Star Trek 'holodeck' in the living room?

[Harpo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21706180

With "immersive media" taking content well beyond the TV screen, new technology is attempting to move virtual reality towards something even closer to real life.

Whether it be a cave, an igloo or a theatre, virtual reality is getting the immersive experience, with sight, sound and smell.

Full 360-degree screens are now capable of taking audiences to a whole new place. The companies pioneering this technology are hoping it will be close to a literal experience.

In a specially designed room, images are projected in every angle, even on to the ceiling so that those viewing are drawn into the illusion more fully than just looking at a screen.

Current applications are wide-ranging but include education about space travel, military training and acting as a tour guide around such sights as the pyramids. There is also a huge potential for gaming.

Flight simulators have offered a similar idea for a while but a true simulation cockpit costs about $20m (£13m) to purchase. It's still quite a way from the home for most.

"When it's done well it's an incredibly immersive experience, profoundly immersive," says Martin Howe, vice-president of tech company Global Immersion.

"It's like being there. In technology terms, it's just a giant computer... a super computer.

"We're just at the start... we can put anything on the screen."

But with screens already being the way a vast majority of people consume their information, what is so different about this?

 

[steve12553]

Not very long after the Holodeck idea became popular and Star Trek the Next Generation someone pointed out (I can't remember who. It's been a while) that the first time an average teenage boy gained unrestricted access to this type of technology would certainly result in its first fatality (either that life drained out of him or starvation) . No need to get any more graphic. How many young people fail to get much done because of video game technology as it stands now.

With great power come great responsibility.

 

[Gordian Knot]

I would say with great power comes great parental responsibility!

 

[jastius]

young people have been failing to get much done since the fishing pole was invented. ( ref. mark twain ) Three dimensional technology would be physically submersive in nature. the individuals would actually be required to move more then twiddling their fingers. no young boy yet has starved to death in a house full of food he has access to. they tend to mill around like herd animals at odd moments, cramming food of various types into their open craw then loosely masticating while in a video game induced stupor.
scientific studies have shown it is the games that light up the pleasure centres of the brain that cause detachment from reality. how about an internal game timer. after so many minutes of play, an individual is shunted over to a virtual-" clean your room" or-" do your homework" side-game. The average kid would jump out of that game then as if his toes were on fire.

 

[Dave]

Virtual Pizza - not very filling!

Your discussion brings two things to my mind. First is Larry Niven's wirehead Death by Ectasy novella in the Gil the ARM Hamilton series, in which someone apparently starved himself to death while continuously stimulating the pleasure center of his own brain with an electric transformer. Somehow, a Holodeck seems tame in comparison and parents only need to shout "Arch!" anyway.

The second is the episode of Red Dwarf Back to Reality in which the crew wake to discover that for four years they have been playing 'Red Dwarf - The Total Immersion Video Game', but really badly.