It actually wasn’t that tough getting there (I went with the peanut butter sandwiches in the end): the hard part was finding a decent edge, once I found one it was quite easy to peel back and squeeze through. I only went as far as 2020 – I figured I might not be able to cope much beyond that.
Superficially, quite a lot of things are the same: people still take the train – no, they don’t all have jetpacks (but cars are a lot quieter). The main thing that has changed is data integration – and it’s really a massive shift. Just as the PC is the hardware that acted as a portal to the internet, the WorldView is the device that allows us to access integrated reality. WorldView is basically a head-mounted display – which sounds like some cyberpunk monstrosity but is actually about the size of those wraparound sunglasses people wear to ski in. Not everyone wears one – there are people too poor to afford one, and some older people refuse to wear them, but almost all kids and most adults do.
The headset is wirelessly connected a pocket-sized device a bit like the iphone (only with no screen). The first time I put one on I felt sick. It was a couple of hours before I could actually look and move at the same time. Basically, the thing operates in two modes: opaque and semi-transparent. When you are walking around it’s in semi-transparent mode and the effect is incredible: firstly, you can see all the information about people as they walk around; their profile is displayed around them and by shifting your eyes from one person to another the information zooms and comes into focus. It’s a bit like the Heads-Up display in Warcraft – there are colour-coded dials, scrolling boxes – you can configure it however you like – the most important feature though is matching: the system detects people with matching profile features and prioritises them in your field of view. It makes it a lot easier to find people with similar interests (unless their profile is completely restricted). And if you wanted to chat with someone in your real space and someone in integrated reality you can just pull them all together – I’ll come back to that.
The other thing you notice immediately about integrated reality is how all the surfaces come to life. Anybody with so much as a garden shed can sell the space for advertising, so as you move around you are constantly surrounded by adverts tailored to your profile. This is really, really distracting for a noob – advertisers will know, for example your favourite actress so don’t be surprised when she appears beside you and asks if you want to go for a coffee in Starbucks. It’s really quite bizarre. Depending on your subscription level you can control how much advertising you see.
But data integration is much more than targeted advertising: it’s really easy to get anywhere (sat nav is integrated into your field of view), and overall doing things in integrated reality is fundamentally different. Let me try and explain from a familiar perspective: there is still elearning, but now it is in the form of brief infomercials which raise awareness around things like the importance of diversity or safety. They carry links to more information. Now at first I worried that people wouldn’t actually ever learn anything using this approach, but in fact the process is built into the integrated reality – so if, for example, you sit at your desk and you haven’t completed a workplace self-assessment – a warning message flashes up in your visual field and you can’t continue. Likewise, when you are interviewing someone the system will prompt you for appropriate questions and screen any that you input. Effectively you ‘learn as you live’. You might think that things like ‘riding a bike’ would be exempt from this, but toddlers with WorldView can actually see the correct hand positions overlaid on their environment as they attempt to balance – the same approach works for manual procedures ranging from cooking through to boiler maintenance. The upshot is that things you do frequently you get good at, the things you do rarely you tend to rely more heavily on reference.
The opaque environment is really interesting as well: there are times when you are sitting down – at home, at work or on a train for example – and then switching to opaque gives you an immersive environment in which you can work with applications, watch a movie etc. Text input is via the thing around your neck that detects sub-vocalisation. As with the semi environment, shifting your eyes brings different areas of the screen up or down, and typically there are several active areas at any one time. Immersive gameplay is absolutely awesome – it just feels like you’re there.
I was testing this out on a train when Nick2 conferenced me in to a meeting. Again, a really weird experience – one minute I was fighting for my life against the Orc Hordes, then I noticed this icon bouncing up and down bottom left and I stared at it - the next thing I knew I was sitting on a Caribbean beach with three other people. What I hadn’t realised is that Nick2 had configured my avatar to be female as a joke, so I got quite a shock when I looked down. The others laughed at my reaction. When the message eventually flashed up saying I had reached my destination I had actually forgotten that I was on a train!
Avatars are an interesting aspect of integrated reality – people spend a lot of time customising and shaping their avatars – you can even turn them on in semi mode, so that the people’s avatars are overlaid as they walk around – it makes the whole world a bit like the bar scene in Star Wars.
Overall the toughest thing to get used to is just how much stuff people are able to juggle at any one time: I struggled just to take in the information I was seeing about people as they walked around me, but most kids will be simultaneously gaming, chatting/conferencing, working etc. by rapidly shifting focus a few times each second. I would have thought it was impossible – but they are clearly able to do it. I’m ashamed to admit I had to take the WorldView off after every few hours – I just found it emotionally and cognitively draining, and it gave me headaches if I wore it for much longer. To be fair, I did refuse the cognitive enhancers which might have helped – but apparently there are concerns over the long-term effects (although their use is now as prevalent as coffee-drinking).
The big debates are familiar: whilst the level of profile information different parties have access to is now a much more sophisticated mechanism, there is ever-increasing anxiety regarding privacy and illegal trafficking of data. The work-life balance issue is now much more than an abstract debate, as companies seek more control over the employee’s integrated reality and individuals assert their freedom to deliver performance in whatever way they wish. I suppose I find it odd that people get together in schools or workplaces – but they still do, though to a lesser extent. I also find it odd that when they are together most of there interaction will be with people or experiences that aren’t actually ‘there’ but I guess there are just parts of human nature that aren’t so easily extinguished. Success is a far more volatile thing – an individual’s creative work may suddenly earn them a significant amount of money, even while their employer vanishes overnight. Most people try to cultivate a ‘portfolio’ of revenue streams, therefore.
It was actually easier to get back than it was to get out – there were just more edges: I guess it’s because in 2020 people care less about their real environment so it’s all a bit more derelict. The problem with these trips is they leave you feeling a bit discontent and displaced – you realise that you don’t belong in the future, but now you feel really impatient with all the ridiculously primitive technology in the present: stupid little screens that you carry around with you, having to email messages, not being able to see people’s profiles – so you find yourself in a crowded room and have no idea whether or not you have anything in common with any of these people. It feels a bit like losing a sense. And I forgot to eat my sandwiches.
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