Magic Leap: A Virtual World In Our Reality

Magic Leap has pulled in half a billion in funding from names such as Google and is the brainchild of a medical robotics billionaire and a cofounder of Weta Workshops. Sean Hollister at Gizmodo provides a deep look into the history of the company and looks at their current work - including hands-on opportunities, patent information, and hiring practices – to see what they’ll be selling in the future.It’s a lengthy article with several videos, some as long as 22 minutes. And that video is an excellent look at Magic Leap by Graeme Devine and worth the time to watch.[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAAqbKSjRrk#t=528] The technology, or what I think it will be, is fascinating. The ability to introduce virtual concepts into our interaction with the real world isn’t a new idea, but actually having a company working intensely on a platform capable of doing this is promising. Yet, as with most technologies, we should consider the positives and negatives.The positives are many. Education would benefit from lessons walking people through an assignment. It could even record their progress, allowing instructors to view what they were doing in real time or reviewing the recording for grading or to identify additional instruction for their benefit.Step-by-step instructions could be built into modules, providing just in time training for everything from IKEA furniture to construction methods.  The overlaid information would help identify the parts as required and even see the parts already in place as they build something, whether it’s a rocking horse or a cinder block wall.For social media, consider tiny elephants, blooming flowers and blown kisses the new emoticons. Partnered with some form of active clothing to provide sensation and a user could own an interactive pet that lives with them or even develop a personal virtual ecosystem – think a cartoon landscape you live in.Like with most of today’s advances, someone has been there before with a look at the consequences. In Chris Moriarty’s Spin series, some worlds require an overlay that makes their surroundings, and each other, look better than they are in reality. It points out the danger of having our senses manipulated. Difficult to start a movement against a panopticon if the average citizen can’t see the cameras or the soldiers surrounding them.But we’re not there yet, so we can look forward to whatever wondrous thing Magic Leap is preparing.