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As immersive technology blurs the line between the real and virtual, here are seven rules that can protect society.
We perceive physical reality with our senses: we see the blue sky, hear waves crashing on the beach, feel the wind in our hair. As technology such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) presents our senses with either partially or completely digitalized versions of reality, it is altering what we can see, hear, and feel. AR adds virtual elements to our perception of reality so that we can see what buildings looked like throughout history, or chase virtual monsters in the streets. However, VR completely virtualizes the environment, making it possible to simulate combat missions or hold virtual conferences. Such technology will facilitate a move away from the computer keyboard and mouse to a more immersive form of computing in which we interact with computers with gestures, physical behaviors, and voices, while the "world" becomes our screen.
Over the last decade, tech giants such as Facebook, Google, HTC, and Microsoft have invested billions in VR/ AR technology, which they see as an important part of their future business model. As the technology has become more powerful, it has also become more sophisticated and more affordable for consumers. In 2019, more than 7,000 inventions relating to VR/AR were patented worldwide. Facebook now has more than 3,000 employees working on VR/AR, and the company's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, aims to have a billion people using VR on social media platforms, with the goal of changing "the way we work, play, and communicate."
Immersive technology has enormous potential to transform our lives as well as our work. Armies now use it for training, doctors treat patients using VR/AR therapy, and architects use it to create simulations of building designs. In the consumer domain, VR applications in diverse areas including gaming and porn have demonstrated successful business models. And AR apps, in particular Pokémon Go, which broke records in 2016 when it was downloaded 50 million times within 19 days, suggest that increasing commercialization is both lucrative and likely.
The power of this emerging technology raises urgent social and political questions-particularly regarding surveillance, human augmentation, and digital modification of real spaces and objects.
First, immersive technology should...