Interview with Adrian David Cheok (Keio University), Howard Charney (CISCO), Genevieve Bell (Intel) about reality-virtualtiy co-existence at Seoul Digital Forum

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1) What kinds of technologies realise the ‘reality-virtuality coexistence’ in our daily life?

– Adrian:A process of hyperconnectivity, afforded by such technologies as cloud computing and social media is merging the physical reality and digitaldata.

– Howard: Fundamentally we are talking about video, mobility and cloud. This presumes affordable broadband services with infinite bandwidth.

– Genevieve: It’s more about the experiences supported/enabled by various technologies (e.g. mobile phones, social networks) than technologies themselves. In fact, experiencing virtual worlds is not strictly about technologies- take religious rituals for example.

2) Where is this zeitgeist heading and how will they shape our future?

– Adrian: in a direction that encompasses more of our senses and feelings. Our social networks may extend beyond humans to an emotional/non-verbal communication between humans, their environments, devices and objects.

– Howard: mixed reality technologies will be applied more extensively to the such areas – but not limited to – as virtual training, immersive teaching/learning. These virtual reality-supported learning experiences will increase competence, success and well being in many of our activities.

– Genevieve: The ways for ‘social networking’ will become more diversified,and new modes of digitally enhanced social engagements will continue to emerge. Cultural, social and regulatory frameworks will play an important role in this process.

 

3) How we can make AR/MR become more humanised and sustainable?

– Adrian: The use of visual, auditory, haptic, olfactory and gustatory senses will enable a new paradigm of more humanised telecommunication. This field has a long way to go, but it would be especially interesting to see how children will grasp these technologies to create value.

– Howard:Are AR/MR technologies about creating alternative realities or enhancing the ‘real world’? – it should be about extending and enhancing our physical world. When used for learning and training, AR/MR can prove to be powerful tools for creativity, innovation, collaboration and productivity.

– Genevieve: We are moving from command-control interactions with technology to possibilities of forming ‘relationships’ with them. Siri for example promises to ‘listen’ and gives us a sense of being taken care of. We might imagine a relationship in which humans and technologies are effectively bound to each other.