Growth of Virtual Reality / Cosmology & the Universe

Hosted byGeorge Noory

Growth of Virtual Reality / Cosmology & the Universe

About the show

Author Blake J. Harris has written extensively about technology and the gaming industry. In the first half, he discussed the birth of the game-changing technology of virtual reality (VR) and how a company called Oculus went from a project being tinkered on in a trailer in Orange County, CA to a multi-billion-dollar acquisition by Facebook. In particular, he focused on the career of Palmer Luckey, the brilliant young entrepreneur who founded Oculus. In virtual reality, a person wearing glasses or a helmet feels immersed inside a digital world-- like being inside a video game. VR can also place people inside environments of the real world, Harris added, such as how the UN used VR to show a Jordanian refugee camp to foster empathy and donations.

Luckey ended up building the 'Rift' prototype headset, initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, which turned out better than other solutions, and when Facebook purchased his company in 2014, it was partially because Mark Zuckerberg felt he'd missed out on mobile technology and wanted to be in on the next wave of computing, Harris explained. For Facebook, the social aspect of VR is part of the draw, though the technology could transform a number of fields such as entertainment and education, he pointed out. Luckey left or was pushed out of Facebook in early 2017, and Harris suggested it was over his political stance that didn't jibe with liberal-leaning Silicon Valley (Luckey donated $10,000 to an organization that ran an anti-Hillary billboard campaign in 2016). Luckey bounced back and his new defense technology company, Anduril Industries, is already valued at over $1 billion.

------------------------

Cosmologist, planetary healer, futurist and author, Jude Currivan, Ph.D., has a master’s degree in Physics from Oxford University specializing in quantum physics and cosmology. In the latter half, she presented evidence from a range of cutting-edge scientific discoveries which contribute to the view of the universe as an interconnected hologram of information-- a unified entity in which consciousness is a significant component. In her model, we are both manifestations and co-creators of the "cosmic hologram of reality." While the universe is an immensely vast place, she views the Earth as an important part of its evolutionary impulse.

Our universe, she added, could be considered in the late middle age of its life cycle, as 95% of stars that could ever form already exist because there's no more hydrogen left to create new ones. The eventual end of the universe, she speculated, could be like the bursting of a bubble, dissipating all its information "back into the infinity of the cosmos just like the end of a thought." She also touched on such subjects as the Gaia hypothesis, exoplanets and astrobiology, and the oneness of humanity. For more, check out her short video, An Invitation to the WholeWorld-View.

News segment guests: Jerome Corsi, Peter Davenport

Bumper Music