Augmented Reality is Sci-Fi Happening Now

One of the best thing about having grown up reading books like Gibson’s “Neuromancer” and Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” is that I am not getting to see almost all the fantastical technological fantasies in those books become a reality.  It’s well known that Second Life was largely based on the work in “Snow Crash” and the whole world of hackers that permeates Gibson’s early books is thriving.

One idea Gibson wrote a lot about in his last book, “Spook Country,” is augmented reality.  In his book, this meant wearing a special helmet and visor that overlayed the real world with images and information beamed in from the net.

Below, however, is a real-world example of Layar’s Augmented Reality software in action.  While it’s just a start, the applications are overwhelmingly cool.

Check it out:

Do We Want To Go Virtual?

In sorta big gaming news, The Sims is becoming EA Land, an online virtual world ala SecondLife and There.com.

One of the main reasons I find myself emersed in new media today is due to my love of cyberpunk as a kid.  The idea of a full virtual reality that we could plug into was just completely enthralling to me at the time.

However, though I was a very early internet adopter and user I never got excited by things like SecondLife or There.com largely because they just seemed like toy – there is nothing that one needs to do in SL and most of the possible activities are pretty much things I do in my real life.  That’s all fine as a temporary escape but it doesn’t emerse one in  a useful alternative world.

It is still quicker and easier to navigate the 2D web via links and scrollbars than it is to wander a Virtual town looking for the “library.”

As a social alternative there is some real potential in these virtual worlds but the idea i had as a kid that we would be living part of our lives inside the machine seems silly to me now.

However, the notion of a “filter” that puts the web over the real world, like explored in Gibson’s last book, Spook Country, is potentially REALLY exciting.