Making Tea In An Augmented Reality World

We read about it all the time, augmented reality (AR) articles seem to be everywhere. Everyone wants a glimpse into the future, and it seems we are learning as much about our future life as we are about our current life. We’ve all seen how the future of technology might become as the virtual world continues to become intertwined with our reality, but what about the future of the mundane tasks we complete every day, like making a cup of hot tea? How will augmented reality affect our daily life from that perspective?

Thanks to a tweet from my wonderful friend @zaibatsu which led me here, I now have a glimpse into this world and it’s… well… disturbing. Keiichi Matsuda, a student in London, created this video for his Masters program in Architecture. According to http://www.iftf.org, Keiichi said, “The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it.”

I can’t help but think of the movies Terminator and Predator and how the world through their eyes is computer generated with ongoing details added in bright colors and schematics. Is that where we are headed someday? I hope not. I don’t want to sleepwalk through my life taking direction from a computer image in front of me telling me what the best thing to do is. Maybe I’m being old-fashioned, but I prefer thinking for myself even if there is a more efficient way. And what’s up with all these ads floating around in our future kitchens? Can you imagine if companies could purchase ad space that would show up in our line of vision all the time? This makes me feel sick. Perhaps the mind control has already begun…

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.