I’ve come to realize that when I talk about our lab’s research, I’m generally trying to convey two concepts. One of them is very easy, but the other is a little tricky to get across.<\/p>\n
The easy concept is that in the future we will all have those cyber-contact lenses, and will share physical reality just as we do now, except with enhanced senses — essentially the scenario Vernor Vinge describes in Rainbows End<\/i>. Everybody gets this idea, perhaps because it is a straightforward extension of the cyber-enhanced physical existence we have today.<\/p>\n
But the second concept is sometimes met with confusion: The concept that language and conversation itself will consequently evolve. For example, when I demonstrate ideas about how language might evolve to contain a more visual vocabulary, I will sometimes draw a stick figure of a bird. The bird I’ve drawn will then come to life, start to walk around and react to its environment.<\/p>\n
People will then sometimes ask: “But isn’t that fake? You created something beforehand, and you are just making it appear as though you drew it now.” I think the confusion comes from the relationship between different parts of language.<\/p>\n
When we talk with each other through verbal speech, we rely on most words to already exist. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation. The bird is essentially a word in a different sort of language.<\/p>\n
When I draw it, I’m not claiming to invent a new word on the spot, but rather to show how, in the future, we might converse with each other in a visually enhanced world after<\/i> such a visually shareable language has had time to develop.<\/p>\n
It’s a crucial concept, but alas one that is easy to misinterpret. I still haven’t figured out the best way to get this concept across in a clear and unambiguous way.<\/p>\n
But I’m working on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve come to realize that when I talk about our lab’s research, I’m generally trying to convey two concepts. One of them is very easy, but the other is a little tricky to get across. The easy concept is that in the future we will all have those cyber-contact lenses, and will share physical reality … Continue reading “Easy concept \/ hard concept”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17351"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17353,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17351\/revisions\/17353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}