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:

Virtual Worlds Much Like Real Ones – Yet Worse…

It’s already well known (among those who care to know at all) that much of Second Life is devoted to various sexual quirks and fetishes.  Sure there is some other cool stuff happening there once-in-a-while but its the virtual sex that drives the core user base.

Recently, there was an attempt to open a virtual world for Muslims.  This was quickly shut down after various haters invaded the world and basically harassed the crap out of the users.

Now, Sony is having to eliminate voice-chat from their new VR world “Home” because it was being used to harass female avatars.

It might be time to face facts – virtual worlds that have no directed gameplay element will quickly devolve into a lowest-common-denominator society.  Maybe total freedom is less of a gift than it appears.

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