Is This the Holodeck?

WillCodeForRaisins writes "CNET News is reporting that Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is planning to create "virtual reality" High-Definition 3-D TV which will allow you to smell and even touch objects in the 3-D space. This national research project is meant to be part of a larger vision under which Japan aims to promote "universal communication," a concept whereby information is shared smoothly and intelligently regardless of location or language. Imagine watching a football game on a TV that not only shows the players in three dimensions but also lets you experience the smells of the stadium and maybe even pat a goal scorer on the back. How are they planning to do this? Ummm... looks like wait and see."

Comments

Re:information is shared smoothly and intelligentl

[sartin]

If history repeats itself we can expect interesting research and innovation, none of which actually produces a holodeck.

... well intentioned ... well funded ... Wait another ten years. Move along here.

You said it. Just check out the this Wikipedia entry or google fifth generation project for information on an earlier ambitious Japanese projec with somewhat somilar lofty goals. There were books, committees, conferences, committees, research, comittees, and lots of output. Although some interesting technologies trace at least some of their roots to the fifth generation project, the actual project didn't reach its goals.

Re:Japan doesn't give a damn if they reach the goa

[Master of Transhuman]

Exactly.

They did the same thing with the Fifth Generation Computing Project back in the eighties.

Re:The End

[Anonymous Coward]

The sun doesn't rise, the earth turns.

"A Billion Yen"

[sexyrexy]

"The ministry plans to request a budget of more than 1 billion yen to help fund the project" More than a billion yen! That could pay for... the airfare of bringing in specialists to work on the project. A billion yen is 9 million dollars. If the US President said he was committing 9 million to developing a tacticle holographic television it'd be the biggest joke since "I did not have sexual relations..." Are we forgetting this is in a country where people regularly pay more than a million in their currency for a car?