The document outlines the history and evolution of virtual reality, from early inventions in the 19th century to modern advancements in the 21st century, highlighting key milestones and technologies. It discusses both catalysts and deterrents of VR development, current technologies, challenges, and future implications of digital physics on reality perception. The document concludes with notions on the foundational nature of information and computation in understanding the universe.

1. History of Virtual Reality

2. Milgram’s VR Continuum
Milgram’s VR continuum describes the stages of immersion that make
up the depths of reality perceptions as a linear graph.

3. Catalysts of VR
● NASA Ames (Scott Fisher)
● Flight Simulators (Jaron Lanier)
● Development of sophisticated Graphical User Interface (Macintosh &
Apple)
● Moving from a command line interface to a visual interface

4. Deterrents of VR
● Expense
● Graphic Technology
● Stereoscopic Technology
● Slow Processing Power

5. Early Stages of VR
1838 - Stereoscopic Photo Viewers: Charles Wheatstone demonstrated that the
brain goes about processing images in a 3-D fashion when two 2-D images are
presented and viewed.
1938 - Viewmaster: William Gruber, a piano tuner, created the first Viewmaster.

6. 1960s
1960 - Telesphere: Morton Hielig invented the first head mounted VR system.
1961 - Headsight: Two employees from the Philco corporation created the first fabricated head
mounted display which tracked motion.
1962 - "Sensorama" (Mort Heilig) Considered to be the first true VR system. This was an arcade style
cabinet with a 3D display, vibrating seat, and scene producer. The Sensorama was envisioned to be the
"cinema of the future."
1965 - Ivan Sutherland birthed "The Ultimate Display," envisioned as a "room within which the computer
can control the existence of matter." This idea eventually produced a periscope-like video headset
called the "Sword of Damocles" in 1968.

7. 1970s
1977 - Influence of Star Wars on computer graphics technology.
1978 - Aspen Movie Map: Andy Lippman and his MIT cohorts developed an
interactive map of Aspen by utilizing cars with roof-mounted cameras.
● x86 architecture, IBM processors

8. 1980s
1984 - 3D computer input using optical sensors. (Gary Bishop)
1985 - VPL, a company created by Jaron Lainer and Tom Zimmerman,
manufactured the DataGlove, a device that helped track the user’s actions and
movements.
1989 - PowerGlove: Nintendo released the power glove. Many people used
them for home builds of virtual reality set-ups.

9. 1990s
1990 - W industries launches "arcade pod." This device was met with a lot of
criticism from psychologists and a lot of hope from VR enthusiasts.
1993 - Advancements in display resolution.
1995 - This marks what is widely noted as the "first wave of new VR
technologies, yet cost still plagued its widespread implementation.

10. 2000s
2000s - Future Oculus Rift CEO Palmer Luckey begins tinkering with
technologies of the 90's to create feasible VR implementation

11. Current State of VR
● Oculus Rift
● Samsung Gear VR
● HTC Vive
● Sony Morpheus
● Google Cardboard
● Microsoft Hololens

12. Why is the time right for VR?
● Finally have the right technology in place.
● The price range is currently reasonable (and falling).
● Platform development strategy.
● New age of peripheral devices.
● Convergence of other technologies.
● Open source programming mentality.

13. Remaining Challenges
● Design interface
● Simulator Sickness
● Tactile / Haptic Feedback
● Synthesis of peripheral devices with input streams
● Accessibility
● Market Sustainability

14. The Future of Reality
Digital Physics has emerged as methodology to explain the physical world in
digital terms. It is a collection of theoretical perspectives based on the premise
that the universe is, at heart, describable by information, and is therefore
computable. Therefore, according to this theory, the universe can be conceived
of as either the output of a deterministic or probabilistic computer program.

15. The Future of Reality
This is based on certain assumptions on the physical world:
● It is essentially informational
● It is essentially computable
● It can be described digitally
● It is digital in essence
● It is itself a computer
● It is the output of a simulated reality experience