3.5
Our Next Reality
ByPublisher Description
Foreword by Neal Stephenson, bestselling author of Snow Crash
Over the last 100 years, technology has changed our world. Over the next decade it will transform our reality. The planet is headed for a momentous upheaval, and we are not prepared.
We are entering a new technological age in which artificial intelligence and immersive media will transform society at all levels, mediating our lives by altering what we see, hear, and experience. Powered by immersive eyewear and driven by interactive AI agents, this new age of computing has the potential to make our world a magical place where the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the human and the artificial, rapidly fade away. If managed well, this could unleash a new age of abundance. If managed poorly, this technological revolution could easily go astray, deeply compromising our privacy, autonomy, agency, and even our humanity.
In Our Next Reality, two industry veterans provide a data-driven debate on whether the new world we're creating will be a technological utopia or an AI-powered dystopia and give guidance on how to aim for the best future we can. With a Foreword by renowned author Neal Stephenson and section contributions from industry thought-leaders such as Peter H. Diamandis, Tom Furness, Phillip Rosedale, Tony Parisi, Avi Bar Zeev and Walter Parkes, this book answers over a dozen of the most pressing questions we face as AI/VR/AR accelerates the digitization of our world. Find out why our actions in the next decade could determine the trajectory of our species for countless millennia.
Over the last 100 years, technology has changed our world. Over the next decade it will transform our reality. The planet is headed for a momentous upheaval, and we are not prepared.
We are entering a new technological age in which artificial intelligence and immersive media will transform society at all levels, mediating our lives by altering what we see, hear, and experience. Powered by immersive eyewear and driven by interactive AI agents, this new age of computing has the potential to make our world a magical place where the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the human and the artificial, rapidly fade away. If managed well, this could unleash a new age of abundance. If managed poorly, this technological revolution could easily go astray, deeply compromising our privacy, autonomy, agency, and even our humanity.
In Our Next Reality, two industry veterans provide a data-driven debate on whether the new world we're creating will be a technological utopia or an AI-powered dystopia and give guidance on how to aim for the best future we can. With a Foreword by renowned author Neal Stephenson and section contributions from industry thought-leaders such as Peter H. Diamandis, Tom Furness, Phillip Rosedale, Tony Parisi, Avi Bar Zeev and Walter Parkes, this book answers over a dozen of the most pressing questions we face as AI/VR/AR accelerates the digitization of our world. Find out why our actions in the next decade could determine the trajectory of our species for countless millennia.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesOur Next Reality Reviews
3.5
Lime
Created 4 months agoShare
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“If this book was satire, it would be hilarious.
Instead, it has re-affirmed my view that America must be a terribly lonely place to live if the authors are this desperate for AI to take over all aspects of life.
Despite this book appearing to be an exciting foray into a world with AI, AR and VR, the majority of the book instead is a deep condemnation of everything that could and will go wrong with the implementation of these tools. Although the authors stress throughout that with proper regulation, none of this will occur, through what we have seen with phones, the internet and gaming, we know for a fact that regulations will not be adequate or adhered to.
Cognitive decline, feedback loops of wide-spread misinformation, uniformity of thought, storing immense amounts of personal information, danger to human agency, chemical weapon creation, penetration of marketing in all aspects of daily life are just a few points covered in the book. A virtual rave with 40-people was one of the author’s most fun experiences, come on now! Come across to Europe and see how you’re supposed to experience and enjoy life, food on the river without the AR waitresses, hikes in the Tatra mountains without AI ‘context aware dialogue on a hike’.
The authors acknowledge extreme levels of unprecedented unemployment and economic uncertainty, glazing over this by providing the comforting thought that none of that will matter because by being unemployed, we will have more time to sit in our VR headsets and ‘be creative’ and have AI therapy. Where is the money to fund this you may ask? No solution proposed! If so many people are unemployed, will there not be creative over-saturation? Apparently not! What if, like millions of people in the accounting, marketing, graphic design and law sectors, people love their job and would gladly do the grunt work to move up the ladder? Too bad! We must move towards AI as it is the only solution to inefficiency in the workplace. Although…does normal inefficiency really matter…does everything have to be done immediately…who is this benefitting? No one really, just vanity on the creators part and the heads of conglomerates who can save money (although the authors note that they think AI will result in less conglomerates for reasons unknown).
As demonstrated by MIT, the next generations will be the first in History to be lazier and have less critical thinking skills. AI might have the tools to ‘teach’ but we will not longer have enough effort to learn or to find things out for ourselves. Why bother if as many of our jobs have been lost as the authors state will occur. This can be demonstrated by the fact that the authors seem to fancy themselves also as Sociologists, Geographers, Biologists and Historians. They have spent way too much time looking up concepts which could fit their ideology, or even making up their own like the ridiculous Abundanism theory (they should really instead look up Durkheim’s theories) and have come up looking instead quite silly with no real deep understanding of these subjects present – just like people who skim read their AI written dissertations without gaining an actual understanding of what’s being discussed.
In summary, it feels to me as if people within the AI world have received a challenge in the 20th century from Science-Fiction of, could we actually make an AI / VR world so all encompassing that we no longer needed to function. Instead of acknowledging the warnings which also came with these novels and that they were intended to send a message, they have taken this idea and run with it for their own personal vanity projects. Yes, it will have useful applications in medicine and science, possibly even learning, but it will only contribute to poverty, hunger, war and isolation.
A return to analogue is instead gaining far more traction than the ‘we love AI crowd’, and based on this book, I can completely see why.
If you want to see what it’s like to live inside of a world of people who constantly re-affirm each other and pretend everything is fine and that somewhere deep down maybe they’re doing something right for someone somewhere, I’d suggest reading this book. Do be sure to ignore the multiple spelling mistakes and the fact that the graphs they’ve put in are in black and white so they don’t actually show anything useful however.”
Ingrid
Created 7 months agoShare
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“This is a book about AI and the metaverse, or augmented world, or omniverse, or age of spatial computing- whatever you want to call it. It is authored by Alvin Graylin and Louis Rosenberg- both tech industry leaders with achievements to back them.
The content is truly expansive, including the predicted role AI will take, how it will redefine marketing, privacy issues, and how it will impact education, geopolitics, the arts, and health. To its credit, it doesn't jump straight into the complexities, and provides an introduction with a metaverse definition and the two authors' first experiences with XR and key developments they witnessed in their careers. This makes the book accessible to people like me, who are not so familiar with the intricacies of the XR/VR/MR technology.
However, I noticed some problems with the editing- repetition of sentences, references still "TBC please supply", "below" for images on the next page, "(i) (i) (iii)", and graph colours impossible to read in black & white. While I could overlook most of these, the reference one disappointed me. I also would have liked to see more on the digital artist experience in Chapter 7, especially as this is where the two technology expert authors may have a gap in understanding. In other chapters, excerpts from experts and embedded, but none from any digital artists were included in this one. That being said, the content on Virtual Product Placements and Virtual Spokepersons was interesting and well thought out. And Louis' passages on agency in an increasingly AI world was a highlight.”
Medley
Created 12 months agoShare
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Danielle Jones
Created 12 months agoShare
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bookishgirl kamya
Created over 1 year agoShare
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“"Our Next Reality" by Alvin Wang Graylin and Louis Rosenberg is a thought-provoking exploration of the AI-powered Metaverse's potential futures. With a foreword by Neal Stephenson, this book provides a balanced analysis of both the utopian possibilities and dystopian risks that come with this technological convergence. The authors address pressing questions regarding spatial computing and AI, providing a roadmap for navigating the Metaverse's complexities. The book explores scenarios where technological advancements could lead to prosperity and creativity, as well as scenarios where mismanagement could result in profound societal issues. I really liked reading this book. Highly recommended.”
About Alvin Wang Graylin
Alvin Wang Graylin is a respected tech entrepreneur and executive, who has founded four venture backed startups in the area of natural language AI search, mobile social, location-based AR services, and big data AI analytics. He's also a recognized industry leader in the immersive computing space having served as China President and Global VP of Corp Development for HTC, President of the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance, Vice-chair of the Industry of VR Alliance, Distinguished Professor of VR at BeiHang University and is a board member of the Virtual World Society. He is invited to keynote at dozens of major conferences each year speaking on the future impact of exponential technologies. Mr. Graylin holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington, a M.S. in computer science from MIT and a M.S. in business from MIT Sloan, where he started his researched in AI, VR and CPU design over three decades ago. He was born in China during the Cultural Revolution, and has spent about half his life in China and half in the U.S.
Louis Rosenberg is an early pioneer of virtual and augmented reality. His work began over thirty years ago in VR labs at Stanford University, NASA, and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) where he developed the first functional mixed reality system. In 1993 he founded the early VR company Immersion Corporation which he brought public on NASDAQ in 1999. In 2004 he founded Outland Research, an early developer of augmented reality and spatial media technology that was acquired by Google in 2011. He received his PhD from Stanford University, was a tenured professor at California State University, and has been awarded over 300 patents for VR, AR, and AI technologies. He is currently CEO of the artificial intelligence company Unanimous AI, the Chief Scientist of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, and writes often for major publications about the dangers of emerging technologies.
Louis Rosenberg is an early pioneer of virtual and augmented reality. His work began over thirty years ago in VR labs at Stanford University, NASA, and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) where he developed the first functional mixed reality system. In 1993 he founded the early VR company Immersion Corporation which he brought public on NASDAQ in 1999. In 2004 he founded Outland Research, an early developer of augmented reality and spatial media technology that was acquired by Google in 2011. He received his PhD from Stanford University, was a tenured professor at California State University, and has been awarded over 300 patents for VR, AR, and AI technologies. He is currently CEO of the artificial intelligence company Unanimous AI, the Chief Scientist of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance, and writes often for major publications about the dangers of emerging technologies.
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