From Snow Crash to Augmented Reality Jing Huang

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

The Second Life

Virtual Reality

Mixed Reality

Augmented Reality

Neal Stephenson

science fiction

historical fiction

Cyberpunk

postcyberpunk

Snow Crash (1992)

Genre(s) :

Science fiction

Cyberpunk

Postcyberpunk

Defining Cyberpunk

It is a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life".

Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and megacorporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth.

-----Wikipedia

Postcyberpunk

“ typical postcyberpunk stories continue the focus on a ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information and cybernetic augmentation of the human body, but without the assumption of dystopia.”

-----Wikipedia

William Gibson “the father of Cyberpunk” the rise of reality television

establishing the conceptual foundations for the rapid growth of virtual environments such as video games and the Web

Neuromancer (1984)

“People shouldn't look at science fiction like they look at "real" fiction. They shouldn't expect that this is what the future is going to look like. Science fiction authors are sort of charlatans; we come up with a few ideas and we make a living off of that.”

--------William Gibson

Discussion

Do you agree with William Gibson’s idea about science fiction?

If they agree with Gibson, do they think science fiction is only bluff, a lie? or it is something that worth?

What is your attitude towards science fiction ?

Plot Summary of Snow Crash

The story takes place in a semi-America of the future, where corporatization, franchising, and the economy in general have spun wildly out of control.

Plot summary

Hiroaki (Hiro)in reality

half-black half-Korean pizza delivery man

in the Metaverse

warrior prince Swordsman hacker

Invented Words in Snow Crash

Avatar:

“The people are pieces of software called avatars” (Stephenson, 1992, p.33).

Metaverse:

“They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse” (Stephenson, 1992, p.33).

The Metaphor of the Real World

The Metaverse is a 3-D virtual universe online, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other.

A Review and a Tribute of Snow Crash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdQc8uNWFmg

Neal Stephenson’s prediction in Snow Crash has been partially achieved.

Second Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01OSKJwXuDM&feature=related

Do you have a avatar in Second Life or in some other virtual world?

why do you think people like this alternative universe?

why do they build new online identities?

If a teacher can set up a class in 2nd Life, to overcome distance, is it useful? Or still is it just a game?

Avatar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_JBMrrYw8

Virtual Reality

“Virtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world.”

Wikipedia

Testers Wanted - Nintendo Virtual Reality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xGJNQZ3wCA

Mixed Reality

“Mixed reality (MR) refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time. A mix of reality includes augmented reality, augmented virtuality and virtual reality.”

Wikipedia

Mixed Reality

Figure 1: Simplified representation of a “virtuality continuum” (Paul Milgram &Fumio Kishino,1994).

Constitution of MR Interfaces

1. Monitor based (non-immersive) video displays

2. Video displays as in Class 1, but using immersive head-mounted displays (HMD's), rather than “window-on-the-world” monitors.

3. HMD's equipped with a see-through capability

Constitution of MR Interfaces

4. Same as 3, but using video, rather than optical, viewing of the "outside" world.

5. Completely graphic display environments

6. Completely graphic but partially immersive environments

---- Paul Milgram &Fumio Kishino,1994.

Augmented reality

“Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery - creating a mixed reality.”

Wikipedia

Augmented Reality

“Augmented reality refers to a situation in which the goal is to supplement a user’s perception of the real world through the addition of virtual objects.”

------- Ronald Azuma (1997)

Augmented Reality Gamehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWNi0ly

0TU8&feature=related

Augmented Reality over time...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v

=xEQ9s8PRwW8

Applications of Augmented Reality

Military --- AR technology has currently experienced

the most widespread use.

Example: RBS Complex http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0oWSeqe

s1M

Applications of Augmented Reality

Manufacturing / repair

Example:

BMW augmented realityhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9KPJl

A5yds

Applications of Augmented Reality

Using consumer cell phones

Layar, worlds first mobile Augmented Reality browser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64_16K2e08

Discussion

Privacy IssueDoes mobile Augmented Reality browser a

ffects people's private life?

Augmented Reality over time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEQ9s8PRwW8

AR Blurs the line of what is real and what is not.

Real world is enhanced with the help of AR.

Challenge

To what extend can we replace the physical sources by virtual sources using the technology, and still endue the same perceptual, cognitive, the emotional experience that we have on the real world condition.

References Augmented reality. (2009). Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality Mixed reality. (2009). Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.o

rg/wiki/Mixed_reality Neal Stephenson. (1992). Snow Crash, ROC: London, pp.33-41. Paul Milgram & Fumio Kishino. (1994).A TAXONOMY OF MIXED REALITY

VISUAL DISPLAYS. Retrieved October 18, 2009, fromhttp://web.cs.wpi.edu/~gogo/hive/papers/Milgram_IEICE_1994.pdf

Ronald Azuma. (1997) “A Survey of Augmented Reality”, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 6(4): 335-385.

Tracy Seneca. (1994). The Power of Language in Snow Crash and Babel 17. Impact of New Information Technologies. Retrieved October 18, 2009, fromhttp://besser.tsoa.nyu.edu/impact/f93/students/tracy/tracy_midterm.html

Virtual reality. (2009). Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality

William Gibson. (n.d). Retrieved October 18, 2009, from http://www.levity.com/corduroy/gibson.htm