The Fears of The Future of Technology
Illustration by Jordan Wolfanger
With all the new developments in AI technology, many people are discussing the possible future with the technology, or an inevitable outcome of AI running the world. While AI is developing rapidly, another technology is also making big strides in its development: immersive reality. Immersive reality has its own major here at SCAD, and the curriculum for that degree could be completely changed and developed in a matter of years. This major is also relatively small, but I would predict that it will become increasingly popular as time passes and immersive reality technology becomes more integrated in our everyday lives.
As everyday people start to use immersive technologies like VR, more people develop fears of the new technology, such as a fear of completely replacing cell phones. The fear comes from the fact you can put a cell phone down for limited screen time but many can imagine a grim future of keeping immersive glasses on 24/7. I spoke with an anonymous employee from a Fortune 500 tech company who notes that “these are not competing technologies but ones that augment each other.” A big sigh of relief can be heard from everyone who is attached to their lavender colored iPhone 14. Professionals in the field are not as fearful of new technology as an everyday consumer with little to no technological experience.
I continued to pick the brain of an anonymous tech employee to dive deeper into the opinions of a professional who has been working in tech for over 30 years. Here’s what we discussed:
With what you have seen in your years working on this technology, where do you think it will be in 10 years?
“The technology has tremendously grown over the last 10 years however it still has a long way to go in order to meet consumers demand for lower cost products that fits like a pair of glasses, provides a very large field of view with long battery life, and is not tethered to a computer pack or phone. Where Magic Leap’s ML2, Apple Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest Pro might stretch the technologies in AR, VR and VR pass through they have not reached the previously mentioned sweet spot. You can see this with the Meta Quest 3 and XReal AR glasses that have the right price points but do not have all the advancements in these technologies. As the technologies in these products further advance we will see future products in the upcoming years that meet the consumers needs causing this market to grow at a logarithmic scale.
You will also see other technologies like AI incorporated into these glasses as a way to argue multimodal inputs. Many people do not want to carry accessories to communicate with these glasses, hand gestures and voice input will be enhanced using AI to improve these input methods. Meta has already started to incorporate operated AI into the RayBan version 2 glasses.
In conclusion the next 5 years will be very exciting in this industry as products arrive on the market that further meet consumers needs allow it to exponentially grow. With these new products also will come many more exciting new applications.”
Do you think we’re heading towards a point of having contacts in our eyes with this immersive technology in them?
“This has already been accomplished with Mojo Vision Smart Contact Lenses, however keep in mind at what price and are the majority of the potential consumers of AR comfortable with wearing contacts lenses? They also present limitations where they can display content that can be viewed by your eye but can not do many of the functions the current AR glasses can accomplish.”
Often people fear we will be cementing technology to our eyes and walking around viewing ads in 3D but, the interviewee reminded me here that this technology already exists. Right now, it is not at a place to be practically shown but I think the average consumer’s lack of knowledge of its existence shows that society is not in a rush to make this happen. I believe, at least in our lifetime, a fear of this type of technology taking over is unrealistic.
Do you ever have fears about this type of technology taking over the world? How would you feel if one day everyone was walking around with a pair of immersive reality glasses on every day? How would you feel knowing you helped work on this technology if it does take over?
“AR/VR will help people get more information whether it enhances your view or experience with applications, open up the Internet of Things, or make the Metaverse a reality. It will not take over the world but might change how the world works. Just like smart phones have changed how the world works. Look how people worked in 2005 without smartphones to how they work today 20 years later.”
I think this is a really important note to hear from someone who has been in this industry and has seen the rise of cell phones. Once we relied on pagers and public toll phones, now we have access to anything on the internet in our back pocket. The younger generations have grown up with this technology that once terrified our parents. People adapted and people will continue to adapt to technologies such as immersive reality, of course maybe when people hit 80 they may have a little more issues but we as college students have some time before then.
Do you have any advice for someone wanting to go into this career field as an engineer or as an artist?
“It is an exciting new technology that is still growing. It will have its ups and downs and present many obstacles, but also has the potential for great rewards. The technologies it uses can also be applied to other industries so what you learn with it can take you in other directions.”
As the speaker discussed, this new technology may change the way the world works in the same way that smartphones have: “New technology should always be embraced not feared. Where new technologies might eliminate certain tasks or jobs, it also opens up many new ones. Most people fear technology because it can cause change and many people have a hard time dealing with change.” I think the biggest thing that we as students can do is be prepared to adapt to change and not be afraid of this new technology as the speaker says. No field will go untouched by technological advances in the next few years, and we just need to prepare.
And if you’re fearful of AI here is what the employee said to that: “AI is built off existing knowledge and where it can help do computations faster it does not replace innovation. Innovation is what differentiates companies because it allows them to constantly reinvent themselves and stay ahead of the competition.” AI can not ever replace human innovation and unique creativity. It might be able to automate tedious tasks, but that just gives people more time to do the creative parts of the job.
Don’t let others create fear for you going into an ever changing industry. Instead, look forward to the possibilities to come and what new ideas can come to life with new tools. You are intelligent and can adapt. That is what we are learning to do here at SCAD. We got this!