The author, a co-founder of an early VR company, recounts the initial excitement and somewhat naive promotion of VR as a transformative technology in the 1980s. They contrast this with current perspectives and discuss the evolution of VR applications.
VR's success is highlighted in two key areas: industrial applications (e.g., design, surgery simulation) and visionary/artistic uses in exploring consciousness and perception.
The article explores the ongoing quest for 'killer apps' for everyday use. While gaming and initial applications for headsets like Apple's Vision Pro are discussed, the author believes that truly compelling, everyday applications are yet to emerge.
The piece differentiates between completely immersive VR and mixed/augmented reality (AR), highlighting the technological challenges and potential cognitive issues associated with camera-based AR.
The author voices concerns about the attention-grabbing business models driving VR development, the potential for deception and misuse, and the importance of ethical considerations in shaping VR's future.
The author emphasizes the need for VR experiences to be actively created by users rather than passively consumed, highlighting the difficulty of maintaining long-term VR experiences due to technological changes.
The article concludes by considering the author's personal perspective on the future of VR, contrasting the potentially dystopian vision of constant VR use with a more optimistic vision focused on fleeting, meaningful experiences and the creation of spontaneous, practical VR applications.