Reality is plenty, says Kevin Slavin, game designer, in a timely observation that the enhancement of daily experience can be gracefully achieved without visual overlays. Augmentation does not necessarily require bright digital animation: the bleeding-over of computing into the physical world can be perceived through all the five senses, and sight is not the ideal first choice. Still, a veil is being cast all around. There’s a filter for that.
The defining generational gap of our time is in the ability to discard authenticity as a relevant measure of truth. The children of today will grow up with an acute, almost unconscious instinct to separate the two concepts and the way they make us feel. Theirs will be a world where persistent and ubiquitous simulation is not forcibly at odds with a sense of ethics, trust, and sound judgement.
A world where reality is mixed, heightened by the flavors of infinite spectacles, and where justice is still possible.