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(More customer reviews)In seeking to discover a future not yet known, the writings collected by Tiffin and Terashima offer a vivid and enthusiastic dream of a world where the line between what is real and what is artificial has no relevance or meaning.
Drawing from various disciplines and areas of study, a complex new society emerges throughout the varied essays. Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality form the building blocks of a future of `HyperReality'. The nature of this future is carefully sketched out: everything from descriptions of technology and software, through to predictions about the extent of technological penetration into human life at an institutional, cultural and personal level.
The future that is laid out is not exactly a Utopia - although it is discussed with distinct enthusiasm - but rather, more of a realistic portrayal of human life in the Third Millennium, with some of the same old problems. At times the discussion can seem a little far-fetched, and dangers or concerns are not always addressed, but it must be remembered that this is a forward-looking piece, a set of predictive essays. Any prediction about human life 1,000 years from now is bound to have its critics and detractors. The strength of the work collected here is that clear connections with current technologies and understandings are drawn, enabling possible future trajectories to be explained clearly and believably.
The essays all hang together very well, drawing on each other and remaining cohesive as a whole: there has obviously been close collaboration around the concept of 'HyperReality'. If you can handle the occasional foray into academic and technical writing, the overall impact of the essays is one of quiet optimism.
An ideal read for anyone interested not just in technology, but also in science-fiction, the degree of `suspension of disbelief' that the reader has to make is small. The possibility of seemingly impossible technologies is made probable through Tiffin and Terashima's text "HyperReality." It is a future that I wish would happen sooner, so that I can actually experience it!
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'HyperReality is a technological capability like nanotechnology, human cloning and artificial intelligence. Like them, it does not as yet exist in the sense of being clearly demonstrable and publicly available. Like them, it is maturing in laboratories where the question "if" has been replaced by the question "when?" and like them, the implications of its appearance as a basic infrastructure technology are profound and merit careful consideration.' - Nobuyoshi TerashimaWhat comes after the Internet? Imagine a world where it is difficult to tell if the person standing next to you is real or a virtual reality, and whether they have human intelligence or artificial intelligence; a world where people can appear to be anything they want to be. HyperReality makes this possible.HyperReality offers a window into the world of the future, an interface between the natural and artificial. Nobuyoshi Terashima led the team that developed the prototype for HyperReality at Japan's ATT laboratories. John Tiffin studied they way HyperReality would create a new communications paradigm. Together with a stellar list of contributors from around the globe who are engaged in researching different aspects of HyperReality, they offer the first account of this extraordinary technology and its implications.This fascinating book explores the defining features of HyperReality: what it is, how it works and how it could become to the information society what mass media was to the industrial society. It describes ongoing research into areas such as the design of virtual worlds and virtual humans, and the role of intelligent agents. It looks at applications and ways in which HyperReality may impact on fields such as translation, medicine, education, entertainment and leisure. What are its implications for lifestyles and work, for women and the elderly: Will we grow to prefer the virtual worlds we create to the physical world we adapt to?HyperReality at the beginning of the third millennium is like steam power at the beginning of the nineteenth century and radio at the start of the twentieth century, an idea that has been shown to work but has yet to be applied. This book is for anyone concerned about the future and the effects of technology on our lives.
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