How Virtual Reality Will Impact Society

""By putting on a headset, virtual reality users can transport themselves to a world that only exists inside a computer. How Virtual Reality Will Impact Society examines the progress in this field, looks at the science behind it, and discusses how it will shape our world in the future"--

WINNER AT THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2022 - SPECIALIST BUSINESS BOOK CATEGORY. As one of the leading business trends today, extended reality (XR) promises to revolutionize the way consumers experience their encounters with brands and products of all kinds. Top brands from Pepsi and Uber to Boeing and the U.S. Army are creating immersive digital experiences that capture the interest and imaginations of their target markets. In Extended Reality in Practice: 100+ Amazing Ways Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality are Changing Business and Society, celebrated futurist, technologist, speaker, and author Bernard Marr delivers a robust and accessible explanation of how all kinds of firms are developing innovative XR solutions to business problems. You’ll discover the new ways that companies are harnessing virtual, augmented, and mixed reality to improve consumers’ perception of their brands. You’ll also find out why there are likely to be no industries that will remain untouched by the use of XR, and why these technologies are popular across the commercial, governmental, and non‑profit spectrums. Perfect for Chief Executive Officers, business owners, leaders, managers, and professionals working in business development, Extended Reality in Practice will also earn a place in the libraries of professionals working within innovation teams seeking an accessible resource on the possibilities and potential created by augmented, virtual, and mixed reality technologies. An insightful exploration of extended reality from a renowned thought leader, technologist, and futurist Extended Reality in Practice: 100+ Amazing Ways Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality are Changing Business and Society offers readers a front-row seat to one of the most exciting and impactful business trends to find traction in years. Celebrated futurist and author Bernard Marr walks you through the ins and outs of XR, or extended reality, and how it promises to revolutionize everything from the experience of walking through an airport or shopping mall to grabbing a burger at a fast-food restaurant. Discover insightful and illuminating case studies from businesses and organizations in a variety of industries, including Burger King, BMW, Boeing, and the U.S. Army, and see how they’re turning virtual, mixed, and augmented reality experiences into big wins for their stakeholders. You’ll also find out about how XR can help businesses tackle the problems of lackluster engagement and lukewarm customer loyalty with reinvigorated consumer experiences. Ideal for executives, founders, business leaders and owners, and professionals of all sorts, Extended Reality in Practice is an indispensable guide to an indispensable new technology. The book is the leading resource for anyone seeking a one-stop reference for augmented, virtual, and mixed reality tech and their limitless potential for enterprise.

“If you want to understand the most immersive new communications medium to come along since cinema… I’d suggest starting with Mr. Bailenson’s [book].” —Wall Street Journal Virtual reality is able to effectively blur the line between reality and illusion, granting us access to any experience imaginable. These experiences, ones that the brain is convinced are real, will soon be available everywhere. In Experience on Demand, Jeremy Bailenson draws upon two decades spent researching the psychological effects of VR to help readers understand its upsides and possible downsides. He offers expert guidelines for interacting with VR, and describes the profound ways this technology can be put to use to hone our performance, help us recover from trauma, improve our learning, and even enhance our empathic and imaginative capacities so that we treat others and ourselves better.

A Wired senior editor and virtual reality expert presents a captivating, candid glimpse into the future "realities" of this emerging technology: how we will use it to form previously impossible relationships, explore new frontiers of intimacy, and how it will forever change human connection. Heralded as the most significant technological innovation since the smartphone, virtual reality is poised to transform our very notions of life and humanity. Though this tech is still in its infancy, to those on the inside, it is the future. VR will change how we work, how we experience entertainment, how we feel pleasure and other emotions, how we see ourselves, and most importantly, how we relate to each other in the real world. And we will never be the same. Peter Rubin, senior culture editor for Wired and the industry’s go-to authority on the subject, calls it an "intimacy engine." While once we needed another person to feel the sensations of closeness, trust, vulnerability, confidence, and titillation, VR will give us the ability to induce these sensations by ourselves for the first time in human history. This metamorphosis, Rubin argues, is going to have a powerful impact on relationships that will ripple throughout our society and our individual lives. A journey into this uncertain future and a glimpse at the cultural implications and promises of a new reality, Future Presence explores a host of complex questions about what makes us human, what connects us, and what is real. Offering a glimpse into the mind-blowing things happening in universities, labs, and tech companies around the world, Rubin leads readers on an entertaining tour of the weirdest, wildest corners of this fascinating new universe. Describing this book as "half travelogue and half crystal ball", Rubin will: Introduce readers to the creators and consumers of VR technology Show readers what an experience is like inside the current VR devices Explain how this technology will upend everything we know about human connection in the future At once the incredible, inevitable story of virtual reality’s rise and a look towards the future of our fantasies, Future Presence is a deeply personal examination of what connects us, and an analysis of what relationships, empathy, and sex could look like—sooner than we think.

A comprehensive overview of developments in augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality—and how they could affect every part of our lives. After years of hype, extended reality—augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR)—has entered the mainstream. Commercially available, relatively inexpensive VR headsets transport wearers to other realities—fantasy worlds, faraway countries, sporting events—in ways that even the most ultra-high-definition screen cannot. AR glasses receive data in visual and auditory forms that are more useful than any laptop or smartphone can deliver. Immersive MR environments blend physical and virtual reality to create a new reality. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, technology writer Samuel Greengard offers an accessible overview of developments in extended reality, explaining the technology, considering the social and psychological ramifications, and discussing possible future directions. Greengard describes the history and technological development of augmented and virtual realities, including the latest research in the field, and surveys the various shapes and forms of VR, AR, and MR, including head-mounted displays, mobile systems, and goggles. He examines the way these technologies are shaping and reshaping some professions and industries, and explores how extended reality affects psychology, morality, law, and social constructs. It's not a question of whether extended reality will become a standard part of our world, he argues, but how, when, and where these technologies will take hold. Will extended reality help create a better world? Will it benefit society as a whole? Or will it merely provide financial windfalls for a select few? Greengard's account equips us to ask the right questions about a transformative technology.

This book presents a collection of the latest research in the area of immersive technologies, presented at the International Augmented and Virtual Reality Conference 2018 in Manchester, UK, and showcases how augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are transforming the business landscape. Innovations in this field are seen as providing opportunities for businesses to offer their customers unique services and experiences. The papers gathered here advance the state of the art in AR/VR technologies and their applications in various industries such as healthcare, tourism, hospitality, events, fashion, entertainment, retail, education and gaming. The volume collects contributions by prominent computer and social sciences experts from around the globe. Addressing the most significant topics in the field of augmented and virtual reality and sharing the latest findings, it will be of interest to academics and practitioners alike.