What is the "Optimal" Virtual Reality Experience/Future

Astrocyte wrote:
What interests me is also how skills acquired in VR will translate into real world actions. Also, whether partaking in a VR education environment will be as effective as partaking in a real world one. I read recently that some people seem to absorb less info from reading things on a LCD screen relative to having real paper, but will this prove to be the case in VR, particularly if we are using OLED?

This prompt is composed of many variables that we'll need to take into account to be able to answer it. For one, at it's best, Virtual Reality should be indistinguishable from regular reality in every way. At that stage, going to a virtual classroom should only be different from the real thing in terms of tone, the nature of the world, and the capabilities of those involved. While it seems that kids looking at an LCD learrn lesss from those reading on paper, I have to wonder how much of that can be attributed to the subtle nuances in detail screens don't capture on a sensory level, like texture, matching the surrounding environments light (placing less of burden on the eyes to focus), and the lack of tactile feedback in scrolling through text rather than turning a page. Honestly, my biggest question at the point will be whether or not we're even using books and text as much in the future to teach kids.

Reading and writing, as well as math are are fundamental skills that you have to learn one way or another, but the question of whether or not reading will be the best method to achieve learning at that stage is equally relevant. Why would a history teacher of the future make kids read a text book or watch a video of what was happening in the 1700s when they could just VR teleport the classroom to a recreation of that time period. This can help in engaging the learners and could give students a much more tangible sense of what the subject matter they're learning does. I'd be ecstatic to have child of mine in the future (don't have any yet), tell me about how they went to the moon in VR and now want to try being an astronaut or how they enjoyed what they saw of engineering and now want to be an engineer. Quite frankly, it may be what's needed to spark some interest in the subjects among kids again as now a days (in the US and my own observations), most kids don't have much of an interest in science or math. I've noticed that kids increasingly want to know the "why" of things they're doing, like how many student's in highschool ask their Calculus teachers "When am I ever going to use this in real life?" The teacher could literally pop the answer up right in the middle of class and demonstrate clearly the function rather than trying to get the students to imagine why using an example (something that many kids that are already bored with a subject probably aren't paying enough attention to do anyway). In particular, I just can't wait to see VR allow kids to let their creativity run wild.

I'm really optimistic that VR can allow humanity to propagate and educate itself even more quickly than ever before. Imagine a VR equivalent of a how to video where you can not only see how something is done, but follow along right beside the person and do it right there (though admittedly this extends to AR as well).

The one issue that does extend to the practicality of VR however remains physical capablitites. VR is great as a method for teaching principles and techniques to users, but does pretty much nothing about their actual real world condition. I could train myself to the degree of skill of an MMA fighter in VR, but then again, that won't exactly help me out if my body's too weak to successfully execute the moves. While we can try, I don't think that VR will really be the best method of conditioning the body for specific IRL tasks (though it does have it's uses in training relexes, instincts, techniques and strategies). For that AR will probably be the king of the space.

Astrocyte wrote:
On hepatic feedback, check out this link to an article on Ultrahaptics!

Quite the interesting technology. Thanks for the link. If I had to say the biggest head ache that I have with VR right now, I'd without a doubt posit it to be the situation with the sense of touch. In order of importance, I place the sense of touch ahead of even our sense of vision. Yet, even at such importance, I don't think we have any one solution for touch that achieves the effects that we need. In a way, this sense is what will ultimately decide the final device(s) that we use the future of virtual reality. Oculus has given us a portal to another world, yet we're there without the ability to touch, as though some form of ghost intruding upon another world. I'll be going into a LOT more depth on the matter in another forum and a Youtube video later, but without a doubt, touch is the sense that has daunted me since the beginning of my inklings to pursue a career in virtual reality. Personally, I think my optimal VR touch solution would be some kind of wearable nerve stimulation device, though I can tolerate a small chair or pod. A las, it's the overall community's dream rig i'd like to know as my own standards for this aren't exactly average.