Unemployed Mice
It seems with a 3D interface we are not going to need mice. Perhaps there will be a 3D equivalent or we'll just use our hands. I think 3D interfaces will enable us to build "proximal" interfaces [8] where the tool becomes part of us, these have the promise of making computers easier to use than ever before.
Whats next?
The next stage to this is where all 3D interfaces will end up if you think about them long enough. I'll not even bother describing it, I'll give you a clue instead and let you figure it out: The Matrix.
In the film The Matrix there was a 3D world which everyone inhabited, it is designed to pretty much emulate the real world. The Matrix is the ultimate 3D interface and I fully expect it to happen in some form but something so realistic is obviously a long time away.
We could start with having a "Personal Matrix" on our own computers, this doesn't have to abide by same conditions or rules as the Matrix in the film, there are no reasons why you couldn't have it set to be a in a zero gravity environment, on Mars, or both. There are no limitations on how the world could be set up their world other than the power of the computer it's running on and the imagination of the user.
I do think plugging cables into the back of your head is some way off yet. That said I'll be reluctant to plug my brain into anything, what happens if a cracker gets in and 0wN3r5 your head? Who would you call? a Sysadmin, Surgeon or an Exorcist?
The Matreb
Another aspect of this system that could be very different from the original Matrix is the concept I've named "Matreb" (short for Matrix-Web). If we can have our own worlds why not connect them up? The possibilities here are virtually endless, even bigger than the web. You can build any world you like and invite anyone you want to join in. You could surf the web to a web site about surfing and actually go surfing. You could have a game of "Finding Nemo" where you actually have to go swimming to find him. Ever fancied flying on the star-ship Enterprise?
The computer could be become a lot more appropriate for socialisation than it currently is. Currently the lack of visuals or audio means a lot of the message you are sending can be misinterpreted, it is this detachment that leads to no end of misunderstandings and unwarranted flame wars. In a Matreb you could set up a world with a virtual pub and actually see and hear the people you are communicating with, enabling much more constructive conversation. It'd also be a valuable business tool for meetings and discussions as you could invite people all over the world to meet in the same room, no need to leave their offices. You can imagine this will apply to much more than social or commercial gatherings, again I'll leave it up to the reader to feel the possibilities of futuristic porn.
Of course we would also get the web's downsides - spam would be worse, who knows what viruses will be like and pop up ads will be a lot more annoying - of course all these will pale beside the experience of clicking on a 3D Goatse link!
Building a Matreb
Building such a system is going to be a highly complex but I've no reason to think it's impossible. The initial Matrix like system requires a tactile body suit and a very powerful computer, but these will come, we'll need to go back to Virtual Reality type headsets to create the "being inside" illusion properly but perhaps the screens can be focused away from the wearer to mitigate the focusing problem.
To build a Matrix web is a more difficult problem because it will require the user to interact in a world elsewhere and this will bring up the problems of transferring a large amount of data at very high speed. In order to enter a world you first need to have a full description of it sent and that could be large and complex. After that all the movements within that world will have to be transferred at very low latency, the more realistic the world is the more data will have to be sent.
There are ways around these problems but they are complex and going to need a lot of research and work before we ever see them. The beginnings of this are already being researched and we will see this system developing in the future.
Perhaps one day we wont sit down at a computer to use it but rather plug into it and enter it to use applications. When we do this the computing experience will have changed to something which will not be recognisable today.
But this will still be software running on CPUs, right?
Wrong. I think there are going to be fundamental changes to come in both software and hardware. Not only will the applications be very different but the software they use and hardware they run on will also become unrecognisable. The technologies are all in place, another journey is about to begin.
Stay tuned for part 5...
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References
[1] General purpose computing with Graphics hardware.
http://www.gpgpu.org/
[2] Not the link I wanted but look at the end of this and you'll see similar technology.
3D Displays
[3] Depth of Field.
Depth of Field
[4] Nooface has a 3D GUI section, 3dcgi is about 3D graphics
http://www.nooface.org/
http://www.3dcgi.com/
[5] Sun's Looking glass 3D GUI.
http://wwws.sun.com/software/looking_glass/
[6] The BeOS's 3DMix.
http://www.skycycleonline.com/images/3dmix.html
[7] Good article on 3D graphics which mentions Photon Mapping and other techniques.
The Future of 3D Graphics
[8] Andrew Basden's Proximal User Interface.
http://www.basden.u-net.com/R/proximal.html
Copyright (c) Nicholas Blachford February 2004
Disclaimer:
This series is about the future and as such is nothing more than informed speculation on my part. I suggest future possibilities and actions which companies may take but this does not mean that they will take them or are even considering them.
- "Future of Computing, Page 1/4"
- "Future of Computing, Page 2/4"
- "Future of Computing, Page 3/4"
- "Future of Computing, Page 4/4"
