Will Virtual Reality in the Next 50 Years Be Indistinguishable From Real Life?

Question by Bill: Will virtual reality in the next 50 years be indistinguishable from real life?
Due to the massive increases in technology over the decades I have to wonder what it will be like 50 years from now. I even saw a documentary on people trying to crack quantum computers.

I can almost see a day when “holo addiction” like with Reg Barclay from Star Trek will become something real due to virtual reality being a window to a life like world we can dream up.

What do you think?

Best answer:

Answer by srki
Nah. Till then WW3 will happen, all will be destroyed, and mankind will have to start from beginning

Answer by Tdz
The sensory experience virtual reality will offer probably won’t be “indistinguishable” from real life. The reason is that not all senses will be fully exploited. Seeing and hearing something is currently the norm, but smell, touch, taste and “gravity perception” is not fully exploited and although there have been some major advances, I doubt total immersion is possible for everyone in the next 50 years. I am certain that it will be a technical possibility, but…the complexity of implementing such experience is troubling. In the 80s, a single colored pixel could mean a lot, in gaming for example, it could be a power up, a coin…a couple of pixels could be a ladder and so on. In the 90s with 3D and all, a couple to a hundred polygons were enough to be a realistic representation of an object. In 2060, when a simple object in a 3D game will need to be as complex as the real thing, how many artists will be involved in such projects is troubling. Just look at the numbers (gaming industry is my benchmark here since it’s the one that currently pushes the limits of interaction/reality), games were basement projects from students. Now they are million dollar endeavours. I do believe we will hit a wall when this kind of project needs over 20 years development and 50 000 working members to completion!!

Of course, by then we might have different techniques of creating digital content. So I’d like to believe we will be closer to reality than ever, but have my doubts for that “indistinguishable” aspect.

What do you think? Answer below!