“We are entering a world where there won’t be one but two realities, just like we have two eyes or hear bass and treble tones, just like we now have stereoscopy and stereophony: there will be two realities: the actual, and the virtual… Reality has become symmetrical.” — Paul Virilio (via mattermedia)
The real and virtual are merging not parting. We are entering a world in which layers upon layers of virtual information are sewn into the fabric of our ‘real’ lives. AR, even in its embryonic state, points to a world in which it is impossible to distinguish between real and virtual in any traditional sense. The real and virtual become one in a world of ubiquitous networked computing.
(and mother of god those analogies are doing my head in … how can the real/virtual split be like stereoscopic vision and the spectrum of sound frequencies?)
