Virtual Reality Gets Real – theatlantic.com

In 1965, Ivan Sutherland, a computer-graphics pioneer, addressed an international meeting of techies on the subject of virtual reality. The ultimate virtual-reality display, he told the audience, would be a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal. With appropriate programming, such a display could literally be the Wonderland into which Alice walked.

Virtual reality has advanced rapidly in the past couple of yearsthe much-anticipated Oculus Rift headset is expected to arrive in stores in early 2016, followed closely by several other devices. Yet the technology is still very new, and Sutherlands vision seems little closer to, well, actual reality. Right now, its like when you first had cellphones, Richard Marks, one of the lead engineers working on Project Morpheus, Sonys virtual-reality headset, told me. A lot of focus is still on the most-basic things.

I recently spoke with scientists, psychologists, engineers, and developers about the possibilities for this emerging field. Where might it eventually take usand will that be somewhere we want to go?

Being Virtually Anywhere

During a recent demonstration of Google Cardboarda DIY headset thats made of cardboard and uses a smartphone for the displayI found myself by turns atop a rocky peak, in a barn next to a snorting horse, and on a gondola making my way up a mountain. The gondola ride gave me vertigo.

We react like that, experts say, because our brains are easily fooled when what we see on a display tracks our head movements. We have a reptilian instinct that responds as if its real: Dont step off that cliff; this battle is scary, Jeremy Bailenson, the founding director of Stanfords Virtual Human Interaction Lab, told me. The brain hasnt evolved to tell you its not real.

Much of the excitement about virtual reality has come from the gaming community. Who wouldnt want to experience a game so completely? But gaming is just the start. At Sony, Marks has worked with NASA to conjure the experience of standing on Marsa view that could help scientists better understand the planet. David Laidlaw, the head of the Visualization Research Lab at Brown University, told me that his team has re-created a temple site in Petra, Jordan, enabling researchers to see previously unclear relationships between objects found there.

Google is testing Expeditions, a way of sending students to places like the Great Barrier Reef, where they can virtually scuba dive as part of a lesson on marine biology and ocean acidification. Similar approaches may enhance professional training. By donning a pair of goggles, a neurosurgeon could navigate brain structures before surgery; a chemist could step inside a drug to understand it on the cellular level; an architect could walk through a building shes designing.

Another possibility: Imagine that youre unable to attend a family gathering. With a pair of glasses, youre in the middle of the action. And everyone there wears glasses that make it appear as though youre present. The whole thing is recorded, so you can replay the experience whenever youd like. Ten years from now, such a scenario might be common.

And consider the potential for telecommuting. Henry Fuchs, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a leader in the field, envisions virtual offices. You could use the physical space of your housea real desk, a real computerbut interact with your colleagues as if they were in the same room as you.

Seeing Through Others Eyes

In his lab at Stanford, Bailenson studies how virtual reality changes behavior. Hes found that if your avatar is taller than you are in real life, you become more confident. If you have a particularly attractive avatar, you become friendlier. If youre young and you have an avatar that is a senior citizen, you save more money. These changes last even after you leave the virtual realm.

And avatars could soon become more convincing. Most commercial virtual-reality systems capture only the movement of your head and hands. In 2013, though, Apple acquired PrimeSense, an Israeli company developing technology to track the movements of your whole body with infrared sensors and special microchips. And a company called Faceshift is working to capture facial expressions, so that if you smile or roll your eyes, your avatar will too.

Virtual reality has already proved useful in treating phobias and PTSD. It can help people overcome a fear of heights, for example, through simulations of standing on a balcony or walking across a bridge. Bailenson and others think it could also be used to build empathy. What if you could step inside a documentary, rather than just watching it on a screenalmost literally walking in someone elses shoes? That was the goal of Clouds Over Sidra, a virtual-reality filmcreated through a partnership between the United Nations and Samsungthat followed a 12-year-old girl in a Syrian-refugee camp in Jordan.

And what if you could do something similar in real time? Combine this sort of immersive storytelling, as it evolves, with technologies like Periscope and Meerkatapps that let users stream live videoand you can in essence see the world through anyones eyes, Clay Bavor, the head of Googles virtual-reality initiatives, told me. A protester in Cairo or Athens or Baltimore, for example, could use a special camera to give people around the world a 360-degree view of what its like to be there.

Engaging All Your Senses

Google recently acquired Thrive Audio, a company that specializes in spatial audiosounds that your ear registers as emanating from a particular place. A virtual waterfall grows louder as you move toward it. Something catches your ear from behind. You turn, and see a deer approaching. The audio becomes three-dimensional, truly surrounding you.

Smell could become part of the virtual experience as well. A company called Feelreal has developed a mask that releases scents, such as the smell of fire or the ocean, to enhance what you see in a headset. (The project is hampered by the need to preload the scents youre likely to encounter, among other problems.) Closely related is the ability to taste what you see. Researchers in Singapore are developing electrodes that, when placed on your tongue, mimic basic tastes, such as sweet, salty, bitter, and sour.

What about touch? Could we one day find that when we dip our fingers in virtual water, it actually feels wet? David Laidlaw considers resolving this challenge, known as the haptics problem, to be the holy grail of virtual reality. But that doesnt mean its insurmountable. Im confident well do it within our lifetimes, Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, told me. There are no fundamental physical laws that prevent us from building something thats almost perfect. Laidlaw is less optimistiche thinks that creating lifelike haptics will take 100 yearsbut he agrees that a virtual world may one day be a nearly perfect simulacrum of the real one.

Of course, there could be unintended consequences. Already people are developing vision problems and vitaminD deficienciesnot to mention obesity and diabetesbecause they spend too much time in front of screens. (See The Nature Cure.) What might a flawlessly rendered virtual world mean for our health?

A Neuromancer Future?

Jeremy Bailenson was inspired to work in virtual reality in part by Neuromancer, a 1984 novel that depicts a future in which people can jack in their brains directly to a virtual world. Perhaps, Bailenson speculates, thats where virtual reality is headed. He imagines that in 50 or 100 years we might develop a brain-machine interface that taps directly into the nervous system.

Perhaps then well find that rather than jacking in for a while and calling it quits, we can, like Alice, move wholly into a Wonderland where the laws of the prosaic world (gravity, aging) no longer apply. Virtual reality could then become akin to the Singularity, a concept described by Ray Kurzweil, a futurist and Google engineer, among others: a way for our minds to separate from our bodies and, uploaded into a digital realm, live on even as our physical selves grow old and die. Just like Wonderland, its a vision equal parts entrancing and frightening.

1930: The first mechanical flight simulator is patented.

194245: The U.S. military uses View-Masters for training during World War II. The device later becomes a popular childrens toy.

1962: Morton Heilig patents the Sensorama, an experience theater featuring 3D video, a vibrating chair, fans, and artificial smells.

1968: MIT develops the first virtual-reality headset, a device so heavy, it must be suspended from the ceiling. Its nickname: the Sword of Damocles.

1996: Virtual Boy, Nintendos 3D video-game console, is discontinued because it causes nausea.

2014: Facebook buys Oculus, a virtual-reality company, for $2 billion.

2115: Virtual reality incorporates haptic sensations, enabling users to touch what they see.

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Virtual Reality Gets Real - theatlantic.com