Not just a ‘Uni’-verse
For many years people have been wondering what the culmination of all our developing technologies would look like; Where it would all lead. Science fiction has always been trying to predict what technologies would become a reality and a part of our routine lives. There is so many dystopian sci-fi movies where everyone is plugged into the “Matrix” or some sort of complex network that everyone was a part of. Movies like Total Recall, The terminator, and Ghost in the Shell to name a few. These are all movies where technology has advanced so much that the line becomes blurred between what reality is and what it isn’t. Suffice it to say that we are not there yet currently, but that does not stop people from wondering what IS the future of our virtual realities and how big of a role they will play in our lives in the near future. Currently AR seems to be the first step of the virtual ladder.
AR Cloud
The AR cloud is one of the names they are giving to this idea of a joint space in which people can access a virtual version of our actual world. People all over the world would be able to use their phones as a window into this virtual world. In essence it would be an extension of our real world because the space that it would exist on would be rendered by the cameras and sensors present in our phones. As someone that is really into greek philosophy I instantly imagine Plato’s world of forms which is the “perfect” and “unchanging” reality from which our reality is based on. Except when it comes to this AR Cloud it would work in reverse because it would be based on our current reality. It would be very interesting to see because one of the thoughts that comes to my head would be being in a new town and looking for a good restaurant and popping out my phone as I walk down the street and when I point it to the restaurants I am walking by I see the reviews that others have placed outside of it and even images or 3d renders of what their plates looked like that they ordered so I could see if it is appealing or not.
Magicverse
The Magicverse brings that sense of wonder into this virtual extension. It is based on the idea that spatial computing can amplify the reach, presence, and economic strength of a physical place well beyond its limited physical geography. From what I can gather this runs a lot more on the idea of community and the widespread sharing of information.
This map lays out the different layers that would make up the Magicverse. It shows that different layers of the realm could serve different purpose for different people depending on their current needs. In this way our physical would could be very multifaceted and hold much more information than it otherwise would be able to hold. This makes the AR realm adaptable and have more value.
Cyberverse
Huawei has developed their own version of an AR virtuality and dubbed it the Cyberverse. Their focus is more on the reliability and accuracy of the phones that one would be using to traverse this augmented world with. They say “The all-scenario spatial computing of Cyberverse enables a mobile phone to precisely work out its position right down to the centimeter and sense its orientation with a margin of error of one degree.” this means that the connection to this Cyberspace would be as seamless as possible and it would make it feel that much more integrated into our physical world. I think that it is a very important point to consider the connection between us and the Virtuality. In order to make this new thing as attractive as possible it has to be reliable. Usually technology that is not reliable from the start has a hard time becoming mainstream and grabbing a foothold into the commercial system.
Planet Scale AR
Niantic has used user data to generate a more accurate virtual map of the world. I think that it is very interesting that they are in essence tricking or at least distracting, the users in order to use their data to help them develop their world better, by using the disguise of a game. Not that they are doing it in a malicious way but this did make me think of the repercussions of this. What if there was a company that was tricking the public into feeding them data that they could later use with malicious intent. Where would all the information in these Virtual Universes be stored? And who would have access to them? How would the data be encrypted? This makes me think of the current facebook situation and the data wars. I personally would be concerned with the implications of users being able to hack into obtaining a 3D render of my house with all the items in it simply because I was playing a video game.
Further thoughts
I think there should be a lot of thought into the moderation of these types of technologies and data transfers. There should be some regulations into how this data should be handled and what the legality of owning this information is and how it should work. I think the issue is going to be much like it is now that a lot of our elected officials are not very educated when it comes to new technologies and they don’t really know how to deal with them. This is the same thing that I heard Elon Musk talk about when talking about the development and advancement of AI. The idea that there should be some sort of governing body that regulates how these developments work and what is and is not allowed to do.
I think that if we don’t take these precautions beforehand if will cause a lot of damage for the first wave of implementation of these technologies. People don’t always make the best decisions when they are given free rein to do whatever they like. The whole “Raid Area 51” thing from 2019 comes to mind. When people believe that they won’t have ramifications for their actions they tend to get into a mob mentality and lose the idea of being held accountable for their actions.
