Nature of AR vs VR

The Nature of AR vs VR

Augmented reality is a relatively new technology with companies such as facebook, google and apple competing to establish patients. Over the past decades our fascination of a future exploring the frontiers of space has shifted to the frontiers of the Internet and the legal system is rushing to catch up. In 2016 Pokemon Go took the world by storm, but it left in its wake an intriguing question the legal issues of augmented reality and geolocation technologies. Some of the issues raised were, trespassing, liability and virtual space ownership.

• Does placing an AR object on a person’s property, without their permission, affect their interest in exclusive possession of property?
• Does owning property in “the real world” extend property rights to any geo-locative, intellectual property elements that may be placed on it?
• Is placing an AR object on a person’s private property, without their permission, a creation of an attractive nuisance?(lee 2017)

 Cases claimed that the real property 'owner' is also the owner of the virtual space occupying the property, a claim that is still in contention and who is liable for the trespass, the paticipant or the creator of the work (Ungar 2016).

When engaging with To Know users will need to consider these issues, which also directly related to a spiritual journey. Wisdom needs to be used. Its probably not wise to walk onto a busy road, or to enter private property uninvited. 

A secondary issue with engaging with technology is in regards to the underlying spiritual conceptual focus. Over 50% of the worlds population, an estimated 3.6 billion people identify as adherents of an Abrahamic religion (Hunter 2017), Yet the use of technology as a vehicle for exploring connection to the divine has yet to be critically explored. This has be a result of the dicotomy of the pricipal values of the church system and the nature of technology. This being that technology is the new tower of babel, the self focus and seclusionistic.

After all the purpose of the church is to worship God (Luke 4:8; John 4:23; Rev. 4:10), study the bible (2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Cor. 4:6), pray (Acts 2:42), love one another (John 13:35; Phil. 1:1-4), help each other (Gal. 6:2), partake of baptism and the Lord's supper (Luke 22:19-20), to learn how to live as godly people (Titus 2:11-12), and to be equipped to evangelize the world (Eph. 4:12; Matt. 28:18-20). The church's very existance requires an active community. 

Trinity (Tristan Griffin, semeter 1, 2017) engaged with Virtual reality as a medium. This technology privileges the first-person point of view , the user’s experience is intensely personal. “VR is very isolationist,You put it on and you forget your surroundings; you forget the people around you.” (Planck 2015)  The fear regarding very nature of the technology is that it may amplify current cultural emphasis on the individual. 

But AR's nature is dichotomous to VR and the position of the 'church' regarding technology. AR has made significant changes to the way that we communicate, create, and share through social media. From snapchat and instagram filters to face swapping and pokemon go. AR pushes users into social situations rather than focusing on the individual (Mediakix 2017).

Hunter, Preston 2017.  "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents". Adherents.com. Accessed  31 May 2017 url: https://www/Adherents.com

Lee, Keith 2017 "Is PokemonGo Illegal?" Accessed 25 september 2017 URL:http://associatesmind.com/2016/07/11/is-pokemongo-illegal/

 Miller, David Ian 2008. "LSD Helped Forge Alex Grey's Spiritual, Artistic and Love Lives". San Francisco Chronicle "Finding My Religion" series.

Plank, Mark 2015. "Oculus' next big move is to make VR a social experience" Engaget . Accessed 31 May 2017. URL:https://www.engadget.com/2015/05/25/oculus-social-experience/

Ungar, Daniel 2016 "Pokemon GO went, but not its legal implications". Accessed September 25 URL:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pokemon-go-went-its-legal-implications-daniel-ungar