Way back in 1965, Gordon Moore proposed what we now refer to as
the Moore’s Law. According to it, computer power doubles itself every 2 years.
In other words, a computer system that would have cost you Rs. 50000/- a couple
of years ago, would now cost you only Rs. 25000/-.
So why am I telling you this? Virtual Reality is not a very
popular technology today, due to the high costs, sophisticated equipment etc.
But on applying Moore’s Law we can predict that it soon will be immensely
popular. Ken Pimelat in the book Virtual
Marketing predicted:
“Within one hundred years virtual reality could become a semi
invisible service in society, like telephones, light switches, books, and
television – a tool for communication, work, and pleasure that we use without
thinking about it.”
Multimedia expert Ramesh Jain wrote:
“You might experience your friend's wedding in India, seeing what
is happening, feeling the warm, humid air of the wedding hall, listening to
conversations and the wedding music, and enjoying the taste and aroma of the
food being served. You might experience all that and more while sitting at home
in Montana on a frigid January morning.”
This makes us discuss whether the not-so-far popularity of VR will
become a boon or a bane?
Personally, I feel that future VR and computer technology could
positively change the world and bring it closer together.
VR-enhanced communications will allow those with restricted
mobility, confined to their homes, to interact more fully and humanly with the
outside world. Because they will use avatars and augmented and assistive
technologies on the Internet, they need not reveal to anyone that they have a
disability. People with learning disabilities will be able to share their
experiences, feelings, and knowledge using communications assistance and
augmentation.
Companies making virtual games are already in stiff competition.
Introduction of VR in gaming will completely alter the way we look at
entertainment. Computer entertainment will not only mean gaming, but putting
yourself in a completely new place. You can go to a place to relax, to party,
to ski or to tan, right from your home!
Critics still have a habit of exaggerating the addiction and
mental problems related to computer games. Robert Coffey puts it really
beautifully:
“It's oddly reassuring to be able to point at something you don't
understand and blame it for something else you don't understand. Or don't want
to devote a whole lot of thought to. It's a lot easier to hold Doom [a violent computer game]
responsible for some horror than to figure out the role parenting, society, and
good old-fashioned unexplainable craziness played.”
VR will also revolutionize a student’s mindset about education.
Any normal child will tend to go into slumber while mugging form history textbooks
or reading fat Shakespearean plays. Now imagine the impact VR will have when
the child can actually be with Moses composing the twin tablets or be able to
live the life of Mark Antony Julius Caesar!
VR will also be a boon to medical sciences. A VR project has
already been set up and functioning in this field. It is called CAVE, short for
Cave Automatic Virtual Environment. It is basically a cubical room, with all
the walls having 3D LCD displays. These make a virtual image of the cells of
the patient. The doctor can stand inside the virtually projected image of the
cells and diagnose the disease. This has enabled doctors to understand and cure
diseases much more efficiently than before.
I would like to conclude with these words:
“Interactive multimedia is experiential and sensory, you don't simply observe
the object, you are the object. You enter into and become part of the
landscape, not just a detached observer. The medium functions as an extension
of the self, a reconfiguration of identity, dreams, and memories—blurring the
boundaries between self and exterior. . . . The revolutionary nature of
multimedia . . . lies in its potential to transform the human spirit.”
