Is It Real, or Is It...Real, but "Augmented"?

I found this fascinating story on the CNN website yesterday: The missing 'links': Looking towards an augmented reality.

Yes, for those of you who have enough trouble dealing with reality (see, "Congress"), it's about to get worse.

The idea of the article is that a time may be coming when we can use a technology similar to online hyperlinking (such as the link to the article I embedded above) to call up additional information from posters, signs, and even people who are not online, but exist in the real world. The technology is known as "augmented reality" or "AR," and has many potential applications. The article suggests, for instance, that "...During a heart transplant, identifier labels can be superimposed over the valves and chambers of a beating heart. On airplane factory floors, AR visors (can) help electricians navigate complex mazes of wiring." There's also "...the 'magic book' idea, where every page can host a virtual 3-D pop-up that's viewable through a visor" and "AR tennis," in which "...a virtual tennis court is superimposed on a real table and you view the action through your cell phone screen. The 'racket' is your cell phone, which you wave through the air to hit the virtual ball."

Some AR applications already exist, but are limited to fixed objects. For instance, in Japan some articles contain embedded codes which can be photographed with your cell phone camera, which in turn calls up web-based information on the object (a movie poster, for instance). And the article cites an Atlanta cemetery which is experimenting with "talking tombstones" which allow visitors to use cell phones to access recorded audio and video about the deceased. Hmmm...there may be something to Serena Joy's story about the man who claims his wife is texting him from beyond the grave.

Imagine the possibilities.

Ladies, when that fellow hits on you at the club, you can put on your AR visor or contacts, or point your AR enabled cell phone at him and "virtually right-click" to check his bank balance, job details, and marital status. Guys, if you're worried that the girl you're eyeing may not be of an appropriate age, you can right-click her to check her birthday.

Is this a good thing? I'm not sure. I have enough trouble with my cell phone as it is now, much less as a tool for the augmentation of reality.

Some wag once said that reality was a crutch for people who couldn't handle drugs. Now reality itself may not be...well...real any more. While there's a certain appeal in being able to point my cell phone at an ailing plant in my garden and access information that may help me diagnose the problem, where does it all end? Will we someday be able to virtually right-click on some bloviating politician and call up his voting record and other salient details? Will husbands and wives virtually right-click to check on each others daily activities?

I'm just not ready for this.

Gimme that old time...reality.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

P.S. -

Letter writing project update: Andrea has received her letter and mailed her reply to me; Amanda has received her letter in Palembang; I mailed Mike's letter yesterday; and John's is in progress. My daughter is in Hawaii on vacation (if you can call time in a hotel with a hyperkinetic 10-month old a vacation), so I have some breathing space with hers.

My posts may be irregular or non-existent this holiday weekend, as I drive up to Pittsburgh to visit my Father and my sister and brother and their families. Don't give up...things should be back on schedule by Monday. With pictures.

B.