Future Evolution of Virtual Reality and Oculus Rift

In order to speculate on future evolution of virtual reality and Oculus Rift one has to assess current and near future uses people have and will develop.

Firstly looking at potential in money backers, the OR was able to get its $250,000 goal with in a week on Kickstarter. This sum of money finalized at $2,437,249. Two years later the owner of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, bought out the Oculus Rift for 2 billion dollars. All this has happened even before the product was fully developed. So money wise, the OR has an amazing amount of potential.

The business environment could change radically with the OR’s ability to allow clients to see and tour their trillion dollar buildings or boats in first person, before they are even built. Virtual offices will take on a new meaning where people are able to interact together in a totally immersive way. Combine virtual offices with living on a tropical island paradise, one could even imagine never seeing their, high paid, boss in real life.

The military use for the OR is wide ranging and scary. For example being shot from behind could be a thing of the past, using the OR soldiers can literally see behind themselves. That said, soldiers might not even need to turn to shoot, using the OR another soldier back at base could pilot a rear facing shoulder mounted gun.
Military training using the OR will be more effective than ever due to the low latency and immersive environment. Drone piloting will be more immersive, remote pilots can have a cockpit view on the drone if they wish. Interrogation and information extraction techniques can potentially take a darker turn. Using the OR interrogators would be able to simulate phobia situations and exploit other points of weakness.

Lastly and possibly one of the most powerful uses of the OR is its ability to allow the viewer to virtually inhabit another person’s body. For example it allows a man and woman to see what it would be like in each other’s body. This process can also be applied for transgender, impoverished, the rich or celebrities. This unique ability allows a connection between two or many people our society has never experienced before. Moving forward, this may facilitate an empathic connection with one another on a deeper less superficial level.

Perhaps this out of body experience may show that being a celebrity might not be as desirable as one may think. It could spark a greater level of understanding for gay, lesbian, transgender, black, white, poor and religious differences.

Looking back, if one were to assess the Oculus Rift on future evolution of Virtual reality technology, the Oculus Rift has the potential to be as culturally pervasive as the internet, if not more.

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