Holodeck, Matrix, Simulacron - The Ultimate Display in the Year 2030

Frank Steinicke

Frank Steinicke is professor for Human-Computer Interaction at the Department of Informatics at the University of Hamburg.
Virtual reality is often used to question whether we truly know if our perceptions are real or not. Movies like The Matrix or the fictional holodeck from the Star Trek universe are prominent examples of these kind of perceptual ambiguities. Furthermore, in movies like Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report or Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 actors can seamlessly use free-hand gestures in space combined with speech to manipulate 3D holographic projections, while they also perceive haptic feedback when touching the virtual objects. In my talk I will revisit some of the most visually impressive 3D user interfaces and experiences of such fictional ultimate displays, and we will see that the resulting ultimate displays are not so ultimate at all, but pose novel interesting future research challenges and questions.