Part Two of a Series

Just as true virtual reality would be completely artificial and far beyond our current technologies (as in the first part of this series here), augmented reality is not what is commonly accepted, but something far more banal.  The dictionary definition of augmented reality claims the necessity of technology to “overlay digital information on an image” — but please consider that anything more than an actual observed object or action would be “augmented”.  For example, every sign that has ever been posted (from “ye old blacksmithe” to “flux capacitor”) is enhancing the real world by assigning data to it that would not otherwise be known.  The evolution of augmented reality begs the reconsideration of the term — we at the Architechnologist prefer the term “enhanced environment” as it reflects more than just annotation of the real world, but adds multiple layers of interactivity as well.

Obviously this is an extreme example, but the hypothesis is true — only the method of delivery has changed.  Use of technology in augmented reality has made it interactive and given it the ability to evolve rapidly.  The connected nature of the enhanced environment through tools like connected devices, smart phones, smart glasses (like Google’s Glass or the upcoming M100 from Vuzix) make this 21st century version of augmented reality a far cry from arrows carved into trees.

So if Virtual Reality is a myth and Augmented Reality is (very) old news, we have one big question left: where do we go from here?  The concept of both VR and AR is understood and many brilliant minds are bringing innovations to the public at a lightning-fast pace… next in this series, what might be the next evolutionary steps for the enhanced environment.

Your thoughts? We would love to hear them in the comments below.