The Importance Of AR In A Virtual World

Augmented reality and virtual reality are often smudged together. When common consumers are discussing the two, you will often hear the words “the AR and VR industry.” Putting the two inside of the same category couldn’t be more wrong. The technology may be the same when dealing with the two different types of headsets, but what they do for each individual is completely different and unique. 

Virtual reality is meant to replace your vision entirely with a full “new reality”, but augmented reality is meant to add to your already-great vision. VR is more closely replicated in the movie Ready Player One, and AR is dealt with in the Marvel movies with Iron Man and his augmented wearables. Both AR and VR are important to the future of the technology, but AR is going to be much more valuable. Here is why. 

When using virtual reality, you are completely shut out to the of the real world. VR companies are so obsessed with making the fake worlds more “immersive”, that they are leaving out the most immersive part of your life. Your life in the real world. Virtual reality is such an exclusive experience to the headset that you’re in that you are unable to connect with anyone that is not inside of your headset. If you need to take a quick water break from your game, you need to take the headset completely off and most likely change rooms. This takes too long and will just remind that you have a life outside of Beat Saber. (being reminded that I have a life outside of Beat Saber is always the hardest part of my day)

There is no productive purposes for virtual reality right now, and it is hard to see one in the future. We are constantly hearing about how this machine will “help you practice” whatever activity, but practice only gets you so far. At some point, you are going to have to actually do the task, and that is exactly where augmented reality comes in. Doctors can practice surgery 300 times a day inside of their Rift, but until they get their hands on a real patient, none of that matters. 

Imagine performing surgery with a simple pair of glasses on (augmented reality glasses of course) and you can see your pre-op notes, your patients vitals, and what the next steps are. This would not only be very convenient to the surgeon, but it would be increase the productivity of the staff and the exactness of the surgery. 

Over 60% of all Americans wear glasses every day, so why not add some functionality to them? Imagine the directions to your meeting being overlaid on the road in front of you, coming from the power of your glasses. You can answer calls, respond to texts, and could even watch the movie you started last night while you get your hair cut the next morning. 

None of this is possible with virtual reality, but augmented reality turns your every day walk into a technology filled adventure that you never want to leave. Augmented reality is only limited by the user, as the possibilities are endless with the technology that is being advanced everyday. Even look at Peter Parker in the newest Spider-man movie. He receives Edith from the late Tony Stark, and his life completely changes after. His spidy senses are restored at the end of the movie, he finally gets the girl, and he defeats the villain. Now all of that isn’t because of the glasses, but you understand the point. Adding more augmented reality into our lives will only improve them.