Future presence : how virtual reality is changing human connection, intimacy, and the limits of ordinary life

A Wired senior editor and virtual reality expert presents a captivating, candid glimpse into the future "realities" of this emerging technology: how we will use it to form previously impossible relationships, explore new frontiers of intimacy, and how it will forever change human connection. Heralded as the most significant technological innovation since the smartphone, virtual reality is poised to transform our very notions of life and humanity. Though this tech is still in its infancy, to those on the inside, it is the future. VR will change how we work, how we experience entertainment, how we feel pleasure and other emotions, how we see ourselves, and most importantly, how we relate to each other in the real world. And we will never be the same. Peter Rubin, senior culture editor for Wired and the industry's go-to authority on the subject, calls it an "intimacy engine." While once we needed another person to feel the sensations of closeness, trust, vulnerability, confidence, and titillation, VR will give us the ability to induce these sensations by ourselves for the first time in human history. This metamorphosis, Rubin argues, is going to have a powerful impact on relationships that will ripple throughout our society and our individual lives. A journey into this uncertain future and a glimpse at the cultural implications and promises of a new reality, Future Presence explores a host of complex questions about what makes us human, what connects us, and what is real. Offering a glimpse into the mind-blowing things happening in universities, labs, and tech companies around the world, Rubin leads readers on an entertaining tour of the weirdest, wildest corners of this fascinating new universe. Describing this book as "half travelogue and half crystal ball", Rubin will: Introduce readers to the creators and consumers of VR technology Show readers what an experience is like inside the current VR devices Explain how this technology will upend everything we know about human connection in the future At once the incredible, inevitable story of virtual reality's rise and a look towards the future of our fantasies, Future Presence is a deeply personal examination of what connects us, and an analysis of what relationships, empathy, and sex could look like—sooner than we think. Virtual reality has been heralded as the most significant innovation since the smartphone. Though this technology is still in its infancy, to those experts in the field, VR is poised to upend every industry and touch every aspect of our lives. It will change how we work, how we experience entertainment, how we feel pleasure and other emotions, how we see ourselves, and most important, how we relate to each other in the real world. Peter Rubin, senior editor for Wired and the industry?s go-to authority on the intersection of popular culture and virtual reality, argues that this new technology will powerfully transform how we experience intimacy. While once we needed another person to feel the sensations of closeness, trust, vulnerability, confidence, and titillation, VR will give us the ability to induce these sensations by ourselves for the first time in human history. This metamorphosis, Rubin explains, is going to have a powerful impact on relationships that will ripple throughout our society and our individual lives. By taking us on a journey spanning universities, tech companies, and porn studios, Rubin explores a host of complex questions about what makes us human, what connects us, and what is real. At once the incredible, inevitable story of virtual reality's rise and a look towards the future of our fantasies, Future Presence is ultimately a deeply personal analysis of what relationships, empathy, and sex could look like -- sooner than we think This is the first volume of the two-volume set (CCIS 528 and CCIS 529) that contains extended abstracts of the posters presented during the 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2015, held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece in August 2015. The total of 1462 papers and 246 posters presented at the HCII 2015 conferences was carefully reviewed and selected from 4843 submissions. These papers address the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of design and use of computing systems. The papers thoroughly cover the entire field of human-computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas. The papers included in this volume are organized in the following topical sections: design and evaluation methods, techniques and tools; cognitive and psychological issues in HCI; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; cross-cultural design; design for aging; children in HCI; product design; gesture, gaze and motion detection, modelling and recognition; reasoning, optimisation and machine learning for HCI; information processing and extraction for HCI; image and video processing for HCI; brain and physiological parameters monitoring; dialogue systems. This is the first volume of the two-volume set (CCIS 528 and CCIS 529) that contains extended abstracts of the posters presented during the 17th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2015, held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece in August 2015. The total of 1462 papers and 246 posters℗l presented at the HCII 2015 conferences was carefully reviewed and selected from 4843 submissions. These papers address the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of design and use of computing systems. The papers thoroughly cover the entire field of human-computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas. The papers included in this volume are organized in the following topical sections: design and evaluation methods, techniques and tools; cognitive and psychological issues in HCI; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; cross-cultural design; design for aging; children in HCI; product design; gesture, gaze and motion detection, modelling and recognition; reasoning, optimisation and machine learning for HCI; information processing and extraction for HCI; image and video processing for HCI; brain and physiological parameters monitoring; dialogue systems Contains 696 articles covering in depth the entire spectrum of the cognitive sciences. Reviewing the common themes of information and information processing, representation and computation, it also covers in depth the core areas of psychology, philosophy, linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience. Ancillary topics such as education, economics, evolutionary biology and anthropology are also covered A Wired senior editor and virtual reality expert presents a captivating, candid glimpse into the future "realities" of this emerging technology: how we will use it to form previously impossible relationships, explore new frontiers of intimacy, and how it will forever change human connection. Print run 20,000 Presents A Candid Glimpse Into Virtual Technology's Likely Future And How It May Be Used To Form Previously Impossible Relationships, Explore New Frontiers Of Intimacy, And Transform Human Connection. Peter Rubin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. An exciting reference work which captures current thinking about the workings of the mind and brain, focusing on problems that are as old as recorded history, but reflecting new approaches and techniques that have emerged since the 1980aACAACA's.