Defying Reality
Page 23
I am grateful to my editors at Forbes, Randall Lane and Michael Noer, for sharing their wisdom, skill, and guidance. And I am grateful to my very first editor, Garrison Hoffman, who welcomed me into the college newspaper that became my second home, and who always encouraged my work. He was a good friend and will be missed.
Thanks to my parents, Barbara and Larry Ewalt, for everything. Thanks to my nieces and nephew, Casey, Madeleine, Sophia, and Sid, for being my favorite people. Thanks to Elissa, Indrajit, Jeff, Kathy, Mal, Jocelyn, Eric, and all my kith and kin, for their support. Thanks to Michael, Jessica, and Marian for being my Brooklyn family.
And most of all, thanks to my wife, Kara, who put up with a wholly unreasonable amount of stress while I worked on this project, and somehow didn’t kick me out of the house. She kept me healthy and sane and gave me a reason to keep going. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson: “We have a profound, mystical understanding . . . in your face, space coyote!”
Notes
For the purposes of storytelling, some of the conversations and interview sources described in this book have been edited for length and clarity, but aside from those changes, quoted dialogue is presented as it was spoken. Portions of this manuscript were originally published by the author in Forbes magazine or on Forbes.com and are used here with permission.
The sources for unique facts or quotes that are not cited within the text of this book are as follows.
CHAPTER 1—PYGMALION’S SPECTACLES
“subterranean cyberspaces”: Howard Rheingold, Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds—and How It Promises to Transform Society. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992, 379–80.
Gu Hongzhong’s eleven-foot-wide The Night Revels: “The Night Revels of Han Xizai | Digital Scrolling Paintings Project.” Scrolls.uchicago.edu. N.p., 2017. Web. Accessed January 9, 2017.
the Irish-born artist Robert Barker: “Lost Edinburgh: Calton Hill and the Invention of the Panorama.” https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/lost-edinburgh-calton-hill-and-the-invention-of-the-panorama-1-4032338. Accessed January 9, 2017; Panorama of Edinburgh from Calton Hill by Robert Barker (1739–1806) (GB-237—GB237 Coll-1092)—Archives Portal Europe. Archivesportaleurope.net. Accessed January 9, 2017.
a building in Leicester Square: Kathryn Kane, “Robert Barker’s Leicester Square Panorama: The Rotunda.” The Regency Redingote, August 3, 2012 https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/robert-barkers-leicester-square-panorama-the-rotunda. Accessed January 9, 2017.
view the world in three dimensions: Ian P. Howard and Brian J. Rogers, Perceiving in Depth, Volume 2: Stereoscopic Vision. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Sir Charles Wheatstone first identified stereopsis: Charles Wheatstone, F.R.S., Professor of Experimental Philosophy in King’s College, London, Contributions to the Physiology of Vision.—Part the First. On some remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, Phenomena of Binocular Vision. http://www.stereoscopy.com/library/wheatstone-paper1838.html.
Over 250,000 image cards (or stereographs): Barbara Stafford, Frances Terpak, and Isotta Poggi, Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2001.
sold around half a million viewers: Martin Kemp, The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat. New Haven: Yale University Press, 216.
“I felt sure this was decidedly better”: Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The American Stereoscope,” The Philadelphia Photographer, January 1869. Reprinted in IMAGE, Journal of Photography of the George Eastman House, vol. 1, no. 3 (March 1952).
“Form is henceforth divorced”: Oliver Wendell Holmes, “The Stereoscope and the Stereograph,” The Atlantic, June 1859. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1859/06/the-stereoscope-and-the-stereograph/303361/.
H. C. White advertised the model: “A Short but Accurate History of H.C. White Stereoscopes and Stereoviews—in the Company’s Own Words—Published In 1908.” https://www.flickr.com/photos/okinawa-soba/5070181314/sizes/l/. Accessed January 28, 2017.
“Five-cent theatres abound”: “A Theater with a 5,000,000 Audience,” in The World’s Work: A History of Our Time, Volume XX (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, May 1910), 12,876.
According to a review in the New York Dramatic Mirror: New York Dramatic Mirror, June 16, 1915, quoted in Ray Zone, Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838–1952. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2007.
“Seeking a novelty to charm its fickle audiences”: Frank S. Nugent, “Meet the Audioscopiks. Metro’s New Three-Dimensional Film Is the Next Novelty on the Schedule,” The New York Times, December 8, 1935.
By 1950, about one out of every ten American households: “Facts-Stats.” http://www.tvhistory.tv/facts-stats.htm. Accessed March 30, 2017.
An article in the December 15, 1952, edition of Life: “Miscellany: An Eyeful at the Movies,” Life, December 15, 1952, 146.
“The result has a kind of spellbinding effect”: The Hollywood Reporter, as reported in www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/widescreen-documentation. Accessed April 1, 2017.
“What does the future hold for 3-D?”: John Norling, “3-D Movies . . . Epitaph or Prologue?” International Projectionist, July 1954. As quoted on http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/what-killed-3D. Accessed April 1, 2017.
CHAPTER 2—THE ULTIMATE DISPLAY
“a photographic view of the scene as a human pair of eyes would see it”: Richard F. Dempewolff, “Movies on a Curved Screen Wrap You in Action,” Popular Mechanics, August 1952.
“Every capable artist has been able”: Morton Heilig, “The Cinema of the Future,” 1955. https://gametechdms.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/w6_thecinemaoffuture_morton.pdf. Originally published in Spanish as “El cine del futuro,” Espacios no. 23–24 (January–June 1955).
“in all its magnificent colors”: Ibid.
“I sat down, put my eyes and ears in the right places”: Howard Rheingold, Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds—and How It Promises to Transform Society. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992, 50.
After the motorcycle ride: Ibid., 55.
“As a result of this situation”: Morton Heilig, Senorama Simulator, US Patent #3,050,870. https://patents.google.com/patent/US3050870, August 28, 1962.
“A display connected to a digital computer”: Ivan E. Sutherland, “The Ultimate Display.” Information Processing 1965: Proceedings of IFIP Congress 65, vol. 1. London: Macmillan and Company, 1965, 506–508.
“The ultimate display would”: Ibid.
“Even with this relatively crude system”: Ivan E. Sutherland, “A Head-Mounted Three-Dimensional Display.” Proceedings of the AFIPS Fall Joint Computer Conference. Washington, DC: Thompson Books, 1968, 757–64.
His teachers would let him tinker: Fred Moody, Visionary Position: The Inside Story of the Digital Dreamers Who Are Making Virtual Reality a Reality. New York: Crown Business, 1999, 11.
CHAPTER 3—CONSOLE COWBOYS
“live as obscurely as possible”: Jaron Lanier, Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality. New York: Holt, 2017, 9.
“oddballs”: Ibid., 18.
“The overall form reminded me”: Ibid., 28.
“Reading about Ivan’s work”: Ibid., 45–46.
“I said, ‘Oh, VPL’”: Burr Snider, “Jaron.” Wired, February 1, 1993. https://www.wired.com/1993/02/jaron/.
“All of a sudden we had a company”: Ibid.
“Potential investors would come around”: Ibid.
hand wearing the high-tech gadget: Scientific American, October 1987.
“doing nothing less than inventing”: Steven L. Thompson, “In a Super Cockpit,” Washington Post, May 10, 1987.
“The most remarkable thing was the phone calls”: Thomas A. Furness III, “B
eing the Future.” Lecture at Augmented World Expo, Santa Clara, CA, June 10, 2015.
“I realized we needed to get this technology out in the world”: Ibid.
“may someday send the world”: Richard Scheinin, “Through the Looking Glass,” Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1990.
“we are witnessing the birth of Virtual Reality”: David Gale, “At the Other End of Nature,” The Guardian, April 13, 1990.
“babe in the woods”: Lanier, Dawn of the New Everything, 187.
“One time I signed”: Ibid.
John O’Neill told the Associated Press: Frank Baker, “Hasbro Abandons Game After Spending $59 Million on Research,” Associated Press, July 19, 1995.
CHAPTER 4—INTO THE RIFT
“I felt like I was literally”: Larry Frum, “My 5 Favorite Highlights from E3, CNN.com, June 7, 2012. https://www.cnn.com/2012/06/07/tech/gaming-gadgets/e3-highlights/index.html.” Accessed May 7, 2017.
bare-bones room with a short set of stairs: Jerry Beilinson, “Palmer Luckey and the Virtual Reality Resurrection,” Popular Mechanics, May 28, 2014. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a12956/palmer-luckey-and-the-virtual-reality-resurrection-16834760/. Accessed May 8, 2017.
CHAPTER 5—TWO BILLION REASONS
“virtual reality’s greatest hope”: Will Greenwald, “CES 2013: Hands On with the Oculus VR Rift, Virtual Reality’s Greatest Hope,” PC Magazine.com, January 9, 2013. https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414070,00.asp.
“I feel like I’ve been waiting in line”: Amoliski, reply to “Facebook Acquires Oculus VR,” Reddit, March 25, 2014, https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/21cvry/facebook_acquires_oculus_vr/cgbtzzf.
“I don’t want a social platform”: Christina Warren, “Facebook Acquires Oculus VR for $2 Billion,” Mashable, March 25, 2014. https://mashable.com/2014/03/25/facebook-acquires-oculus-vr-for-2-billion/#0.pcj4VPkmqg; https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/21d19k/facebook_acquires_oculus_vr_for_2_billion/cgc0mqr/.
“Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts”: Markus Persson, “Virtual Reality Is Going to Change the World,” March 25, 2014. http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-world.
“an early-access, beta-version”: “Introducing the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition,” Oculus blog, September 3, 2014. https://www.oculus.com/blog/introducing-the-samsung-gear-vr-innovator-edition/.
“estimated 19 million”: Shane Schick, “Evans Data: Mobile Developers Now Number 8.7 Million Worldwide,” Fierce Wireless, June 20, 2014. http://www.fiercewireless.com/developer/evans-data-mobile-developers-now-number-8-7-million-worldwide.
“breathtaking”: Peter Rubin, “Oculus’ Mind-Blowing New Prototype Is a Huge Step Toward Consumer VR,” Wired, September 22, 2014. https://www.wired.com/2014/09/oculus-crescent-bay-prototype/.
“a new high-water mark in virtual reality”: Kyle Orland, “Oculus’ Crescent Bay Prototype Is a New High-Water Mark,” Ars Technica, September 22, 2014. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/eyes-on-oculus-crescent-bay-prototype-is-a-new-high-water-mark/.
CHAPTER 6—TAKING HOLD
The device, called Google Cardboard: Frederic Lardinois, “The Story Behind Google’s Cardboard Project,” TechCrunch, June 26, 2014. https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/26/the-story-behind-googles-cardboard-project/. Accessed July 30, 2017.
“We believe that virtual reality”: Natasha Lomas, “HTC and Valve Partner to Make a VR Gaming Headset,” TechCrunch, March 1, 2015. https://techcrunch.com/2015/03/01/htc-vive/.
“absolutely incredible”: Paul James, “30 Minutes Inside Valve’s Prototype Headset: Owlchemy Labs Share Their Steam Dev Days Experiences,” RoadtoVR, January 30, 2014. https://www.roadtovr.com/hands-valves-virtual-reality-hmd-owlchemy-labs-share-steam-dev-days-experiences/.
“world changing”: Fraser Brown, “Valve’s VR Demo Impresses at steam Dev Days,” PCGamesN, December 2013. https://www.pcgamesn.com/valves-vr-demo-impresses-steam-dev-days.
“lightyears ahead of the original”: Dave Cook, “Valve VR Prototype Is ‘Lightyears Ahead of the Oculus Dev Kit,’ Says Dev After Studio Visit,” VG24/7, February 28, 2014. https://www.vg247.com/2014/02/28/valve-vr-prototype-is-lightyears-ahead-of-the-original-oculus-dev-kit-says-dev-after-studio-visit/.
CHAPTER 7—VR AND CODING IN LAS VEGAS
“virtual reality is finally coming to the living room”: Adam Rogers, “Through a Glass, Darkly,” Newsweek, January 25, 1995.
“a very, very big technological breakthrough”: “HTC Vive To Demo A ‘Very Big’ Breakthrough In VR At CES,” Engadget, December 18, 2015. https://www.engadget.com/2015/12/18/htc-vive-vr-big-breakthrough-ces/.
“We shouldn’t make our users swap their systems”: Ibid.
“the Oculus Rift is the most revolutionary gaming experience”: Verge Staff, “The Verge Awards: The Best Of CES 2013,” The Verge, January 11, 2013. https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/11/3865786/verge-awards-ces-2013.
“the coolest thing we’ve ever put on our face”: Wired Staff, “The Best Of CES 2013,” Wired, January 13, 2016. https://www.wired.com/2013/01/the-best-of-ces-2013/.
planned to start installing the demo: Nathan Ingraham, “Audi Is Outfitting Its Dealers with an Impressive VR Experience,” Engadget, January 10, 2016. https://www.engadget.com/2016/01/10/audi-vr-dealership-car-configurator/.
CHAPTER 8—THE ONCOMING TRAIN
I didn’t spend all those years playing Dungeons & Dragons: “Jose Chung’s from Outer Space,” twentieth episode of The X-Files. Originally aired April 12, 1996 on FOX.
CHAPTER 9—THIS IS REAL
“I got an e-mail that was very nondescript”: Ben Kuchera, “Oculus Founder: ‘I’ll Be Damned If Some Random Delivery Guy Will Deliver the First Rift,’” Polygon, March 26, 2016. https://www.polygon.com/2016/3/26/11310190/oculus-delivers-rift-luckey. Accessed December 4, 2017.
“This is incredible”: Palmer Freeman Luckey, “Personally delivering the first Rift to Alaska!” Facebook, March 26, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/palmer.luckey/videos/vb.1063830478/10207710972306676/.
“I was pretty adamant”: Kuchera, “Oculus Founder: ‘I’ll Be Damned . . . ’”
“Hiking through Alaska”: Palmer Luckey, Twitter, March 26, 2016. https://twitter.com/palmerluckey/status/713790929836965888.
“Every core feature of both the Rift and Vive”: “Oculus Becoming Bad for VR Industry?” Reddit thread, 2017. https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/4klu94/oculus_becoming_bad_for_vr_industry/d3g6.
SuperData Research estimated Sony would sell: Ben Reeves, “Playstation VR Estimated To Sell 2.6 Million Units By End Of Year,” Game Informer, October 12, 2016. http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/10/12/playstation-vr-estimated-to-sell-2-6-million-units-by-end-of-year.aspx.
CHAPTER 11—MAGICAL THINKING
children’s book author L. Frank Baum: L. Frank Baum, The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale. Indianapolis, IN: Bowen-Merrill Company, 1901, p. 94. https://archive.org/details/masterkeyanelec00corygoog.
“A well-designed virtual reality”: Steven Feiner, Blair MacIntyre, and Dorée Seligmann, “Knowledge-Based Augmented Reality.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 36, no. 7 (July 1993): 53–62.
“We have developed a preliminary set”: Ibid.
Louis Rosenberg, a Stanford University graduate student: Louis B. Rosenberg, “The Use of Virtual Fixtures to Enhance Operator Performance in Time Delayed Teleoperation,” Defense Technical Information Center, March 1993. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a296363.pdf.
worst innovations in sports history: Page 2 staff, “Worst Sports Innovations,” ESPN Page 2. http://www.espn.com/page2/s/list/innovations/worst.html. Accessed October 20, 2016.
EPILOGUE—THE AGE OF THE UNREAL
the AR market could approach 3.5 billion installed devices: “Ubiquitous $90 Billion AR To Dominate Fo
cused $15 Billion VR By 2022,” Digi-Capital blog, January 26, 2018. https://www.digi-capital.com/news/2018/01/ubiquitous-90-billion-ar-to-dominate-focused-15-billion-vr-by-2022/.
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Index
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Abovitz, Rony, 224, 225, 226, 232, 233, 234–39, 240–41, 242
Abrash, Michael, 98, 119, 121, 122, 157, 199
accelerometers, 99
age of the unreal, 243–55
Alibaba, 224, 237
Alien (movie franchise), 67, 184
All-In-One Universal Virtual Reality Kit (ANTVR), 161
Allsbrook, Wesley, 176
Along the River During Qingming Festival (Zhang Zeduan), 18
alternate-frame sequencing, 33
AltspaceVR, 113–16, 201
American Ingenuity Award, 105
amphitheaters, 17, 19
amusement parks, 33, 45–46, 94, 200
anaglyphs, 29–36, 38
Andreessen Horowitz, 90, 224
Antonov, Michael, 79–80, 81
Apple, 156, 203, 241, 244
ARQuake, 231
Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (Lumière), 31
art and virtual worlds, 15–19
artistic side of VR, 165–86
AR Travel Guide, 231
Atari, 53, 86
Atheer, 241
Audioscopiks (movie), 35–36, 40
augmented reality (AR), 226–32, 241, 244, 246, 251, 254. See also mixed reality; virtual reality
Autodesk, 60, 79