In that talk. I playfully sketched out a view of image-making that I regularly hear in conference hallways, and at government agencies:
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3. The goal of VR is to replace the real world with a virtual world, i.e. create the holodeck.
I had hoped my mild mockery of the field would help keep others from falling prey to this view.
But I was wrong. Not that long ago, I helped organize a workshop on Future Research Directions in Computer Graphics which was sponsored by the United States National Academy of Engineering. Each of the participants had to write a white paper, and I titled mine ?Simulating the Everyday World?. On the plane ride to the meeting, I read the papers written by the other distinguished researchers, and much to my chagrin 16 out of 20 had a similar vision. A vision of more and more simulation and more and more realism. On the plane, I put together an alternative vision of the future, and at the NAE meeting I gave the first version of the talk I?m giving you today.