AR, VR, MR: Making Sense of Magic Leap and the Future of Reality

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You've probably already noticed this,

but after a few false starts virtual reality is here.

In a big way.

We have headsets that range from smartphone powered devices

like the super-cheap, assemble-it-yourself, Google cardboard

to the free if you buy a Galaxy phone, Samsung Gear VR

to more powerful, more immersive systems

that connect to a desktop PC

like the Oculus Rift or even the HTC Vive.

Now what all these have in common

is that by putting an opaque display

in front of you that presents stereoscopic 3D,

they create the illusion of putting you inside a world.

All 360 degrees of it.

Look up, you see up.

Look behind you, you see behind you.

But, more and more, some people are convinced

that VR is only part of the puzzle,

and maybe not even the most immersive one.

That's where augmented reality

and it's cousin mixed reality come in.

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Where VR puts you inside an artificial environment,

AR and MR bring artifice to your natural surroundings.

Augmented reality can be as simple as

having a visual overlay on your world.

A speedometer that displays on your windshield, say,

or even Snapchat's Face Swap.

But when that overlay becomes a virtual object,

one that you can interact with,

then that becomes mixed reality.

And mixed reality is what Microsoft's HoloLens,

and the ultra-secretive Magic Leap have been working on.

It can let you interact with fictional characters

in your own living room,

follow the progress of a loved one,

or just turn your environment

into the greatest work station imaginable.

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Now, affordable and easy mixed reality

is still a few years away.

It's a much more complex

and data intensive endeavor than VR,

necessitating a truly insane amount of processing.

But it promises to bring about the convergence of VR and AR.

And that blend of reality and illusion

could well be what our world will ultimately look like.