Civil War, when you could ride along for the entire process. If you could take a college history class and literally go back and experience tactical advancements of a war, you could potentially learn more than in any book. You could also potentially feel what those soldiers felt, experience the adrenaline, fear, and excitement of these major historical events as well.

The movie “The Matrix” also raises interesting theory for VR. If you could live your entire life virtually, would you? A life with potentially no pain, where you are living within the constructed environment that someone else has deemed appropriate. You could live your entire life as a productive member of society, and at the same time never lift a finger. If a person lived their entire life this way, yet had no knowledge that they were in a virtual environment, would their life be any less meaningful then a regular life?

This theory also raises the question as to what would be possible living in a virtual world where one knew they were inside a computer program. It is hard to imagine what manner of chaos would exist in a world where any physics law could be broken, anything could be created or destroyed on a whim, and the entire world itself could be reset. While this is not a likely outcome for the VR technology, nor would it possible in the near future, the potential uses it could have are almost endless. If for instance an engineer could test a new superstructure in a real time environment with “real” people interacting with it before it was built in the real world, there is a potential to save millions in long term research and development.

At the same time, there are seriously scary potential uses of VR technologies of the future. With the ability to experience or do absolutely anything in only a few moments, it’s hard to imagine what would actually happen. If a person was able to use VR to experience something along the lines of the insanity or absolute power of a dictator, would they come out of that experience the same? If someone studying speech and charisma could become Hitler for a day, and truly think they were Hitler going about his day to day life, could that person come out of that experience the same person they went in? While being able to “become” someone else for a short time is even hard to imagine, the technology could one day exist, which is both a scary and intriguing theory.

While most of the future of virtual reality is a mix of random theory and ideas, there are interesting topics that both the average person and the technology developer can aim towards. Practical applications of virtual reality already exist, and if the history of computing has taught us anything, it’s only a matter of time until impractical and even insane technologies stem from them.