Flying down neon pathways
between crystal pyramids
And dodging giant corporate buildings
that render as an obsidian shark
Now that, is VR
No, wait... that's Cyberpunk
Big thanks again to our sponsor Oculus Rift
for underwriting us, and making two extra episodes of extra sci-fi this season, possible
Also, be sure to check out the rift exclusives
like Robo Recall and Dead and Burried
For more info on the Oculus Rift,
check out the link down below
We'll be back next week with Arthur C. Clarke
but for now, here comes the second half
of the history of VR in sci-fi
Annd... We are at Cyberpunk
William Gibson storms onto the stage
Time to gather the weird counter culture ethos
of new wave sci-fi, with the readability of the pulps
In 1981, he brings us Johnny Mnemonic
A story about a human whose brain, is used for spare data storage
Unfortunately for him though, someone put something in there,
that others would rather see destroyed.
This is also where we first meet Molly Millions,
and if you get that reference, you know exactly where we're going
But before we can get there,
we have to talk about Gibson's 1982 story called,
Burning Chrome
Not only is it the first place where the word cyber space is used,
but it's the first time we see someone,
jack in
Together, these stories led to the novel that changed
sci-fi forever: Neuromancer
Which we're going to be talking about
a heck of a lot more when we do our series on Cyberpunk
But here, we're going to focus on the fact that it put VR,
in the center of popular culture.
It envisioned two different methods of VR:
One, where you jack directly into your nerve system
and another, where you put electrodes on your head,
which deliver you a full sensory experience
Both of these will become staples in sci-fi,
but they also do something important.
Something different from most of the sci-fi that came before.
Instead of creating a simulated reality,
that the protagonist has to escape from,
they create a layered reality
of which the user is aware.
This allows characters to flip back and forth
between the virtual world and they real world at will,
enabling the two to flow together
The virtual world becomes a tool for real world actions
and things in the real world, affect the virtual
All of the sudden we realize,
that they aren't two world, but rather one
Just like the internet today,
Cyberpunk gave us a simulated reality,
that wasn't actually virtual at all:
it was simply an extension to our reality
This theme is explored in Gibson's other novels,
Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age
The Otherland series, by Tad Williams
and countless other books.
Then, by the 90s American cinema, jumped all over it
And while many of these films are a bit of a mess,
I'm looking at you Johnny Mnemonic
Many others, helped solidify a vision of virtual reality,
in the popular consciousnesses:
Strange Days, ExistenZ with a Z and of course:
The Matrix.
Gave us a full immersion trip into a realm
where anything was possible
Where we weren't limited by who we were in the day to day,
and we could be anyone or anything
Where we could play out our wildest fantasies, or have godlike powers
But, it's actually one of the
earliest modern virtual reality movies that I want to take
a second to discuss because in a weird way,
it's one of the most interesting:
Lawnmower man
While the movie itself is, let's just say not great..
it does have one important feature
Years before Diamond Age hit the stance,
Lawnmower man introduced pop culture,
to an element of VR that is often overlooked
It raised the possibility of using
a virtual environment for educational and therapeutic reasons
And sure, it all goes horribly wrong in the end
with a virtual lawnmower, mowing over someone's brain forever
But, there's a curdle of something important there
Because while things like The Matrix have characters just upload
a learning program, and suddenly master new knowledge,
lawnmower man in a very very hamfested way
pointed out
that there are a number of advantages of virtual environment,
might provide fields of education and therapy
Advantages that are just being explored today,
and in the long run
may be what drives the use of VR
But the next interesting conceptual exploration of virtual reality
doesn't come from Hollywood,
it comes when Cyberpunk concepts cross the water
and are filtered through the lens of anime
Because here it takes an interesting turn, Anime like:
Lain Serial Experiment, .Hack
Dennō Coil and Sword Art Online,
all fundamentally explore the same idea, what if
this tool, isn't actually in our control
These shows marry an old and a new
concept in science fiction
Cyberpunk brought us the idea of virtual reality as a tool,
as an extension of our world, and as something we
could use in our real world lives
Whereas older sci-fi gave us the concept of simulated reality,
as something to escape
Time and time again, animes bring these two concepts together
To ask what happens, when we build something
bigger than ourselves, when we try to play god
and create whole worlds, whole universes to live in
is that something we can ever really control
or will it by the nature of it's complexity
have outcomes we can't predict
Will we create things we can't fully understand?
Things that may even entrap us
Different shows run different directions with this
Some delving into the philosophic and religious,
others using it to create a human drama,
about self determination
This theme is so broad, it almost becomes it's own genre in anime
But the all force us to think not just about
the wonder of the technology itself,
but about the people who use it to create
Almost every one of these representations of virtual reality though
whether they are from novels, films or anime,
from the 30s to today,
have one thing is common,
one thing that's created a set of expectations in the public
that are impossible for any current technology to live up to
Like Star Trek's holideck, they are almost all
fully immersive total body experiences
We read about walking around virtual environments,
as if we're walking in the real world, no controller
no device to constantly remind us
the world we're experiencing is only an illusion
We hear characters talk about the feel or smell of things
in their virtual worlds and we want to experience that
We want to feel the shock of our sword when we parry giant monster's swing,
we want to feel the heat of it's breath
and smell the stink as it exhales
Well.. Maybe some of us on the last one
That's what's we want virtual reality to be
and that's what we imagine it to be in our
Holideck, Neuromancer and Matrix inspired dreams
And that, is one of the biggest hurdles
for modern virtual reality to overcome
our own expectation
We've talked about it on Extra Credits, but we're a long way
off from that
Right now, virtual reality is a head mounted display that uses
gyros to let you look around virtual worlds
and there are a number of amazing experiences I love
that you can have with it, but to truly enjoy it
you have to go in, not thinking of it
through the lens of a William Gibson or a Reki Kawahara
We have to understand that today's VR
is it's thing, with it's own marvels
and appreciate it at that
And if we can do that, than maybe it can be the first step
towards the science fiction ideal, we all desire
So until next time everyone
Wohohoho
That was AWESOME
You know, I think I got a little more time
Ahh, that's better, alright who's up for that walpole raid huh?
Let's roll!
Once again, thanks so much to oculus rift for sponsoring these episodes!
Like I said before,
I was so excited when they wanted to work with us, because the rift is my favorite headset
This week I've been playing Brass Tactics to get my,
RTS fixed, and Catan VR for when
I want to be social with my friends, wherever we are
Please check the link below for more info on the Oculus Rift
and tell the Extra Credits sent you