The Future’s So Bright

June 13, 2011 1:38 PM

Augmented reality has come to advertising. Holograms are being used on the catwalk. And, reminiscent of Star Trek’s holodeck, Japanese scientists are working on making projected light touchable.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul (38 comments total)

help me obi blah blah blah
posted by nathancaswell at 1:43 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Advertising today, tomorrow the world. The end point of augmented reality will consist in all of us wearing glasses and never again having to see trash on the side of the road or our loved ones naked.

Reality will become Virtual, but our grandchildren will find such a dichotomy tautological.
posted by TwelveTwo at 1:45 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

The effect is certainly impressive but it's not really a hologram. It's just reflections on panes of glass between the stage and the audience. It's been around for a hundred or so years. A good example is the ballroom illusion in the Disney World's Haunted Mansion ride.
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:45 PM on June 13, 2011

Life and times of a Holodeck janitor.
posted by dr_dank at 1:50 PM on June 13, 2011 [6 favorites]

the scientists have only tested the system with relatively simple objects like balls

Tee hee.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:55 PM on June 13, 2011 [6 favorites]

While the Axe Lynx one's clever, it seems more like a proof-of-concept than an actual ad. An ad for an ad, if you will. You don't see what happens when the punters move backwards and forwards, and the fact that a guy with a laptop has to be there the whole time kind of defeats the purpose.
posted by hnnrs at 1:56 PM on June 13, 2011

Just as long as the hologram is not an anal retentive git.
posted by symbioid at 2:04 PM on June 13, 2011

Axe commercial, timestamp 1:03:

In a public space appears the image of a hot woman who does not tangibly exist; two (ostensibly straight?) male consumers see her and let go of their belongings so that they can stare at her and engage in the fruitless mimicry of copulation. As they mime an unerotic version of heterosexual intercourse, they chuckle and bond over the lack of an actual woman. They paw at each other, crotch nestled against buttocks homosocially (but not homoerotically), flaccidly displaying their knowledge of Sex Practices in view of spectating strangers. As they view the lure that the corporation shows them, they fall into the part they must play -- the penetrating male. They assure the spectators and themselves that they can engage in the normative behavior of a straight male, thrusting forward relentlessly into an imagined female other.

tags: patriarchy patriarchy patriarchy
posted by Greg Nog at 2:05 PM on June 13, 2011 [3 favorites]

I was wondering about that bit myself. They certainly seemed more into eachother than the hologram. I think those may be the "post-mos" that have been getting so much press lately.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:10 PM on June 13, 2011

Two thoughts: 1) the Holograms video (also on YouTube, and seen here as displayed from the front) is from 2006, and 2) what kind of pictures were the captured with all that flash going off?


bonobothegreat: The effect is certainly impressive but it's not really a hologram. It's just reflections on panes of glass between the stage and the audience. It's been around for a hundred or so years. A good example is the ballroom illusion in the Disney World's Haunted Mansion ride.

John Henry Pepper first demonstrated the technique in the 1860s.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:15 PM on June 13, 2011

More on Pepper's Ghost, presented at the Royal Polytechnic Institution for a Christmas performance of Charles Dickens's Haunted Man in 1862.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:20 PM on June 13, 2011

Hmmmm...That Dailymotion video isn't working for me. FF4/Mac. Odd.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:27 PM on June 13, 2011

Jaws 19?
posted by 7segment at 2:30 PM on June 13, 2011

Axe commercial, timestamp 1:03:

In a public space appears the image of a hot woman who does not tangibly exist; two (ostensibly straight?) male consumers see her and let go of their belongings so that they can stare at her and engage in the fruitless mimicry of copulation. As they mime an unerotic version of heterosexual intercourse, they chuckle and bond over the lack of an actual woman. They paw at each other, crotch nestled against buttocks homosocially (but not homoerotically), flaccidly displaying their knowledge of Sex Practices in view of spectating strangers. As they view the lure that the corporation shows them, they fall into the part they must play -- the penetrating male. They assure the spectators and themselves that they can engage in the normative behavior of a straight male, thrusting forward relentlessly into an imagined female other.

tags: patriarchy patriarchy patriarchy

I scanned the video to see what the hell is going on here, and now I'm confused and uncomfortable. But the question is, will this bother fans of Pirahna 3D: The Sequel?
posted by Stagger Lee at 2:33 PM on June 13, 2011

Is your reality augmented, or are you just happy to see me?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:39 PM on June 13, 2011

or our loved ones naked.

I don't know what kind of childhood trauma you're referring to, but there's at least some subsection of my loved ones that I like seeing naked.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:43 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm heartened that you didn't say "cross-section."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:44 PM on June 13, 2011

Let's say a representative population.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:45 PM on June 13, 2011

Was it only me that was somewhat disturbed by all the apparent pawing of the hologram going on by the male participants? I mean, really? Is that where a large portion of the mind goes, pawing a scantily-clad female in public, even if she's not real, in public?

What lack of imagination.
posted by owlrigh at 2:51 PM on June 13, 2011

I can't find video anywhere, but, but until holograms can do this, I'm just gonna make like a tree and get outta here....
posted by umberto at 2:53 PM on June 13, 2011

pawing a scantily-clad female in public, even if she's not real, in public?

I would have gone for the hover hand. Forever Alone.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:57 PM on June 13, 2011

tags: patriarchy patriarchy patriarchy

...Rimmer
posted by maxwelton at 2:59 PM on June 13, 2011

Oh, sure, its cool now but when there are 300 of these everywhere you go, you will want to punch the inventor in the face.

Since this is the case, let's punch him/her in the face now just to get it out of our system.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:00 PM on June 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

Axe products reek, and no amount of holography is going to change that, sadly.
posted by darkstar at 3:03 PM on June 13, 2011

They assure the spectators and themselves that they can engage in the normative behavior of a straight male, thrusting forward relentlessly into an imagined female other.

I think I need a cigarette.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:04 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Axe products reek, and no amount of holography is going to change that, sadly.

Though if Axe itself were merely a hologram, it might improve the smell considerably.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:11 PM on June 13, 2011

Not exactly a double, but we've talked about something like this research once before.
posted by chimaera at 3:14 PM on June 13, 2011

When can I walk on this light in order to find a way to step on the Super-Colliding Super Button?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 3:21 PM on June 13, 2011

This use of the term "hologram" is one of my biggest peeves. Not all 3D display technologies are holograms.

I'm a visualization scientist. I do, stereoscopy, autostereoscopy, virtual and augmented reality, and yes holography. None of these links actually show anything holographic. As many have pointed out, most are just examples of Pepper's Ghost. The touchable-light thing is an off-the shelf stereoscopic display. The tiny security sticker on your credit card and your XBox controller: that's a hologram.

We're not yet capable of true, digital, full-resolution, full-spectrum holography, as we need display pixel sizes on the order of the wavelength of light. We need multi-terabyte framebuffers large enough to store them, and we need multi-teraflop machines to render them. Of course terabyte RAMs exist, as do tereflop computers, and we're technologically capable of producing the display surface and maybe the interconnect (though not tooled for it). It's at the very limit of our capability and there's no market segment demanding it at the moment.

Anyway, we're working on it. Please don't waste the name before it's finished.
posted by rlk at 3:24 PM on June 13, 2011 [12 favorites]

FFFFFUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by basicchannel at 3:28 PM on June 13, 2011

we need display pixel sizes on the order of the wavelength of light. We need multi-terabyte framebuffers large enough to store them, and we need multi-teraflop machines to render them. Of course terabyte RAMs exist, as do tereflop computers, and we're technologically capable of producing the display surface and maybe the interconnect (though not tooled for it)

In 5 years, RFIDs will have twice that capacity. And they'll be surgically implanted at birth. By our cyborg masters. And we will pay them for the privilege.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:39 PM on June 13, 2011

...And the second link won't load on my iPhone.

THE FUTURE IS NOWish
posted by Pants McCracky at 4:15 PM on June 13, 2011

People are already going to see "Live" concerts by holographic pop stars

"The target of the Jihad was a machine-attitude as much as the machines," Leto said. "Humans had set those machines to usurp our sense of beauty, our necessary selfdom out of which we make living judgments. Naturally, the machines were destroyed."

God Emperor of Dune
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 7:46 PM on June 13, 2011

THE FUTURE IS NOWish

Actually, you are late. The Future was yesterday. Today is Monday.
posted by TwelveTwo at 8:25 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

rlk And for that reason I'm rather dubious that we'll ever bother with real holograms.

In just a few more years display glasses will become small and cheap enough that they won't look awful and will be readily available. At that point we get augmented reality, full 3D consensual hallucinations, on the cheap. After that why bother with holograms except as a purely scientific endeavor?

And I'm in favor of purely scientific endeavors, but it seems to me that from a user standpoint, getting holograms to really work is about as important as getting really great CRT monitors. We've passed (or will pass soon, rather) the point where there is much utility in either.
posted by sotonohito at 9:28 AM on June 14, 2011

It turns out there's a very good motivation to work beyond stereoscopy toward full holography: the vergence-accommodation conflict. Vergence is the brain's primary depth cue, where your two eyes with their horizontal offset allow distances to be triangulated. Accommodation is a secondary depth cue where-in your brain is aware of the tension of the muscles that reshape the lenses of your eyes to bring objects into focus. Vergence is a binocular depth cue and accommodation is a monocular depth cue.

When you're looking at a stereoscopic display, like a RealD movie, you're relying entirely on vergence to tell you that objects are in front of or behind the screen. However, you're focusing on the screen itself, which means that the accommodation cue is telling your brain that the image is flat. This conflict can be tiring over time, resulting in headaches. Some people even feel that children shouldn't be exposed to stereoscopic imagery because their ability to discern depth may still be developing.

Holography doesn't have this problem. A hologram fully reconstructs the wavefront of light passing through the plane of the screen in all directions. Vergence and accommodation work together to convince you of the distance to an object, just as in the reality.
posted by rlk at 1:34 PM on June 14, 2011

Thanks, I hadn't been aware of that.
posted by sotonohito at 3:02 PM on June 14, 2011

Oh, sure, its cool now but when there are 300 of these everywhere you go, you will want to punch the inventor in the face.

Since this is the case, let's punch him/her in the face now just to get it out of our system.

This sentiment makes me sad.
posted by Xezlec at 6:38 PM on June 14, 2011