Blog Archives
The Virtual Reality of Our Dreams
How different is virtual reality from dreaming?
Expanding on yesterday’s blog post (“What Will Be Your Spinning Top?”), a primary rationale for trying virtual reality is escapism. The same goes for movies, TV, music, art, vacationing, etc. Escapism is powerful. Escapism is an amazing thing. In realizing so, virtual reality (VR) can take this universal dreamlike pursuit and characteristic of virtually everybody in the world and capitalize on this frequent need and want to explore and immerse ourselves into all sorts of places, real and imagined. It’s not far-fetched to speculate the world we live in today, on planet Earth day-to-day, could become just the ground level of myriad worlds and realities, customized by the individual.
One of the connections made in “What Will Be Your Spinning Top?” was between VR and the movie Inception. While I am in no way predicting a shot-for-shot vision of the film for the evolving technology of VR, I do believe there is an argument to be made that VR will feel more like an indistinguishable dream than a static experience standing in the middle of a Best Buy aisle.
With a headset, of course.
Take a visual ride into what I’m talking about.
Accomplishing something in five minutes that usually takes an hour? Not such a bad reality.
Or dream-like world?
Or reality…?
What Will Be Your Spinning Top?
(Inception, IFC.com)
The depth to which virtual reality (VR) is integrated into multiple facets of our lives and society in the coming decade or so could very well begin the process of introducing a burgeoning world akin to Christopher Nolan’s 2010 mind-bending cinematic epic Inception.
You ever have those days when real life doesn’t quite seem like real life? Get ready because that feeling may be redefined in ways (or dimensions) we can’t yet imagine.
VR is a technological gold mine that has yet to officially strike, well, gold. In essence, VR has amounted to something closer to fool’s gold. Perhaps that’s not an entirely fair analysis, but the promise of an ever-expansive, seamless virtual world with newfound capabilities (fantastical and realistic) has been in the development phase for many decades. Yes, there are virtual reality headsets and games here and there. However, the technology has yet to be streamlined into our day-to-day lives.
In other words, VR has not been given the Apple-treatment.
By Apple-treatment, that means no individual or company has figured out the long sought-after universal approach to personalize VR like an iPhone or iPod with an overarching, dynamic, connected and reactive infrastructure. And that’s the key to VR becoming a technological gold mine. This streamlined achievement would be the pivot from intriguing accessory to necessity.
When will this happen? Likely in the not-so-distant future. Why? The pieces are here, scattered and evolving as they may appear. Whether used for gazing up at the stars and planets or for gaming or for the growing VR for educational purposes (to name just a few), people continue to crave alternate worlds and realities. Or, at the very least, new and imaginative perspectives. The bottom line is that enough of the necessary pieces are around if someone or some company (new or established) has the ingenuity to envision the most expansive virtual reality ever imagined that will allow us to immerse ourselves in with animated curiosity.
And you thought the movie Inception was confusing with its dream world, subconscious and spinning top…
just wait until Inception is your new reality.
iPad Before iPhone Except After (Fore)seeing the Future
Wednesday is the perfect day for wisdom.
And random wisdom is the best.
The serendipitous moments that have generated inspirational ideas are some of my favorites. So much of life is unknown day-to-day and these instances of fortuity are proof of the boundless world we live in that can change for the better in a heartbeat. The trajectory of planned events can suddenly (and so frequently) take an amazing detour without warning. Without diving too deep into the psychological dynamic of unforeseen tangents, please click on the video below that features the late Steve Jobs revealing a secret of his initial business plan for a revolutionary product (for another revolutionary product, mind you) because of his gut decision to follow an inspirational moment during a developmental cycle that took him off his predetermined innovative path.
Embracing an inspirational aha moment (however small) can change your life, your business and, in some cases, possibly even the world.
While we may never definitively know if the chicken or the egg came first, we do know why the iPhone came before the iPad. And the answer is insanely great.
Zero Degrees of Innovation?
Patterns only become patterns if something is repeated enough times.
And the following blog post will highlight impressive alumni.
Elon Musk is best known for his innovative work on Tesla cars and SpaceX. Tesla focuses on electric cars, which includes the Model 3 (starting at $35,000 before any tax breaks). SpaceX focuses on technology built and imagined for space ventures. Mr. Musk is viewed by many as a Steve Jobs-like thinker who is changing the game of transportation on Earth and in the stars. Part of the attraction to Mr. Musk’s way of thinking is that he breaks from conventional wisdom. Norms do not appear to impress Elon Musk.
For instance, listen to what he thinks of college degrees within the space of creativity, innovation and potential.
While it’s not quite as simple to declare a high school or college degree inconsequential, Mr. Musk’s point does raise valid concerns in attempting to view the potential of applicants. If a firm wants conventional results, then a conventional approach works. But if a firm wants unconventional results, then past ways of determining skill and potential demand revision and a procedural overhaul.
If only Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison had track records of success…
Jimmy's Daily Planet 