Imagine you go to a party. On the way in, you put on a pair of “smart glasses”: a self-contained, cordless computer. Once the glasses are on, you experience the party, guests and environment as you would normally, while simultaneously experiencing an augmented reality. One wherein you see great works of art, regularly housed in museums and private collections, but tonight, it’s available for you to study from every angle and beyond barriers. Except it’s an illusion; a hologram.
The above scenario was described to me by my stylist. It turns out one of her clients works for Microsoft. As one of many developers, he’s currently engrossed with the production of HoloLens, a platform marketed as a level beyond virtual reality because of its blending of holograms with one’s real time environment. As my stylist talked about the technology, I imagined the film Vanilla Sky, and the swanky bachelor pad Tom Cruise’s character used to entertain guests with holograms of John Coltrane playing music. The juxtaposed reality in the film shook me up when I first saw it years ago. The fictional 2001 film vs. a real product in present time was particularly overwhelming to ponder while waiting for a fresh coat of hair dye to take root.
Party décor use was just one of HoloLens’ astounding, seemingly infinite potential applications. Beyond home entertainment and gaming, demos of the “holographic computing platform” show users teaching, learning, communicating and designing. Whether working, playing or connecting, HoloLens can impact every area of life. The seamless integration of the real world with that of an alternate reality offers users the ability to create (whether it be for fantasy or reality) without physically leaving the room they’re in.
Death doesn’t stop John Coltrane from performing as a hologram in the film Vanilla Sky.
In many ways, this seems like a logical, natural next step in technological progress and advancement. Between Bluetooth devices emanating familiar voices in our ears, Skype and other video chatting services displaying loved ones right in front of us – even from states or countries away, the internet readily accessible to give us a preview of menus before stepping foot into a restaurant, trackers to help us find the quickest methods and routes to take alongside GPS navigating us to our destinations, weather updates so we need not peek out the window to know we’ll need an umbrella, sunglasses, or jacket, instant messaging and texts cropping up in rapid fire succession to keep us connected, and music, movies, books and other streaming media washing over our senses at all times – well… suffice it to say, we already exist in a self-contained technological bubble. At the moment, all our apps and devices are ones that are separate from our beings. Though we rarely do, we can still put down our phones, disconnect while at work or visiting. With the incorporation of HoloLens technology, are we losing ourselves to augmented reality?
As explored repeatedly in this blog, technology connects us, bringing us closer together, but it also alienates and pushes us further apart from one another. Will technology such as HoloLens bring us one step closer to completely cutting ourselves off from direct contact with each other? I worry about the lines continuing to blur; the distinction of real life and dream becoming indistinguishable.
Demo for HoloLens.
Then again, I think of the learning curve, adjustments and integration of society’s technological history. For instance, look at the advent of radio. A 1938 broadcast of an adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds led to panic and confusion for listeners that didn’t realize warnings of an alien invasion were not real. Upon first seeing moving images of trains in film and on TV, audiences were reported to have jumped out of their seats to avoid what was an illusion of sudden death. Presuming HoloLens takes off, it could represent the next piece of technology to initially astound, but then become incorporated into our routines in a marginal way. After all, the novelty and mystery of innovation wears off. How often are we wowed today by brewing ourselves a cup of coffee? Or driving around town?
My head felt heavy as a brick after researching HoloLens. I closed my tablet once I’d had enough, and looked up at the world around me. Outside my window, Seattle was doing its thing. A torrential downpour soaked the grounds after the sky opened up a short while before. Yet at that moment, the precipitation had passed, and the dandelion glow of the sun mixed with another batch of menacing clouds on the horizon. Then I looked over at my cat, who was snoozing on the loveseat. I smirked and walked toward the couch. The simple perception of real life unfolding in real time was a poignant reminder of what’s really meaningful: to turn off, put away, and disconnect from technological reliances. To look up, out, and around to take note of what is. What truly is.
Technology offers ceaseless wonder that can take our breaths away, but what’s most stunning and wondrous is what’s authentic. At least, that is my belief. As I curled up on the couch, listening to passing rain followed by chirping birds being lured out by the sun, I laughed at my cat who was crawling all over me and drooling (he thinks he’s a dog). He finally got comfortable and we nestled into each other. As he purred, I smiled. There was nowhere else in the world I would have wanted to be. No augmented reality could have heightened the happiness or satisfaction I felt. That is my reality, in the here and now.
Old-fashioned Challenge: Live real life to its fullest.
© Tia Gargiulo, 2015
Interconnected Disconnectivity 