VR and AR will expand the limits of human perception
With AR on mobile devices and head-mounted displays, we’re well within the start of what it means to live an augmented life.
Instead of AR being the technology through which we see the world, humans will become the common device for the combined knowledge of the species. We will dive past display technology to deeper integration with AIs and instantly searchable databases. We will be able to intuitively read reactions based on the dilation of each other’s pupils and the pulse under our skin. The best judgment calls will be made through instantly accessible shared data.
While bioethicists, geneticists, and politicians debate the ethics of the human modifications, technologists have free reign. We can argue for the advantages of today’s level of augmentation, but there can be no doubt that the arms race is on to make this interface more seamless. The question is not if these technologies will change our experience of reality, but how quickly.
...many animals already sense things we can’t. Pit vipers “see” thermal radiation of their prey, salmon are sensitive to magnetic fields, and arctic reindeer see into the UV spectrum to distinguish between food and snow.
What you see and your understanding of it will soon be different from the person next to you, and we will no longer have a common experience of our shared environment. When AR arrives in its fuller and more integrated state, the challenge for our technologically tiered society will be how we stay in sync with one another.
See the full story here: https://qz.com/1383621/vr-and-ar-will-expand-the-limits-of-human-perception/