While looking for something else, I came across a really cool topic on that HowStuffWorks website: augmented reality. The way they are using the term has to do with when we reach the point that computer graphics may be super-imposed over real world sensory experiences. Basically, it’s like how RoboCop or Terminator, whenever you see through their eyes, they always have a heads-up-display that gives them additional information when they are looking at stuff. Another example is how they do those computerized first-down lines on pro-football games nowadays - except with augmented reality systems, you would actually see the first down line even if you were at the stadium watching the game.

It’s all pretty conjectural now, and the systems to apply this technology are basically still too bulky and primitive to be useful. It’s pretty much guaranteed to happen though, in my opinion. They have a graphic on their article illustrating how it might look. But I put together one that I think is a little more realistic.

It would probably be sort of like playing The Sims or some other kind of 3D role-playing game. You could probably find out information about people in their public profiles, which would be accessible thanks to RFID chips in everyone’s ID implants. You could look up their vital stats, their webpage, places of employment, any friends you might have in common, etc. You could also have specific sets of data associated with people you know - like ex-girlfriends in this example.

I absolutely guarantee that the whole thing would be cluttered with ads also. Since RFID chips are also being implanted in clothes and other products, you’d be able to walk by somebody and immediately look up where they bought the shirt, shoes, or whatever, and order yourself one which might even be at your house by the time you get home. Or you could get directions from the embedded GPS to pick them up at the nearest store.

Plus, you better believe that companies will snap up this potentially unlimited new areas to advertise in. Also, have you heard about how some tv channels have been digitally modifying or removing ads from sports stadiums for networks that are not their own? I think there were also some movies where they modified ads appearing in public places to better agree with the product placement their advertisers had paid for. Based on this trend, I’m more than convinced that based on which augmented reality system you were a subscriber of, they would probably filter out “spam” (ie, advertising content which did not originate in their information network) and replace it with their own.

Similarly, I imagine there would also be people who “opt-out” of these systems. (Hopefully they will let us do that.) Just like how they briefly had that “Do Not Call” list for telemarketers, their would be people who would want to retain their privacy, and who would not allow their personal information to be distributed in these networks. That’s what I was trying to indicate with the woman who I blacked out in the photograph. It would almost be like when you’re playing a role-playing video game, and there are characters that you just can’t talk to, NPC’s (non-playing characters). It might sort of be like when you watch Cops or something and they blur out people’s faces. If you wanted to interact with these people, you’d have to do it outside the AR system.

When this technology gets more and more advanced, I think it has the potential to get really crazy. Like if it was really interlaced with and filtering your sensory data, there would just be stuff you wouldn’t see anymore at all. People & places might disappear. You might be also able to filter out ideological messages you didn’t agree with, shit like that. You’d be able to live in your own little world. Imagine you could even “skin” people and places digitally. Maybe instead of seeing 21st NYC, you would see ancient Rome. Maybe instead of seeing me, you would see a gorgeous blonde swimsuit model. And noone would be the wiser. Reality would then become only what was broadcast on a public frequency, and everyone would be constantly trying to hack it.

The other thing I think is worth thinking about is that these will be used in conjunction with free-floating computer graphics once they figure out how to project them into the air in a cost-effective way. They sort of show an example of this in Spielberg’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report. This way, ads are just everywhere, bombarding you constantly, and perfectly targeted to your unique ID profile. In this kind of scenario, it would almost become necessary to wear an augmented reality system, so you could “jam” out all these free-floating ads. The potential for craziness is absolutely enormous.

If I had a billion dollars, these are the fields I would put it in. As it stands, all I can really do is write about it. I actually came up with some of these ideas a while back, and plan on writing some sci-fi around all these different scenarios when I have the chance. I also wrote an essay about how religions & ideologies in their own way are actually reality augmentation systems, changing what you’re able to perceive in the world.