Towards a Blended Reality: Interview with augmented reality pioneer Thad Sterner
I've been thinking about a recent conversation with Matthew Greeley, CEO of BrightIdea. He had a great take on 3D printers. He pointed out that when the time between thinking something up, and then physically having it – shrinks towards nothing – as with future 3D printers, our reality becomes less distinguishable from living in a digital reality, the Singularity.
He's right and it's an interesting idea to explore further. In a similar vein, products such as Google Glass offer a similar merging of the worlds. Former magazine publisher Fred Davis showed me his Google Glass and I appreciated the fact that he could near instantaneously looking something up online, or take a photo. The lag between thought and action is shrinking.
When Google Glass figures out what I need, and when I need it – because it knows my physical context there will be no lag time, I'll get exactly what I need when I need it. I won't even need to go through a process of "wanting" something, say my supermarket shopping list, because it'll know I'm in the supermarket and it won't let me pass by the tomatoes.
With no need to "want" I'll always get the digital things I need in the physical world. This experience of a "blended realty" won't be far off from a true experience of a digital Singularity. "Doe's it blend?" will have a whole new meaning when applied to digital gadgets and technologies.
I found an interview (above) of Nikola Danaylov talking with Thad Starner, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and technical lead for Google Glass. He coined the term "augmented reality" and is a pioneer in wearable computing. It has an intriguing headline: Reduce the Time Between Intention and Action.
Here's a description:
We cover a variety of interesting topics such as: how he coined the term augmented reality (AR) and the definition thereof; what is wearable computing and how it is different from AR; Google Glass -- its major breakthroughs, popular apps, misconceptions and implications; Starner's other cutting-edge projects such as the passive haptic learning mobile music touch glove; his personal advice for young augmented reality designers and developers; Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End and the technological singularity…