Evolution of Reality

The beauty of the internet is just how simple it has become to quickly find information on any topic you can think of. The down side is that it is also now very simple to find out that the great new idea you thought you just had has been thoroughly researched, extensively documented and widely publicized many times over.

I experienced this first hand recently on a trip to Japan. I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo over a weekend and took the opportunity to take a day trip to Kamakura, about an hour south of Tokyo by train. I had already spent much of the flight over thinking about how the availability of information could drive the evolution of reality. While walking around the beautiful city and on the train back I started to flesh out a potential path starting with enhanced reality, basically adding metadata into our reality through something as basic as audio or visual enhancements. Then modified reality where the availability of spacial data allows us to customize pieces of reality, basically skinning our world to suit us. Then alternate reality where everything is modified to create a new and alternative reality. Finally true virtual reality where we are not physically part of the reality but are perceived no differently from those that are by other in that reality.

Then I made a big mistake and thought I would google "enhanced reality". Man, was I treading a well trodden path. The most interesting hit was an interesting paper by Max More entitled "Virtue and Virtuality" and dated....wait for it....1997! Not only am I unoriginal, but a decade behind the times.

Made for an interesting trip to Kamakura though and perhaps I can go back there one day from the comfort of my own home.