Defying Reality

Defying Reality PDF Author: David M. Ewalt
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101983736
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
A fascinating exploration of the history, development, and future of virtual reality, a technology with world-changing potential, written by award-winning journalist and author David Ewalt, stemming from his 2015 Forbes cover story about the Oculus Rift and its creator Palmer Luckey. You’ve heard about virtual reality, seen the new gadgets, and read about how VR will be the next big thing. But you probably haven’t yet realized the extent to which this technology will change the way we live. We used to be bound to a physical reality, but new immersive computer simulations allow us to escape our homes and bodies. Suddenly anyone can see what it’s like to stand on the peak of Mount Everest. A person who can’t walk can experience a marathon from the perspective of an Olympic champion. And why stop there? Become a dragon and fly through the universe. But it’s not only about spectacle. Virtual and augmented reality will impact nearly every aspect of our lives—commerce, medicine, politics—the applications are infinite. It may sound like science fiction, but this vision of the future drives billions of dollars in business and is a top priority for such companies as Facebook, Google, and Sony. Yet little is known about the history of these technologies. In Defying Reality, David M. Ewalt traces the story from ancient amphitheaters to Cold War military laboratories, through decades of hype and failure, to a nineteen-year-old video game aficionado who made the impossible possible. Ewalt looks at how businesses are already using this tech to revolutionize the world around us, and what we can expect in the future. Writing for a mainstream audience as well as for technology enthusiasts, Ewalt offers a unique perspective on VR. With firsthand accounts and on-the-ground reporting, Defying Reality shows how virtual reality will change our work, our play, and the way we relate to one another.

Defying Reality

Defying Reality PDF Author: David M. Ewalt
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101983736
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book Here

Book Description
A fascinating exploration of the history, development, and future of virtual reality, a technology with world-changing potential, written by award-winning journalist and author David Ewalt, stemming from his 2015 Forbes cover story about the Oculus Rift and its creator Palmer Luckey. You’ve heard about virtual reality, seen the new gadgets, and read about how VR will be the next big thing. But you probably haven’t yet realized the extent to which this technology will change the way we live. We used to be bound to a physical reality, but new immersive computer simulations allow us to escape our homes and bodies. Suddenly anyone can see what it’s like to stand on the peak of Mount Everest. A person who can’t walk can experience a marathon from the perspective of an Olympic champion. And why stop there? Become a dragon and fly through the universe. But it’s not only about spectacle. Virtual and augmented reality will impact nearly every aspect of our lives—commerce, medicine, politics—the applications are infinite. It may sound like science fiction, but this vision of the future drives billions of dollars in business and is a top priority for such companies as Facebook, Google, and Sony. Yet little is known about the history of these technologies. In Defying Reality, David M. Ewalt traces the story from ancient amphitheaters to Cold War military laboratories, through decades of hype and failure, to a nineteen-year-old video game aficionado who made the impossible possible. Ewalt looks at how businesses are already using this tech to revolutionize the world around us, and what we can expect in the future. Writing for a mainstream audience as well as for technology enthusiasts, Ewalt offers a unique perspective on VR. With firsthand accounts and on-the-ground reporting, Defying Reality shows how virtual reality will change our work, our play, and the way we relate to one another.

Defying Reality

Defying Reality PDF Author: Karina Mellinger
Publisher: Dedalus
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
A novel about one of the preoccupations of our age, fame and celebrity culture. Serena Dawlish is the most famous soap star of them all. When she appears on the small screen in 'Coombe Ridge Crescent' the nation comes to a standstill. But her agent Gareth has told her that although she is famous she isn't quite famous enough and so she begins her pursuit of total and permanent fame.Serena meets and falls in love with the strange but well-hung Marlon who tells her -- and can prove scientifically -- that she is an alien. She wants to leave her husband and marry him but Gareth vetoes their affair. Marlon isn't a politician, a pop star or a footballer so he will do nothing for her career and anyway his mother, Shelley, is too fat to look good in the wedding photos. Meanwhile Serena's husband, the renowned Shakespearian actor James Marlborough, is also tormented by his own emotional dilemma. He wants to leave Serena - he can no longer stand the smell of her fake tan -- and be with his mistress, Geraldine, who calls him Rover when they make love. But most of his audience now only come to see him because he's married to the celebrated Serena Dawlish -- why else would they want to see Shakespeare? If he leaves her he destroys his career.Geraldine is presenting a new prime-time TV show called 'I Gave Birth To A Celebrity' with Serena as the surprise celebrity on the first show. However, as Geraldine has decided that Serena's real mother is too boring to play the part of mother she has secretly replaced her with Shelley. Will Shelley's revelations on the show seal Serena's quest for fame or will they ruin her forever?

The Reality of Virtuality

The Reality of Virtuality PDF Author: Kirsten Cowan
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110980568
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Virtual Reality (VR) technology has become more sophisticated and widespread. Consumers embrace it for gaming and entertainment. New industries are using it to showcase their products and services, with VR experiences becoming more immersive and realistic than ever. Where does VR fit into your marketing strategy? How can your brand use it to leave a lasting impression on users or, at the very least, drum up excitement around the experience? And how can your brand utilize VR to interact with your target market to improve consumer engagement and loyalty? The Reality of Virtuality is both practitioner-oriented and evidence-based, showing marketing managers in the B2C and B2B sectors how to design a compelling VR marketing strategy and leverage it for their brand. This book discusses how to select the appropriate VR type dependent on resources, technology, and audience. It shows how to align the VR experience with marketing objectives (i.e., consumer engagement, brand building, attitude management, selling in VR, product co-creation, publicity, awareness building and more), and how to create a purpose-driven VR experience to ensure it is engaging and meaningful. Lastly, it shows how to incorporate VR into the consumer journey, the ways to reach consumers before the VR experience, and the long-lasting effects after it. The authors use examples, references, and industry expert opinions throughout to fully illustrate each lesson, giving marketers a solid foundation for their VR endeavours in the field today and in the future.

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality PDF Author: Samuel Greengard
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262537524
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
INSIDE EXTENDED REALITY: A comprehensive overview of the developments in augmented, mixed, and virutal reality technology—and their potential impact on our lives. After years of hype, extended reality—augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR)—has entered the mainstream. Commercially available, relatively inexpensive VR headsets transport wearers to other realities—fantasy worlds, faraway countries, sporting events—in ways that even the most ultra-high-definition screen cannot. AR glasses receive data in visual and auditory forms that are more useful than any laptop or smartphone can deliver. Immersive MR environments blend physical and virtual reality to create a new reality. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, technology writer Samuel Greengard offers an accessible overview of developments in extended reality, explaining the technology, considering the social and psychological ramifications, and discussing possible future directions. Greengard describes the history and technological development of augmented and virtual realities, including the latest research in the field, and surveys the various shapes and forms of VR, AR, and MR, including head-mounted displays, mobile systems, and goggles. He examines the way these technologies are shaping and reshaping some professions and industries, and explores how extended reality affects psychology, morality, law, and social constructs. It's not a question of whether extended reality will become a standard part of our world, he argues, but how, when, and where these technologies will take hold. Will extended reality help create a better world? Will it benefit society as a whole? Or will it merely provide financial windfalls for a select few? Greengard's account equips us to ask the right questions about a transformative technology.

We're All Insane! Second Edition

We're All Insane! Second Edition PDF Author: Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
Publisher: FitzMaurice Publishers
ISBN: 1878693271
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
This book helps you to understand how thought becomes a problem when thought replaces reality. You discover enough information and examples to be able to negate thought as reality, which enables you to re-experience “what is”. You can live sanely in an insane world. You just have to choose against the common illusions and delusions of your society and your conditioning. All the common illusions and delusions of the world are constructed through the misunderstanding and misuse of thought. Albert Ellis, voted the second most influential psychologist of all time by the American Psychological Association (APA), said of the first edition of We’re All Insane!, “I found it a most unusual book that makes some excellent points, almost all of which I go along with. It sort of brings Alfred Korzybski up-to-date and makes some points which [sic] are not particularly clear in his own writings.

Evolution's Way

Evolution's Way PDF Author: Todd F. Ekof
Publisher: Oakleaf Press
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
We are living in a time of exponential changes due to the rapid evolution of technology, far outpacing that of our biology. Extraordinary as they seem, however, these changes are expressions of the natural evolutionary processes that have been occurring since the Universe began. Evolution’s Way shows us how this all-pervasive force shapes and moves the Universe and everything within it—from the first stars to the first cells; from humans to their machines—toward increasingly greater states of complexity, awareness, and unity. As nature’s toolmakers, moreover, humanity and its machines have brought the entire Universe to a sudden point of transformation that’s about to change everything. Humans, like all creatures, are creatures of habit, which means sudden changes can feel threatening to us. But Evolution’s Way helps sooth our nerves by elucidating the spiritual dimensions of evolution, while reminding us we too are an intricate and beautiful part of nature’s drive toward transcendence.

Fantasies of Virtual Reality

Fantasies of Virtual Reality PDF Author: Marcus Carter
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262549166
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
The fantasies that underpin common perceptions of Virtual Reality—and what we need to know about VR’s potential risks as well as its opportunities. Virtual reality is the next new frontier for Silicon Valley. Mark Zuckerberg, who has overseen Meta’s investment of billions into VR, pitches it as the next dominant computing paradigm. More than just a gaming technology, VR is top of mind for academics, tech reportage, and industry evangelists who all see the potential for VR to revolutionize fields such as education and health, as well as the way we work and communicate. But will VR achieve all this? In Fantasies of Virtual Reality, Marcus Carter and Ben Egliston strip bare the tech industry’s vision of a future dominated by immersive VR experiences, challenging the utopian promises of this technology’s potential. Carter and Egliston offer a critical account of VR in a variety of contexts, from gaming to human resources to policing and the military. They argue that while VR does hold significant potential, the overhyped expectations surrounding it, from achieving true empathetic understanding to transforming traditional education and office work, are often overstated and fraught with issues of privacy, control, and exclusion. What’s more, there is nothing truly virtual about virtual reality: VR is deeply entrenched in the material world, driven by tangible technological, economic, and social logics. An accessible introduction to this emerging technology, Fantasies of Virtual Reality is essential reading for anyone interested in what VR can really do—and what is just plain fantasy.

Wisdom Through Experience

Wisdom Through Experience PDF Author: Richard W. Blumberg
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1468522582
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
DR. BLUMBERG HAS LOOKED BACK OVER HIS PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND EXTRACTED HIS "RULES OF THE ROAD" OR WISDOM FOR LIVING. HE HAS ORGANIZED HIS THOUGHTS AROUND COMMON ISSUES SUCH AS OUR TENDENCY TO SEEK PERFECTION, TO WANT TO DISTORT REALITY TO COMPLY WITH OUR DESIRES, AND TO SEEK SECURITY IN GOING ALONG WITH THE TIDE OF GENERAL OPINION, EVEN WHEN WE SUSPECT IT IS WRONG. HE ALSO EXAMINES THE RELATIONSHIPS WE HAVE WITH SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, INCLUDING OUR PARENTS, BOSSES, SPOUSES AND FRIENDS. THROUGHOUT DR. BLUMBERG EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR EXPERIENCE, AND BEING OPEN TO IT, AS A MEANS OF THREADING A MEANINGFUL COURSE IN OUR LIVES AND ACHIEVING WISDOM. HE CONCLUDES WITH HIS THOUGHTS ON THE VALUE OF NATURE AND THE ARTS IN ENRICHING OUR EXPERIENCES, AND LEADING TO MORE MEANINGFUL LIVES.

It's The Sun, Not Us

It's The Sun, Not Us PDF Author: L.D. den Boer
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1525550195
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description
Earth’s climate is changing—it always has and always will. The cause may be debated, but “man-made global warming” has become the accepted narrative and “Big Oil” the popular villain. Anyone daring to challenge this “consensus” is attacked: smeared, demonized as a “denier,” even threatened. Researchers who refuse to toe the line are discredited, dismissed as incompetent, and blacklisted, regardless of their expertise, experience, or credentials. This is not how science is conducted. But not everyone can be silenced. The author of this book is not incompetent. Nor was he paid to write it. He’s just someone who cares about the truth: a scientist, with a broad understanding of how Earth’s climate works and how it has changed over time. His book is divided into two parts: science and ideology. The first part explains (in language laypersons can understand) how the Sun, cosmic rays, and other natural factors control Earth’s climate, and why carbon dioxide is virtually irrelevant. The second part exposes and refutes the green ideology of “man-made global warming,” revealing the economic damage it causes. It may be short, but it’s well researched, packed with information, and an enjoyable, rewarding read.

Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe PDF Author: Harold Bloom
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 143811351X
Category : Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Presents a collection of critical essays about the works of Tom Wolfe.