I’ve been thinking about that day, sometime in the future, when you and I, and everyone we know, will be wearing those cyber-context lenses.
Virtual objects will then become part of our every day reality. We will take for granted that there are objects which appear to sit on a table, stand on the floor, or just float in the air between us, yet which are “real” only in the sense that we can all see them. If we were to try to touch such an object, our hand would go right through it.
In such a world, perhaps today’s physical, tangible objects will take on a new meaning. I wonder whether we will come up with a new category for those wonderfully old-fashioned objects that you can actually pick up and touch with your hands.
And if so, what would we call them?
In Karl Schroeder’s “Permanence”, such augmented reality technology led to changes in architectural style. In one scene the protagonist disables the virtual tid-bits of his eyes and sees a very stark, minimal, completely undecorated cityscape.
Yes, that outcome is pretty much a given, just as, in today’s world, nobody bothers to make the kitchen of a restaurant look charming.
There are several upsides to the coming virtualization of architectural style:
(1) Money saved on physical implementation of decoration can be directed toward higher quality construction;
(2) Architectural style can be freed of physical constraints (and the dangers of falling masonry);
(3) People (or like-minded groups of people) will be free to choose the architectural style of the place where they live.
“vigne”ttes