In the World Where Your Fantasy Becomes Reality
All you need are your brains … and a little bit of technological aid
The “imagined reality” is definitely the theme of the year, but it’s not a new phenomenon at all. As Yuval Harari argued years ago, it has defined human nature and civilizations since the prehistoric era.
While AI has usurped the throne of the metaverse as the hottest tech topic, all these megatrends are coherent in creating new realities with the aid of technologies, whether it’s AR, VR, or generative AI tools. It’s getting easier and easier to create anything you imagine. What a ‘brave new world’ …
While there are numerous beneficial use cases of these ‘reality-creating’ technologies, abuse cases are already popping up, which is not unexpected. You’ve probably seen the following news about the increasing prevalence of ‘very real fake photos’.
Legislation is definitely necessary to regulate the harmful use of AI-generated fakes. Meanwhile, it’s also important to embrace these new realities unless they cause harm to public safety or are used in criminal acts. We are now living in a world where it’s increasingly possible to transcend physical realities.
New realities: augmented or distorted
Maybe the term ‘metaverse’ itself is passé, but the enormous potential of ‘extended reality (XR)’ remains, which is the concept that encompasses all those artificially created realities including AR, VR and MR. Mixed reality, or MR, is an advanced version of augmented reality or AR. With MR technologies, you can interact with overlaid images or objects that you were only able to see with AR technologies.
What is the Difference between AR vs MR vs VR vs XR? | Interaction Design Foundation
In my opinion, the reason behind the metaverse concept's short shelf life was its excessive focus on virtual reality, or VR. The fully immersive experience provided by VR also implies total isolation from the physical world, which is no longer exciting in the post-COVID era. However, AR and MR have much more potential use cases by enabling us to actively interact with physical reality. In that sense, the metaverse alternative will rise in the near future as an evolved concept of ‘Virtuality Continuum’, a spectrum of extended reality between the physical world and the digital world. And AI technologies will enhance it.
This world of new realities will be exciting and scary at the same time as the following video showcases.
Forget the idea of avatars interacting with each other in a fully virtual world, as was the case with the old metaverse concept. Instead, you'll be able to attend a global meeting by transporting your holographic self to a conference room at the corporate HQ from your own room, or even enjoy dating a love interest you met at a real club while wearing an attractive holographic mask. And AR contact lenses will not only assist you in navigating the physical world but also enable instant image capture, which can be transformed into new, fabricated realities using generative AI.
When your thoughts become realities
When you're no longer confined to physical reality, what becomes the most important aspect? Perhaps your brain power? The following mini documentary demonstrates that l’m not joking.
The documentary demonstrates that our brains can not only create artificial realities but also alter physical reality.
Brain–computer interfaces, studied within the field of neurotechnology, have already made it possible for a rat to move objects outside its body. You don’t even have to go this far. It’s a well-known fact that thoughts can affect the body, even influencing blood sugar levels.
Battle of human minds
While I have no intention of discussing "The Secret"-type mysteries here, it is quite evident that our thoughts have the power to create realities. And we now have various tools to aid this process. In other words, your chances of success are high if you are blessed with a high-performing brain and/or access to advanced technologies to enhance it.
However, this is another good news bad news situation. While nothing seems impossible when you possess critical thinking abilities and the proper technological aids, can we be sure that this is a win-win game? What if elites, armed with more brilliant minds and access to advanced technologies, become even smarter and more powerful, leaving the rest with fewer opportunities to get ahead?
As I once covered in a previous post, we humans are at another inflection point in our evolution. Unfortunately, opportunities to become superhuman may not be equally distributed, I’m afraid.
Will the evolution of our species lead to a utopian convergence of minds or a dystopian divide of new castes: superhuman and commoners? That is the question.