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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."
This is a legitimate continuance of the idea of the TV. Why limit the media to two senses?
Some other time I might mention about the limitation of bandwidth demand based on my inability to "sink" more than about 280 MB/sec.
And I, for one, welcome our holographic image overlords... Except they aren't here and the Japanese have no idea how they're going to do it. You can talk it up all you want. I want a holodeck as much as the next person (can you imagine the 'adult' selection?) but come on. So, in conclusion, I, for one, welcome our new hyper-optimistic big-talking money-receiving overlords, and remind them that as an American teen, I really really want a holodeck. ASAP.
In light of the direction that every medium has been used for since the invention of cave drawings, this was the first thing I thought of also.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Well, they seem to have just discribed the panacea of display and interface technologies. While a true 3d display probably could be made in the next 15 years, allowing users to physically interact with 3d objects without a huge haptics setup would be considerably more difficult, probably requiring some sort of interaction with the brain, making it think that those areas are solid. Smell doesn't seem nearly so difficult (there are already devices that will allow you to produce smells digitally), and not nearly as useful.
So basically they said that, yeah, we'd like to make a super futuristic display device and have it ready in 15 years. Meanwhile there has been really no progress in any of these fronts. Pretty much all 3d displays are just stereoscopy, and nothing terribly interesting seems to have happened with haptics in the last five years.
So yeah, that'd be nice, but you have to have some of the building blocks before you can make the grand vision.
In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and is widely considered as a bad move.
And the best we can come up with how to combine it with watching football/other_sit_on_your_ass passive event? :/ Shit, I mean at least imagine playing in the superbowl......
Personally, I'd rather simulate being in space, other cool adverture, etcetera.......
they will make a law as to whom, what, and where you can have 'virtual reality sex' with...
Imagine getting busted cuz you was pretending to be a VR prostitute for a while just cuz you felt sleezy...
dude the holodeck was kept cause its cool...and people would jump ship out of insanity for being out in the dead of space too long. there's no open air, it's a giant self destructing coffin....with a big monitor