We are now in a world where the dead can earn a fortune. Of course, that has been the case for a number of decades. We only need to look at the estate of Elvis Pressley to know that.
However, with technology, we are seeing an entirely new genre emerging. It is something that you would think comes from Sci-Fi writers but it is reality. In fact, in the coming years, this might be the norm.
It was announced that Frank Zappa will tour again. This is an amazing fear when you consider the fact he died 25 years ago. In fact, not only is he going to tour, he will do so with the Former Mothers band.
No, Frank was not reincarnated and technology has not figured out how to awaken the dead...yet. What it can do is send Frank Zappa, the hologram, and his band on tour.
This is not the first time a hologram tour took place.
Here we have an example of some of what is possible. Think back to when Zappa passed, was something like this a thought of possibility outside the minds of the wildest Sci-Fi writers? Most likely not. Yet here it is today.
We most likely will see an entire industry built around tours of famous musicians who departed. It seems like a great way to tap into the still living fanbase while, perhaps, attracting a few more.
What is fascinating is that people like Zappa lived during an age when cameras were not everywhere. Today, with smartphones, pictures and videos are shot all the time. Can you imagine the video footage that is around for a Justin Bieber and what will be possible when he is gone? With all the selfies, video, and pictures of people, software will be able to create entire storylines about individuals.
The next stage that humanity is going to go through is an exercise in our imagination. There is so much available to us it is mind-boggling. It is a time for those who are out of touch with reality because it is their visions that can come alive. Inventors, coders, and developers always tended to be a bit "dreamy", that is what makes them so effective.
Now, we see the possibilities for so much more.
Do you think people thought they would see Roy Orbison in concert again?
It is these ideas that are leading some to believe we will be able to upload "ourselves" to the Internet. Our memories and other aspects of ourselves can be duplicated and altered just like they are here for these concerts. The difference is, according to the belief, that instead of images it will be our thoughts.
Far out stuff to say the least.
I believe that in another decade, we will not have screens. That is so today. Most things will be projections of some kind, sort of a hologram. Actually, projection might be the wrong term since the image will not be "projected" as much as simply resident on the surface via some nanotech. Hence, recipes will be on our counter top and we will watch "television" simply by looking at the wall. Phones as we know them will be gone, replaced with some type of device that presents a holographic image ala Jarvis from Iron Man.
This all could get a bit crazier when we add in virtual reality. Imagine, instead of buying a ticket and going to the concert, you are able to pay for a virtual seat and watch from your living room using your VR device. Or maybe we opt to "attend" the 1956 World Series and getting to watch Jackie Robinson play "in person".
The possibilities are endless.
It is said that we tend to overestimate technology in the short term but under estimate it in the long term. We also are leaving a phase where we were "down" technologically. There seem to be a cycle that tech operates upon that lasts about 20-25 years. The 1990s were a great time for innovation providing us with mobile communications, personal computing, and the Internet. Since that really kicked off in the early 2000s, the biggest "game changer" was the smart phone.
As we enter the 2020s, if the cycle is correct, we could see a time like the 1990s but on steroids. We are further along in terms of computing power. Also, the software available is more advanced than that time. Hence why we can see concerts of people who are dead 25 years.
How will things such as deep learning, 3D printing, VR/AR, and Quantum affect things over the next 10-20 years? Each of these could have similar impact as the Smartphone. Collectively, they could provide a whole lot more.
It is going to be a very interesting time.
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Truly amazing! Also consider the biotech advances we will see and how humanity will live longer and the implications that has over time! Blockchain will be needed for all the data available in order to ensure privacy and permissioned access to it.
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I have actually considered how the environment can be used to send a signal directly to the viewer's eye. Even without BMI (Brain Machine Interface) this would make screens unnecessary altogether, and create a completely 360 degree Virtual Environment.
Goolag Glass shone an image on eyeglasses. It's but a short hop to shining directly in the retina itself.
Thanks!
Great point. There is also talk of contact lenses...not quite to the level of advancement you are mentioning but another means to view without a screen.
Baby steps.
Yes, while we indulge in such comfortable fantasies and need a lot of electricity to create concerts and other virtual experiences, we lose all reference to the physical foundations we need as living beings. To name just one aspect: The topsoil.
Soil does not develop quickly. It takes hundreds, sometimes thousands of years for the processes to become visible through the formation of soil horizons. It takes around 100 to 200 years for one centimetre of this highly complex and sensitive ecosystem to form.
Most soils here in Germany have developed since the last ice age, i.e. they are around 10,000 years old. The slowness of the soil formation processes makes the soil a quasi non-renewable and thus precious resource.
Our industrial food cultivation is a worldwide danger for the topsoil. But we prefer to look into the tubes and dream of holograms and other virtual alternative fantasies that don't make us think about what we should actually learn. We are organic beings, whether we like it or not. Thus we belong in the cycle of this earth and not outside of it.
Technological progress towards full virtual immersion is not the right way.
It may seem as if my answer has nothing to do with your article, but I think the interest in the physical realm may grow again and should counter the virtual one with something better. In truth it is fun to be in the more touched world. Much more than in the holographic world.
Much as I was fond of Roy Orbison and Frank Zappa, for me they will remain deceased.
Am I alone in feeling that this is some how exploitative?