‘Father’ Of Virtual Reality Warns Of Societal Consequences
Jaron Lanier first started working with Virtual Reality in 1985 when he left Atari to form VPL Research, the first company to sell VR Headsets and gloves. Now, he has a warning as VR technologies become more commonplace:
“If we don't get our act together as a society, virtual reality could be so manipulative and so dark it could be the end of us, I just have to be clear about that.”
For more from Lanier, listen to his interview on WNYC’s ‘The Takeaway’
Samsung’s new ad for the Galaxy Gear VR ends with the tagline “Virtual reality just got real.” Based on the news that Amazon and Best Buy have already sold out, Samsung may be right to declare this year a turning point in the long-awaited arrival of VR. Although the fact that the device is only compatible with four Samsung phones may mean that we still have to wait for true mass adoption of VR. More likely, this is just one more step in a very long, slow technology adoption story.
I remember my first exposure to VR. Back in 1991, I visited VPL Research, the VR company founded by Silicon Valley visionary Jaron Lanier. The early VPL rigs were primitive, especially compared to today’s gaming consoles and high-end VR systems, but wearing VPL’s dataglove and eyephone gave me a compelling sense of being somewhere else. Between that visit and reading Snowcrash, I became convinced that VR was going to be a powerful factor in shaping our immediate future.
And for almost 25 years since, VR has remained a technology of the future. But I am more optimistic than ever that we’re on the verge of seeing it break through into a widely used, if not yet mainstream, experience. We’ve been using the Galaxy Gear VR at Moonshot this year not so much to create virtual realities, but to transport clients and partners to possible future realities.
The tools to create, experience and share these virtual, augmented, possible and alternate realities are becoming more accessible and available. Just as we’ve seen the explosion of photo and video in the last decade, I expect to see a comparable explosion in immersive realities in the coming decade.
Did VR just get real? Maybe. But even if it hasn’t yet, it will soon.
