Virtual Reality: Mankind's Future

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Oculus Rift, now under control by Facebook from the two-billion dollar purchase, is working on virtual reality technology for use with gaming. However, a lot of people are now against the Rift because of Facebook taking control of the project. The people against the Facebook purchase think that the project will not get anywhere, however, according to Ernest Cline in an article from Forbes Magazine, he thinks that “this is the best chance virtual reality ever had” (Tassi). Cline thinks that the Facebook purchase will only accelerate the project, contrary to the popular belief. At this year’s (2015) E3 Expo, Sony’s Project Morpheus was unveiled, making it the only other competitor to the Oculus Rift (Snyder). However, there is a company, Control VR, that is working on creating a glove to work with the Rift. What this means for VR is that the users will now be able to control the virtual environment by using their hands rather than a keyboard and mouse. The glove may also serve a purpose in the medical field which will be discussed later.

In chapter two of Ready Player One, Wade is in his virtual school. In terms of this becoming the future, according to the article “Virtual Reality in the Classroom,” it can be used by the teaching staff to transport students to any place in the world in just a few seconds. The article gives us the example that a history teacher can use the technology to transport the students to an ancient civilization such as Athens from Ancient Greece. That being said, instead of the school districts spending so much time and money and ultimately effort. The institutions could simply take advantage of the new technology by spending much less money and time in the long run and take the students on virtual field trips.

The more advanced virtual reality technology that is depicted by Cline (The entire second part) expands on the existing “barebones” technology that Wade had in the beginning of the book. The reason that Wade has new equipment is because he was the first “gunter” to find the first key and clear the first gate. He was able to use his in-game credits as real-world currency and buy himself a new immersion rig as well as a new apartment in Columbus, Ohio - one of the greatest cities in the modern United States. Columbus is also where the OASIS’ servers are located - this means his new apartment has a very strong connection to the servers and he would be able to connect without anyone from IOI being able to pry in on Wade’s location. His new and improved gear includes a complete haptic feedback suit, a multi-directional treadmill for moving around in-game, a three-dimensional visor, and surround-sound installed in his new apartment. To go along with his new rig, he installed a companion program. What this program does, essentially, is make Wade feel less lonely - as if there is someone else in the apartment with him.

With the depiction of Wade’s new equipment, I can see that this technology can be used for so much more than just merely gaming. I found out that the military uses virtual reality technology to enhance the training of the soldiers without actually putting them in harm’s way. According to Major Lauren Bymer of the United States Army, the new virtual reality technology will enable the Army to complete more training runs at a faster rate because of the greatly reduced reset times. In another article based on the use of virtual reality in the military, the soldiers are put through a virtual simulation of a vehicle turnover. Virtual reality, by definition, is merely an augmentation of the user’s reality. With that, this training module is considered VR simply because it is very clearly augmenting the soldiers’ reality at that point in time by simulating a rollover in a vehicle. Michael Taylor, virtual training facility manager, says “it saves lives, I can't tell you how many lives its saved, but I can tell you that we don't have near as many rollover deaths like we used to. You have a 250% chance of surviving a rollover going through this device” (Wells). However, the virtual reality will not replace the training, but merely enhance it - that being said, the virtual reality technology may not be the future of every little thing that we as a race do as depicted in Ready Player One. Although, just because the technology will not replace the existing training programs, I can clearly see that there is improvements in the programs because the military has adopted the use of virtual reality to enhance their training programs. That beings said, more soldiers will be able to enter a risky situation (or a Humvee accident) with the courage that their training will pay off and effectively save their lives.

Not only does virtual reality hold a place for training military personnel, the technology also serves a purpose in the medical fields, as well. For example, doctors that were treating patients with unilateral spatial neglect (USN), which occurs after a brain injury, were able to help their patients with the use of a virtual environment and a Microsoft Kinect hooked up to an Xbox 360. “A virtual environment is a digital space in which a user’s movements are tracked and his/her surroundings are rendered, or digitally composed and displayed to the senses, in accordance with those movements” (Fox 95). The environment that the patients were put in was a two-storey house complete with a garden to assess and rehabilitate any cognitive defects that were observed (Westwood). Not only are doctors able to treat patients with brain disorders, they can also prep for surgeries by mapping out where they would need to make the incision ahead of time with a virtual patient by producing a three-dimensional image of the patient - enabling the surgeon to rehearse the surgery many times.

There is a training system for surgeons to use that uses the acronym MIST (minimally invasive surgical trainer). What this system is is a product for training and assessment of surgical laparoscopic psychomotor skills. Fundamentally, this product tests the surgeons’ ability to operate in a steady manner. The program produces geometric shapes on organs (virtual, of course) that are consistent with what actual surgeons do in real situations. The program can also increase the level of difficulty and save and analyze the progress of each individual trainee - effectively making them some of the best surgeons.

Ready Player One, though drastically ahead of its time (and the current time), can still be seen as a prediction or vision of what is to come in terms of future technology. Not only for the gaming community, but for medical and military uses. The advanced technology presented in the book is considered science fiction, but I am certain that this fiction will become a future reality of mankind.