Virtual Reality
A TWC project
Simulation Virtual Reality
The Matrix
In the future, virtual reality may play an integral role in the way we work, learn and play. Virtual offices would have a more literal meaning, learning would be through experiencing and visualising with the help of virtual reality and simulators would teach more than what we’ve just listed.
Could we be seeing the potential for a virtual world as powerful as the Matrix? Convergence is likely to be the direction we can see most of today’s technology taking. Similarly, technology in virtual reality would be able to detect commands of the user straight from the person’s brainwaves, or through a better version of motion detection, allowing an even greater sense of immersion. This same technology would be linked to the latest version of the internet allowing the users to download the latest simulations for education and training, join the latest classes through the internet or head to their virtual office. One can only imagine the savings in travelling time and cost for this.
Education
Apart from virtual classes, as discussed earlier, virtual reality brings in an exciting new prospect for learning. By employing high definition 3D graphics, students can be transported straight to wherever or whatever their subject matter requires them to see. If they need to learn about atomic structures, they could zoom straight over to a 3D model of an atom to see how the electrons move around the nucleus firsthand. If they want to experience what the French Revolution was like, they would be able to download that data and join the revolution! Advancements in this technology would allow people to seemingly be at those places and events, seeing all the developments of the subject and gaining an almost first hand understanding of what we need to learn. This would be of great help to those who have different methods of learning such as learning visually or through hands-on experience.
Also, the advancement of gaming technology would be able to make simulations that would rival real-life experience. The games that would appear in the future would blur the lines between actually experiencing something in real life and in a virtual world. The realism would be able to help people learn new techniques and skills, just like practicing martial arts like in the Matrix.
Research
Virtual reality has always focused on allowing people to see and understand a situation as if they were actually in that situation. In the future, research can be further enhanced through the scanning of the topography and the layout of earth and other planets. Satellite scanning and imagery would be able to provide information on the planet’s surface in question which would be used to create a 3D world of that planet. Scientists would then be able to “explore” those virtual worlds and gain new insights and understanding without needing to worry about the travel preparation and cost.