Future Presence: How Virtual Reality Is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life

by Peter Rubin

A Wired senior editor and virtual reality expert presents a captivating, candid glimpse into the future "realities" of this emerging 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

Introduce readers to the creators and consumers of VR technologyShow readers what an experience is like inside the current VR devicesExplain how this technology will upend everything we know about human connection in the futureAt 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Science, Virtual Reality, Business, Audiobook, Sociology

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2018

About the author

Peter Rubin oversees WIRED's culture coverage in the magazine and online. In 2014, his cover story on Oculus introduced readers to the rebirth of virtual reality, and Rubin has since written frequently about the evolution of VR and its many applications. Prior to arriving at WIRED in 2011, he was a feature writer and editor for more than a decade, penning cover stories for GQ, Elle, Details, Good, and many other publications. He lives in Oakland, California.

Reviews

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

So easy to read- and funny! It’s written with wit and intelligence but wasn’t dry. Totally accessible to someone with virtually (ha) no VR knowledge. I can honestly say I learned a lot and am thrilled that I own the book, as it will no doubt serve as a great reference source. I’m recommending it to friends and even buying it give as gifts! The author clearly knows his stuff and his audience.

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really hate his chatty tone of voice. How little he got out of Lanier is his final chapter before the conclusion is a good measure of how little there is generally in his book compared to Lanier's. Having so many textual descriptions of an immersive experience was a bad idea; couching that in repeatedly letting us know that you got those demos because you worked at Wired is just dull.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trusting his journalistic instinct, Rubin puts people up front in the story of technological breakthroughs, and in this case it is a 90-year-old grandmother experiencing VR for the first time (whereas the real story is the goofball grandson uploading private moments into the public sphere). The more he follows his investigative leads into the development and design of virtual worlds, he advocates a compelling argument for intimacy over empathy. The ability to see (and eventually feel) inaccessible or unimaginable parts of the metaverse is a much more positive experience when there is someone else (real or part of the programmed interface) to connect with, even in the biblical sense of knowing someone. This lowbrow (or ecstatic heights, depending on the users’ preferences) repurposing of tools of the trade for the oldest profession may be a bit unseemly for some, but may end up repurposing pornography away from filthy degradation to more frank and less polarizing views of human sexuality. The creative peek into the future avoids the dire tone of every single Black Mirror episode and aims for the open, optimistic LifeLenz as original originally conceived by monsieur madman Artaud and his close cousin Lanier.

[Joe Hoggard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Virtual reality, once the subject of science fiction, is now finally available to regular consumers and leaping into the mainstream. The author, Peter Rubin, takes his readers on a journey from the first faltering steps with early crude prototypes to today's rapidly evolving headsets with advanced screens and sensors and changing how we interact with the digital world. VR is capable of creating an immersive, artificial environment that convinces the wearer he/she is actually inside it. What makes it magical is "presence," when your physical senses and brain accept the artificial reality and your body responds to it. The author's enjoyment of the topic is quickly apparent and his amusing asides frequently break the fourth wall by directly addressing the reader or self-consciously commenting on his own prose. Future Presence is witty and insightful and serves as primer on some of the ways VR is being used and some of the current companies innovating in this space. It is especially accessible to anyone who has a recent memory of the gradual changes in social gaming enabled by the internet as far back as bulletin boards and some of the first communities of people joined together by their computers and communications networks, but no historical knowledge is required. The author serves as a kind of ghost of VR past, present and future, so buckle up.

[Lyle Blosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great intro and catch-up to the state of VR and AR as of 2017, with some teases about where things are headed. The writing is in an easy-to-follow conversational style, and the author covers a lot of material. Recommended!

[Adeel Tausif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to follow summary of the HMD market. A great way to see whats happening in virtual, augmented and mixed reality.

[Noémie J. Crowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ecrit par le rédacteur en chef du magazine Wired, ce livre traite de la réalité virtuelle (VR), et de ses possibles applications et utilités dans le futur, et de tous les changements qu’elle pourrait apporter dans nos sociétés, que ce soit au niveau médical, du commerce, ou même social. Un livre très prenant, très bien écrit, et honnêtement assez fun à lire, avec un ton très léger, pour un sujet d’actualité des plus intéressants. Je resterai brève, car le sujet est assez « de niche », mais si c’est quelque chose qui vous intéresse, je vous encourage à y jeter un coup d’oeil !


Written by the senior editor of the Wired magazine, this book deals with virtual reality (VR), and its possible applications and uses in the future, and with all the changes it could bring to our society, whether in the medical field, in business, or even on a social level. A very cool book, and well written, and quite honestly a very fun read, with a light tone for one of the most interesting subjects lately. I will stay brief, the book being quite « niche », but if this topic is of interest for you, I can only encourage you to give it a go !

[William Yip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the attempts at humor fell flat. The book was repetitive; the author kept going on and on about presence and intimacy though they are significant aspects of VR. Perhaps he or Jaron Lanier was under an NDA but the meeting with the latter was disappointingly short. It was nice to read about studies for things that are now assumed about VR such as people experiencing events as if they happened in real life and people projecting themselves onto their avatars. I liked the recap of recent AR/VR technology such as the VOID and Pokemon Go and the author's take that such technology has been in use for a long time for sports events. I enjoyed the author's optimistic predictions that VR will increase people's ability to be intimate with one another, work remotely, manage their daily lives, and be in the moment.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have gone through several books of future tech. Or course, VR is very much becoming a now reality. Mr. Rubin takes a look at both the current and future potentials, as well as briefly diving into AR/MR. Compared to some of my past readings, it is clear he is very informed on the subject. He does not force the reader to have specific knowledge of computer science, and most of the focus is on the psychological and social aspects, rather than technical.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative and entertaining overview of the varieties of device- and network-mediated experience. I recommend this as a starting point for those who want to understand how technology is expanding the ways people can interact with content and each other.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in parts but more of a series of examples with some conjecture built around it.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

good one about the developement and applications of virtual reality, and alot of detailed information, and about the theraputic usages of VR.

[Amici Nybråten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite interesting perspective and thoughts on virtual reality

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is fascinated by VR -- feels a little like he's promoting, but the insights into the tech are good.

[Tara Franz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good run down of VR, a little bit bro-y in his humor. Pretty good bits even for people super familiar with the space and building the tools.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially a book-length version of a Wired article. Not bad but nothing terribly new and the tone is far too fanboyish.

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting focus on the new types of relationships which will develop given widespread adoption of VR and shared virtual worlds

[Konstantin Starodetskii · Rating 4 out of 5]

How the VR changes the way we work and play, as well as it explores the depth of our connection with the technology and what it may be in the future.

[Niraj Khandwala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview of what to expect from VR and the various experiments going on. Good insights into the future as well... I think it will be a good read for people who want to get a simple overview.

[Winkiverse · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read but considering this was made before AI, i’d consider it a little outdated now. great references and parallels mentioned.

[Vovka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I worked on Oculus Quest and am not therefore the target reader for this book. That said, I think this is the best introduction to VR for the curious, despite the fact that it's now feeling a bit dated thanks to its 2018 publish date. VR moves fast! The book contains a quick review of the major VR use cases and overall successfully makes the case that this is an important new medium for presence and intimacy.

[Nestor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very well-written and documented book about VR. Though it doesn't take you to the next level, just describes the current state of the technology and a little bit about its history.

I believe that once 5G is fully implemented and virtual reality glasses become less cumbersome, virtual reality glasses will be like normal glasses with a lot of technology to "see" reality, VR/AR/MR/ER technologies will be reality. That could happen in the decade 2030-2040.

[Fedi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the narration. I also think the author over promised and under-delivered. I still learned a lot of interesting things about VR and AR - I wish it was a little more archival as it felt initially or if it had referred to more works during the narration.

[Plamen Miltenoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2019...

[Mills College Library]

302 R8964 2018