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The Virtual Singularity Is Here
Posted November 2, 2008 in Blog
There is a concept in science fiction called the singularity. It’s a transformative moment, an event that changes the perception of the world. In the extreme, a singularity could be a moment where machines become self-aware and attempt to take control of the world (Terminator) or aliens land on the White House lawn (The Day The Earth Stood Still). You could think of personal computers or cell phones or the Internet as mild forms of a singularity.
In the entertainment world, digital effects have already crossed the threshold that allows us to distinguish movie fantasy from reality. But what happens when that expensive technique evolves into a cheap tool that can be used create synthetic actors or environments? What happens when you can no longer trust that the person you’re talking to is real? Just ask Emily from Image Metrics:
If the tech talk lost you and you skipped ahead, go back and take a second look. Emily isn’t real. While you’re thinking about how close to real she looked, let the design engineers over at OTOY show you the type of world you might meet Emily in:
You could run both of these on a standard iPhone, no massive computers required. The technologies have a way to go, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see a world where you can no longer separate real and virtual content. We go to big budget movies expecting to be wowed by the impossible, but what about the evening news? If videogames like World of Warcraft can bring in millions of addicted users, how many will flock to OTOY’s simulated “liveplace” environment?
Contact lens computer displays are already in the early stages of development, and it’s more than likely our children will find it hard to imagine a physical world where the real and imaginary didn’t interact.
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Wearables, as a concept, is gaining more and more popularity. And the singularity, as Vernor Vinge describes it, has jokingly become the Geek Rapture.
It was cool meeting you in Columbus. I hope to see you around, at other cons.
Yeah, the post-human thing is getting to be a bit of a bad joke in SF due to overuse, but it will be interesting to see how society changes in a world where seeing is no longer believing.
It was great meeting you as well. I’ve been tied down by writing deadlines, but I’ve been meaning to head over to your neck of the web to say hi.