Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals, 11th Edition

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Virtual & Augmented Reality

John J. Lombardi, Ph.D.^*

After more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we approach the final phase of the extensions of man—the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society (McLuhan, 1994).

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are complex combinations of computer technology, virtual reality hardware, and artistic vision. Augmented reality (also called mixed reality) is the popular term for using computers to overlay virtual information onto the ...