Nytmaer on Virtual Reality

Recently during a post on my favorite Oculus Go Fb group someone posted this video from 1991 called "Virtual Reality". 

I watched it, eager to see what it was about and I was in for a bit of a treat.  This pieces of journalism reminded me of what kind of virtual world we were being sold on.  During that time, Neuromancer was not even a decade old.  Blade Runner barely so.   The predictions of a world of virtual constructs, flying cars, holographic billboards and such were still novel concepts, but the real world was not so.  Too much war in our days.  The ends of some, beginnings of others.  Too much but not enough to direct the technology.  It seems like it was lost or so during a period of maybe ten-twenty years.  Right around the time Bush 2 came into office.  

We were so on track for VR and that chome lit super future that we were promised.  It seems like it got held back because of our governments drive to push war on the masses.  We were turned into a bunch of turban hating yahoos for the better part of a decade, all for some greedy asses pursuit of a dwindling resource. 

We should have been focusing in on the technology.  They were on point to do some amazing things and if technology had not been stunted and NASA allowed greater freedom to work on and develop more practical uses for the technology, I think we would have been better off; since NASA tech is one known to trickle down to the consumer level. 

This ain't to say that development in VR didn't continue through those periods, because they did, but it surely seems like there was a bit less in those days.  It almost seems to coincide that war causes priorities to shift from exploration to peace keeping/war mongering. Sigh!@

As a kid things like Max Headroom and later on Lawnmower Man were instrumental in my understanding of what VR was.  Shows like Reboot made me realize that the 3D graphics had room for amazing scenery and interesting characters.  VR was a natural part of the technology spectrum that I was deeply interested in.  As a kid who was always a considered a nerd, there shouldn't be any question as to why this appealed to me.  

It feels like VR took a dive for a while, but thanks to Luck(ey) we are starting to see VR really make it's return.  We should have been much further ahead in the development of technology to both compliment and accompany VR tech and now it feels like it's up to a new generation of virtual technologist to develop it.  The time is no my friends.  As we challenge both our current space and our virtual space; we must remember to not forget out human space.  

The virtual world has something for everyone.

-Nytmaer